La vida en pandemia en el mundo rural andaluz: ¿un punto de inflexión para su revalorización?

Abstract

Within a context of severe depopulation of many rural areas of Spain and Andalusia, and although now they are not the only ones affected by this phenomenon, the COVID19 pandemic, setting aside the tragedy that it entailed for the population as a whole and the deaths that it caused, is seen as a possible turning point that could reverse or at least halt the depopulation of rural areas. With this in mind, in this research, we explore the perceptions of the inhabitants of rural areas regarding the conditions in which local people got through the period of lockdown and restrictions and how this may affect the future of their areas. To this end, in 2021 we carried out a total of 114 in-depth interviews in 20 municipalities of Andalusia. The interviewees were classified according to different sociodemographic profiles and the types of area in which they lived. The results highlight that the perception they have is that they got through the pandemic better than city-dwellers to the extent that they enjoyed “better” conditions in terms of housing, access to open spaces, greater social distancing, and greater solidarity between the local residents. Most of them also think that these effects could serve to a greater or less extent to help stem depopulation.