Paper short abstract:

The engagement in a global post-industrial economy based on leisure and tourism has led to new ways of inhabiting mountain areas. In this paper, we discuss the intersections, tensions, and power relations that (dis)connect tourism and agriculture in two valleys of the Catalan Pyrenees.

Paper long abstract:

Val d'Aran and Cerdanya were the firsts valleys in the Catalan Pyrenees that became a tourist destination linked to mountain sports, particularly in relation to the development of the ski industry. Until the mid-twentieth century, these mountainous regions were mainly managed as farmland, being tourism a relatively small phenomenon. These valleys had a complex social structure, with differences and inequalities structured on the basis of land tenure ownership. However, a common trait was the diversification of economic activities, combining farming with mining, the production of hydroelectric power, and cross-border trade. Moreover, seasonal migrations constituted one of the households’ strategies to ensure a livelihood.

The engagement in a global post-industrial economy based on leisure and tourism has led to new ways of inhabiting these mountain areas, changing local socioeconomic dynamics and structures, and therefore, transforming local agricultural cultures in uneven ways. Literature has addressed deagrarisation, but also the intensification of production or shifts in production orientation, such as agroecological conversion or artisanal production. In sum, the process of turistification, gentrification and urbanisation has deeply transformed farming activities.

Based on ethnographic research data, we will examine the intersections between tourism and agriculture. By focusing our analysis on the historical coexistence of different economic activities in these mountain areas and their current transformations, we intend to overcome binary analysis in which the urbanization process linked to the development of ski resorts is seen as incompatible with farming activities, overlooking the interrelation, tensions, and power relations that (dis)connect these two productive sectors.