Unravelling stories of pro-rural migration: From the pre-migration context to the post-migration experience

Abstract

In line with a conceptualisation of pro-rural migration as an open-ended process that extends to the post-migration experience, this paper explores how pro-rural migrants elaborate the decision to move to a rural place, how they initiate their relocation and how they experience life in the new place. To do this, the paper analyses the narratives of pro-rural migrants regarding their migration process in two different contexts of rurality in Spain: the region of Castilla y León and a coastal area in Andalusia. Thus, the paper reconstructs migrants' narratives by connecting the pre-migration context with the post-migration experience. The paper reflects how pro-rural migration, and the post-migration experience can play different roles in migrants' lives, depending on their contextuality. In our case: an old dream, the unexpected, salvation and the search for a way of life. By identifying the differences and common elements, the paper contributes to a fuller comprehension of pro-rural migration as a dynamic process and to a better understanding of the meanings of counter-urbanisation.