Affective spaces of the rural: A praxeological analysis of the “spatial pioneers” of Upper Lusatia (Germany)
通过民族志研究德国上卢萨蒂亚的“空间先驱”运动，分析其情感实践如何塑造乡村生活世界，揭示结构性弱势乡村地区通过情感实践成为“美好生活”的场所。
While many rural regions in Germany are facing a downward socio-structural spiral, there is a growing societal yearning for rurality and the practices associated with it. By creating a network for individuals who migrate from urban centers to a peripheral rural area, the self-proclaimed “spatial pioneer” movement of Upper Lusatia operates at the convergence of these realities. Through an ethnographic inquiry into this movement, we study the social practices of these spatial pioneers, particularly focusing on affective practices that evoke emotional responses within individuals. We identified five dimensions that shape the spatial pioneers' rural lifeworlds — nature, work, community, simplicity, and self-efficacy. From the perspective of the spatial pioneers, rural spaces are not necessarily ‘ideal’ via their discursive representations. However, rurality as a lifestyle (as a way of liv ing ) becomes desirable via the (affective) practices it enables. The singularity of structurally weak rural areas lies in the fact that they offer opportunities for living the ‘good life’ that, due to limiting material and cultural structures, are unavailable elsewhere (e.g., in urban settings). In applying the concept of affective spaces, we aim for a deeper understanding of the spatial pioneers' bodily-affective experience, perception, and practice-based production of space. By doing so, we provide insights into practice-based, affective (re-)productions of rurality and rural spaces. • Article investigates bodily-affective and practice-based productions of space. • Back-to-the land movements are relevant in producing affective rurality. • Peripheral rural areas provide scope for living the ‘good life’. • Rurality as a lifestyle becomes desirable via the affective practices it enables.