Apostolos PAPADOPOULOS, National Centre for Social Research (EKKE), Greece
Loukia-Maria FRATSEA, Harokopio University, Greece
The production of space and place emerges as a central theme in human geography, especially when following a critical approach. Places are nodes where socio-spatial relations interface and interact, while a continuous spatial process of reconstruction and renegotiation is underway. The well-known phrase of Massey (2005) about the “throwntogetherness of places” implies that places take shape as a result of an “even-shifting constellation of trajectories”. Places are negotiated by identities that are on the move, while there is multiplicity, antagonisms and contrasting temporalities. Places are practised by both movers and non-movers, and there is ongoing negotiation between intersecting trajectories. This calls for a relational understanding of space which enables rural places to reconstitute, negotiate and hybridize.
Analysing peoples’ mobilities puts us in aposition to conceive and theorise the de-territorialisation and re-territorialisation processes. Mobility cannot be comprehended without considering the spatial, which involves a number of aspects (scale, borders and territories). Mobility -by including both internal and international migration- (re)creates places and territories by being an internal factor through place attachment and belonging. There are various understandings of territorial belonging (i.e. elective belonging, and multi-local belonging) that continue to matter.
The paper aims at discussing how rural places are (re)produced through the actions, practices and lived experiences of migrants/ non-migrants as to their place attachment, belonging and well-being. More particularly, the main emphasis is put on the impact of migrants’ belonging and well-being for shaping and, thus, producing rural places. The paper is based on the analysis and interpretation of qualitative data, gathered in 2018-2020 in rural Greece, in the context of a European H2020 project (IMAJINE).
Keywords: rural places|migrants|belonging|wellbeing|mobility
A104540AP