Mieres Reborn reveals how patient observation and an analysis of one small community have much to tell us about human progress more generally. Not long ago Mieres, a village in the eastern foothills of the Pyrenees, seemed destined to die. As in countless thousands of rural communities around the world, young people in Mieres over the years have moved to the towns and cities, leaving behind abandoned fields and meadows, derelict houses, and their aging and disconsolate parents and grandparents.
Close observation of this social microcosm over two decades reveals the capacity of ordinary people in a locality to reinvent themselves, reconstruct relationships with the wider world, and confront new threats to their collective survival. A. F. Robertson describes how the determination that Mieres should survive is most evident in a vigorous round of fiestas, fairs, and other public events in which natives, exiles, and newcomers work to create a lively sense of belonging. Since the 1980s, Mieres has been enlivened by a reverse flow of migrants from the cities, new settlers who have brought an infusion of youth to the community, devised new livelihoods, revitalized the village school, energized the native ”Mierencs,” and provided the impetus for a rediscovery of historical roots and political identity. The regeneration of life in the countryside, in part a reaction to urban expansion and decay, is a global phenomenon of increasing political, economic, and social significance.
List of Illustrations Introduction The Place The People The Past The Project Chapter 1. The End of History The Bench La Misèria War, Factionalism, and Cultural Suppression School and the Generation without History Aftermath: Truth and Reconciliation? Chapter 2. Dreams and Reawakenings Pairalisme: The Romance of the Catalan Farm Landlords, Tenants, and Laborers The Doctor and the Author Village and Nation: The History Struggle Chapter 3. Resurrection Generating History: Time, Feelings, and Meanings The Agony of the Dolors Religion and Culture Chapter 4. Rebirth Hippies and Neorurals Intercanvi: The Ecstasy of the Swap-Meet Teaching Catalan History Springtime: Discovering Mieres Chapter 5. New Livelihoods Strings Communications Making a Living Today Chapter 6. Conviviality Insiders and Outsiders Family Ties Neighbors and the Ethics of Association Eating and Bonding Chapter 7. Civic Rejuvenation The Festa Major Politics Rituals of Planning Chapter 8. Rebuilding Mieres The Dynamism of House and Home The Agony of the Stones Regeneration or Sterile Growth? Chapter 9. Imagining Change Visions of the Future Regeneration Writ Small and Large Notes References Index
