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L' absence vecue au village: L' ici entre l' Ailleurs et l' Autrefois : Essai sur la situatuin d' Ano Ravenia, village d' Epire

Part of : Επιθεώρηση κοινωνικών ερευνών ; No.Special, 1981, pages 245-256
Issue:
No.Special, 1981
Pages:
245-256
Parallel Title:
Absence as lived in the village daily life between the faraway and the past : (An essay on the situation of Ano Ravenia, village in Epirus)
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Articles
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Abstract:
Ano Ravenia is a 600m altitude mountain village in Epirus: one hun­dred and seventy inhabitants in 1978, nine school-children, cattle- breeding is the main income source but most old people (fifty arebeyond 65l live from pensions and from money sent by those who have left. What is then really a deserted village?We could simply consider it as a mere reduced copy of yesterday'slively village: less inhabitants, older ones, reduced output andeconomic activity, empty or dilapidated houses. But, beyond thesedemographic changes which necessarily entail economic changes—both quantitative (in the output volume) and qualitative (in the nature of the activities)—it is the whole balance of the village com­munity which is at stake along with the very meaning ofits life (or itssurvival).Because, gradually, today's daily life finds its identity only througha nostalgic reference to a finished past and its meaning in relation to afaraway where its dynamic forces are now living.Such a situation becomes evident during festivity periods whichtemporarily bring back those who have left. For the village these areprivileged, lively and happy times: though very short, they are muchmore important than its daily life. The village therefore is graduallysubstituting to its own life another life alloted by the immigrants. Thevillagers see themselves through their eyes. This new equilibriummight be altered by the budding interest city-dwellers have in theirroots, an interest prompting them to purchase lots, build houses towithdraw to for short periods and possibly to retire in.Nobody can yet foresee the specificity of this new village where the importance of temporary, younger and richer residents will be grow­ing. But it will be another village.
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