Social Integration and the New Rurality: to be a “Hippie” in the Countryside?

Abstract

For almost a decade now, rural sites in the Valle de Traslasierra, in the western area of the province of Córdoba, Argentina, have become the dock that receives a migration of neorural youngsters. These young populations arrive to these lands moved by a psychosocial determining factor: a “willingness to change” in their quest for living alternatives that oppose to the city-life model. The original inhabitants of those rural villages label them as “hippies.” This work is based on a cultural approach and it is carried out in the context of an ethnographic research studying the social relationships in rural communities impacted by the urban migration. We propose a reflection on the logical currents that make the actors —young urban migrants and “local folks” which coexist in one single territory— identify, label, categorize, and classify themselves. Finally, we analyze the outcomes and impacts on the methodology of community organization.