Recover Old Geographical Materialities in Rural Areas: Key Politics and Processes of (Dis)assemblages

Abstract

The current rural geography is at a crossroads of theoretical options. Geographical studies on processes of rural change usually have a social perspective, based on the loss of traditional populations and the immigration of new populations, and on the analysis of social-territorial conflicts between the locals and the newcomers. Rematerializing rural studies through experimental materiality is an interesting option to revitalize rural geography. The experimental process of recovering rural houses generates a fluid hybridization process between human-materiality realities, but it can also lead to a disassemblage process between people and materiality (rural house). In this contribution, various types of disassemblage processes of recovered material realities (rural houses) and the people who carried out the experimental recovery of the house are reviewed. The methodology is qualitative and is based on the examination of six case studies in rural areas of Spain. The disassemblage process generates new pluralities and material realities in peripheral rural communities. Keywords: materiality, rural, geography, artifacts