The pine forests of Babel: political sociology of the incorporation of migrant workers into the resin bioeconomy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22325/fes/res.2026.287Keywords:
green transition, demographic transition, migration, pine resin bioeconomy, political contention, rural laborAbstract
The article explores the nexus between the demographic and green transitions in marginalized, aging rural areas by analyzing the political sociology of migrant workers’ incorporation into the pine resin-tapping bioeconomy in Soria and Segovia. It investigates the terms of inclusion, forms of support, accommodation and opposition, and their distributive and identity effects. Methodologically, it combines 64 interviews, participant observation (resin campaigns in 2022, 2023, and 2025), and document review. Findings distinguish two models of migrant resin tappers’ incorporation: (1) an institutional and ‘supportive’ model, led by owners and managers of public forests —predominant in Soria— that frames resin tapping as a lever for rural revitalization; and (2) an ‘accommodative,’ market-oriented model —more common in Segovia— driven by public and private actors focused on maximizing rents and profits, with greater selectivity in access to jobs, pine lots, and housing. These models structure supportive, accommodative, and challenging contention frames and repertoires along three axes: labor–pine lots–housing, governance, and recognition and everyday sociabilities. Successful incorporation requires institutional arrangements —especially local ones— and interaction among coalitions of challengers, supporters and accommodators; terms of inclusion are unequal within and across resin-tapping towns and change over time. In this field of forces, identity and distributive disputes intertwine, and cooperation and conflict coexist, shaped by class, generation, country of origin, and citizenship. The ‘pinewoods of Babel’ of Soria and Segovia show that the reinvigorated pine resin-tapping bioeconomy can articulate both transitions in marginalized, aging rural areas, albeit contingently: it depends on committed public mediation, concerted arrangements for resin supply and pine forest governance, and inclusive networks that recognize diversity without turning it into a fault line.
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