Le rôle des recompositions sociodémographiques dans les nouvelles dynamiques rurales : l’exemple du Diois

Abstract

Cet article tente de replacer l’exemple du Diois (Drôme) dans le contexte général de reprise démographique des moyennes montagnes françaises, bénéficiant aujourd’hui d’une nouvelle attractivité, et cela en s’intéressant plus spécifiquement au contenu qualitatif du solde migratoire et en s’efforçant d’esquisser un portrait des nouveaux habitants qui s’installent sur ce territoire. Après une brève présentation du Diois, nous dressons un portrait de ces nouveaux habitants et leurs motivations d’installation et nous évoquons quelques transformations économiques et sociales induites par ces apports migratoires et leur rôle dans les recompositions territoriales en cours.

“Taking advantage of emptiness”?

“…century. In a stimulating analysis of socio-demographic changes in a French Alpine district, Cognard (2006) surmises that depopulation, however disastrous in many ways, nevertheless paved the way to opposite dynamics of repopulation and economic recovery by leaving "empty spaces" which new inhabitants have been able to fill socially and economically, thus taking advantage of the emptiness created by years of emigration. This insight is closely reminiscent of recent anthropological work which suggests that cultural creativity needs space to express itself and that "thick" culture and strong social structures are less favourable to the blooming of creativity than thin and impoverished cultures and weak social structures.…”

“…Hence the need to go beyond naked figures and explore the often subtle dynamics -social and cultural as well as economic and demographic -which characterize this unprecedented phase in the history of the Alps. As pointed out by Françoise Cognard (2006) in a stimulating analysis of the case of the Diois (Drôme) to which we will revert, if statistical sources remain essential to gauge the direction and size of demographic movements, qualitative investigations revealing the specificities of the various contexts which favour or hamper the entry of new inhabitants, and affect both their political and decisional weight and their room for manoeuvre, will prove no less important.…”

Maira Valley (Piedmont): a territorial laboratory of a new mountain population

“…However, since the '70s of the last century, despite the main reasons that pushed people to leave the most isolated mountain areas were still there, some rural mountain areas of French Alps -Beaufortain (Fourny, 1994) and Diois (Cognard, 2006) 3 -saw the first signs of a reverse in trend. As for Italy, the repopulation of mountain areas was first observed during the mid '80s.…”

“…As a consequence, their attitude and their projects significantly differ from the ones of the people born and bred in the area, who tend to have a passive attitude towards the disadvantages presented by the area itself (Salsa, 2007). Their choice to move to a mountain area is part of a personal and professional project whose key component is the new place of residence (Cognard, 2006).…”

“…In terms of quantity, the high average age of the population does not allow to see the reversal of the trend but speaking of quality, almost all interviewees have personal or professional projects (Cognard, 2006) of which the mountain area, and its resources, are essential components.…”