The Politics of Fire: Spanish Forest Policy and Ritual Resistance in Galicia, Spain

Abstract

The north-western Atlantic corner of the Iberian peninsula is the region most prone to anthropogenic forest fires in Europe. This study analyses the forest fire problem in Galicia, Spain, a region located in the midst of this conflictive biome. Rural incendiarism in Galicia has puzzled foresters and scholars for years. Although past research efforts have focused on the elaboration of complex causal analyses of the phenomenon, the results have so far been inconclusive. This study argues, instead, that most anthropogenic forest fires in Galicia should be understood as rituals of political resistance by the Galician peasantry against the Spanish state's forceful appropriation of the Galician peasant commmons for its ambitious reforestation policy. In order to prove this hypothesis, this study places the forest fire ritual in its historical context: the protracted process of state-led political, economic and social development taking place in Spain in the second half of the 20th century. As part of this evidence, the author carried out participant observation in As Nogais, a rural municipality in Galicia.