Gender and inovation in the new re-rura lization procesess in Spain

Abstract

In the last decade it has been observed in some areas with good communication infrastructures and close to urban centers in Spain, a return of young adult men and women who settle in to develop their own professional projects. This process of change in rural communities is not exclusive to Spain but is also observed in other rural areas of Europe. This article examines who is behind the new processes of re-ruralization in Spain from the analysis of professional projects carried out by young adult educated men and women, with urban experience. These agents are not gender neutral, so this analytical category is taken to examine the power relations that underlie these processes, taking into account the objectives, opportunities and difficulties that each one has at the origin of their projects. The research has been conducted through in-depth interviews, in order to ascertain how people give expression to their own experiences. The results confirm the existence of re-ruralization processes distinguished by innovative and highly professionalized initiatives developed by women and men whose discourse reveals new forms of inequality and different power mechanisms.