Rural discourse

Abstract

Ruralities proposes a reconceptualization of the rural, meaning by this term a 'place of crisis' within our design
and planning practices. This reconceptualization is presented through a discourse articulated on two points: Rural as a 'constitutive outside' of the urban and as a 'political mode', as a place where specific forms of power are manifested. Rural spaces are inhabited, produced, owned and cared for by a variety of subjects, by humans and non-humans as well as by a variety of ethnicities, cultures, social groups. In this sense we are against a common imagery where the rural is seen as a place populated by alleged traditional societies. This is an image that implicitly works as a device of racial, social and economic domination. In the same way, we question the Marxian approach to the 'agrarian question' conceived only as a predominantly economic problem, highlighting its racial and ethnic aspects. The goal is to define a different 'rural discourse' able to pay attention to the diversity of rural bodies and to delineate better analysis and design strategies.