Neocontadinizzazione nelle montagne mediterranee

Abstract

This paper argues about one of the aspects of the mountains repopulating process: the “repeasantization” (Ploeg 2007; 2018) driven by neorurals (people without any farming family background and characterized by different life trajectories). The study shows that access to resources is a key aspect of this process. The ground of this work is represented by the outcomes of a comparative analysis about neopeasant practices in three territories of the Mediterranean mountain bioclimatic region (in Andalusia and in Sicily), all affected by agrarian deactivation, depopulation and by an increasing domination of the service industry. The agrarian history and socio-ecological specificity of such territories show the intrinsic connection of the care of landscape and ecosystem services with small-scale peasant agriculture, therefore the environmental risks related to marginalizing this ecologic, economic and cultural practice. The strategies of the subjects of study to access temporary and collective resources show, on the one hand, their ability to foster local development processes, on the other the need to develop local land and integrated policies in order to let the neopeasant repopulation process develop in a stronger and more inclusive form.

Keywords

• repeasantization
• neorurals
• mountains
• Mediterranean bio-climatic region
• access to resources