Cross-Cultural Perceptions and Discourses Between Rural and Urban in Galicia

This chapter focuses on the relationships between rural-urban imaginaries and the social construction of new naturalist and culturalist images and ideologies of the rural in Galicia, as well as on the role of Galician nationalism in the new rural identifications. The so-called traditionally rural spaces are being redefined, globally and on the Iberian Peninsula in particular. The so-called neo-rural and ‘rurban’ people have assumed a leading role in the reconstruction, look/appearance and meaning of the ‘old’ rural and have entered into a dialogue with other actors and institutions. One of the main conclusions of the chapter is that the urban-rural dichotomy has disappeared from the physical world but still exists in collective imaginaries. The Galician case also demonstrates the existence of many rural spaces in the world and of different relationships with the urban medium.