The ‘rural’ is a doing word. This is a key take-home message from this interview with Fernando Garcia Dory, set deep in the mountains of northern Spain.
This episode explores how livestock shepherding relates to commoning and enclosures in an ongoing project, Inland: Campo Adentro. Inland is a shepherd school, or ‘agroecological lighthouse’, with a three-word manifesto: art, agriculture and territory.
We talk to Fernando about how he has created a space to reclaim ecological relationships, whilst also challenging regressive concepts around territory, identity and emotions often associated with the countryside.
The ‘rural’ is not simply a genre of study, says Fernando. In the wake of farmer unrest in Europe, neoliberal markets, rural depopulation and a need for renewed interest in slow agriculture, he and his community contend with intersecting issues affecting the future of shepherding in Spain. They focus on the everyday ‘doing’ and making of diverse, creative and lively futures for extensive agriculture.
Links
Some of the publications and initiatives mentioned in this episode are linked below. If you are viewing this episode on some podcast players, the links may not work: visit the original post on the Future Natures Substack.
Inland: Campo Adentro on Instagram
Inland: Campo Adentro (main website)
More information about Inland’s shepherding school (in Spanish)
Seasonal Matters, Rural Relations – booklet by Seasonal Neighbours
Micribiopolitics of milk (an offer to buy the book and Campo Adentro cheese!)
Book: The Rural (MIT press 2019)
Transhumancia y Naturaleza – founded by Jesús Garzón
