Newcomers and ‘Roots Migrants’: Chain Migrations and the Revitalization of Rural Shrinking Areas in Spain

Abstract

This article analyses the processes of rural shrinking/revitalisation in Spain from the perspective of chain mobilities. It attempts to go beyond the vision that focuses on the depopulation approach. The chain migration perspective is a dynamic means, as it considers the articulation between internal/international, historical/recent migrations and shrinking/revitalisation processes. Spatial mobility is also analysed in relation to the articulation of the local and immigrant population’s intergenerational social mobility processes. The research is based on intensive fieldwork (109 semi-structured interviews) conducted in several shrinking regions in Spain (Galicia, Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha). Our research reveals how the internal and international exodus of the second half of the twentieth century in Spain, driven by the ‘Developmentalist’ economic model and implemented by Franco’s regime, is the bases for the territorial imbalances and configuration of shrinking rural areas in this country. It also shows how de-agrarianisation and the lack of intergenerational replacement explains the arrival of immigrant populations in rural areas from the turn of the century onwards, in order to meet the needs of labour markets segmented by ethnic origin and gender. Together with newcomers, the shrinking areas are also benefiting from the arrival of returnees and root migrants (from both external and internal migration), who decide to return to their origins, drawn by emotional ties. These migration patterns (newcomers, returnees and root migrants) are different and complementary in terms of sustaining life in rural areas. The impact of migration on the revitalisation of rural areas is visible in demographic, economic and social terms.