La identitat rural com a element d’arrelament i revitalització territorial: primers resultats de la història de vida d’un jove pirinenc

This paper presents the first results of the doctoral thesis «Rural Identity: Youth, Settling and Territorial Revitalization», which aim to identify and analyse the construction of rural identity and its for-mation process. Particular attention is given to young people from rural areas, who have consciously chosen to settle in rural territories after having spent a period of time in an urban area. A brief bibliograph-ical review was first carried out on the concepts of Rurality, Rural Identity and Rural School. To identify and understand the reasons why people choose this life option, we present the initial results of an in-depth interview study based on the construction of a life story of a young person living in the Catalan Pyrenees. Broadly speaking, it can be seen that rural identity is a cultural construct that is strongly rooted in the Catalan territory and is one of the potential factors that favours the settlement of the population. Moreover, the young population and the rural schools are potential transmitters, which can favour the revitalization of rural areas through new models that respect the intangible and tangible heritage within the current historical context.