Spatial and individual resistance(s) in depopulated and remote rural areas

ABSTRACT

The concept of resistance is multidimensional in political and rural geography. It is mainly used to classify communities’ strategies in response to the actions of extra-local public and private agents. In this approach, the community is usually studied homogeneously. However, some interpretations consider that resistance creates differentiation processes within the rural community. From this perspective, individual resistance strategies can be analysed, which join forces in times of community resistance. In depopulated regions, the purpose of resistance is to remain in a place. This paper studies several cases of resistance in small populations affected by depopulation in a region of Spain.

KEYWORDS:

• Resistance
• difference
• rural areas
• individual
• Spain

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Angel Paniagua completed her undergraduate degree (1986) and Ph.D. (1990) in Human Geography at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She is the first Spanish researcher with publications in Land Use Policy or Journal of Rural Studies. She is referee of more than 40 journals around the world. She was Scientific Editor (in association), in the year 1999 of a special issue on Environmental Policies and Sustainability (Revista Internacional de Sociologia); in the year 2006 (in association) of the special issue on Public Policies, Sustainability and Rural Geography of the journal Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles; and editor in the years 2007–2008 of the special issue on Qualification of Space of the journal Arbor edited by CSIC. The author is a member of the editorial board of some relevant journals (ISI, SCOPUS) in sociology and environmental studies. She is author or co-author of more 140 papers. Angel Paniagua’s research focuses on four areas of interest: (1) social, environmental and cultural dimensions of geographical rural change in depopulated rural areas, (2) the socio-environmental qualitative research, (3) the history and theory of Rural Geography and (4) the relationship between nature and society.