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Beyond the rural–urban entrenchment: untangling, exploring, and legitimizing rural diversity through participatory action research

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posted on 2025-06-17, 08:21 authored by Daniel BalinhasDaniel Balinhas, Sara Rodríguez-Garrido, David García-Romero

As the ecosocial crisis deepens, rural contexts have become focal points of ideological struggles over ecology and sustainability, often envisaged through the narrow framework of a rural–urban divide. Although often portrayed as homogeneous, rural communities encompass a dynamic and diverse constellation of senses of place and sociopolitical positions. Within a participatory action research framework, we conducted 11 focus groups (N = 68), analyzed through Content Analysis complemented by a Discursive- Rhetorical approach. We explore the varied senses of place, the meanings of rurality, and the conflicts surrounding landscape management, along with the promises and challenges that arise when participants co-produce and envision desirable futures for their communities. Our research seeks to empower communities by fostering dialogue for future participatory sessions and illustrates how social-psychological knowledge can help people coproduce meanings, practices, and senses of place in response to local and global challenges.

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Publication

Qualitative Research in Psychology

Publisher

Routledge Taylor & Francis Group

Other Funding information

‘Emociones Políticas en Movimiento: Causas y Consecuencias’ (EMPOL), funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation [PID2020-113030RB-100].

Department or School

  • Psychology

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