Call for papers for the European Society for Rural Sociology Congress in Krakow, 24-27 July 2017
Countryside connections: Staying in the countryside
Aileen Stockdale, Queen's University Belfast & Tialda Haartsen, University of Groningen
Contemporary life is characterised by mobility/migration. Within a rural context young adults frequently report a 'rural dull' and feel a need to 'move out to get on', young families move in in search of a 'good place to bring up children', and retirees may harbour a desire for a 'place in the country' and the rural idyll. Such migration processes, linked to life course stages, are frequently documented in the academic literature and government reports.
Much less attention has been devoted to those who 'stay' in rural areas. Indeed, to stay is often negatively stereotyped as 'staying behind' or having 'failed to leave' - individuals lacking ambition and 'making do' in a traditional, even disadvantaged, rural. This interdisciplinary working group seeks to comprehend why some people remain in rural places, how they experience rural life, what roles they play in maintaining a sustainable rural and how they contribute to quality of life in rural communities. By doing so, this session draws attention to the perspective of immobility in understanding contemporary rural life and to assess the role of 'stayers' to uneven processes of rural change.
Papers are invited on any aspect of 'staying in the countryside', such as:
- Who stays - a life course perspective: for example, why do young adults choose to remain, when leaving is the norm; why do elderly residents stay when familial and state support for old age is located in distant urban centres; how do newcomers to the countryside ‘learn’ to stay?
- Why stay - do stayers make a conscious choice/ decision to remain or are they trapped, 'unable to escape'?
- What meanings do stayers attach to the rural, rurality and 'home' (sense of attachment, belonging, rootedness, quality of life)?
- Lived experiences: what are the everyday realities for those who stay? What is the role of stayers in maintaining sustainable rural communities?
- Rural diversity: are different 'stayer' processes at work and outcomes evident in different rural areas?
- Gendered processes and experiences
- What are the policy issues associated with 'stayers and staying'? Might policy permit 'staying in rural place'?
Please submit an abstract of 200-400 words via email to [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] before December 20th 2016.
kind regards, Tialda
Associate Professor/Coordinator of the Master Cultural Geography
Cultural Geography/Faculty of Spatial Sciences
PO Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
Visitors: Landleven 1, 9747 AD Groningen
+31-(0)50-363 3890/3897
Latest publications:
Gieling & Haartsen (2016) Liveable villages: the relationship between volunteering and liveability in the perception of rural residents. Sociologia Ruralis. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soru.12151/full
Folmer, A. et al. (2016) Wildlife and flora and the valuation of green places: a comparison between local and national green places. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jort.2016.09.001
Bosworth, G. et al. (2016), Identifying social innovations in European local rural development initiatives. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. DOI:10.1080/13511610.2016.1176555. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13511610.2016.1176555
Jeuring, JH.G.. & T. Haartsen (2016), The challenge of proximity: the (un)attractiveness of near home tourism destinations. Tourism Geography. DOI:10.1080/14616688.2016.1175024 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14616688.2016.1175024
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