Aspects of crisis and return migration to the countryside: the discourse on rural resilience

Abstract

The ongoing economic crisis in Greece, which particularly affects urban households, reinforces public discourse on rural resilience and return-back- to the countryside and the agricultural land. Rural areas are emerging as a place of refuge, of employment opportunities -especially in rural entrepreneurship- and better living environment. Within this discussion, it is often overlooked that the financial crisis and economic recession have also affected rural households in multiple ways. Based on both Greek and international literature review and outcomes of fieldwork in the Greek countryside, the paper investigates aspects and dynamics of the crisis, the rural resilience and crisis in-migration to rural areas. Through personal narratives of people that have left the city, the paper sheds light on increasing mobilities between the urban and the rural, and on people’s search of employment opportunities and social and economic safety in a period of generalised crisis.