Farmer Protests, Political Imaginaries and Environmental Futures in Rural Spain
Marta Rocatín Centelles and I wrote this article about the symbolic and political significance of the farmer figure in contemporary Spain, where agrarian life is increasingly mobilized in struggles over national identity, rural decline, environmental stewardship, and energy transition. Through close readings of two 2022 Spanish films –As Bestas (dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyen) and Alcarràs (dir. Carla Simón) –alongside analysis of protests and media discourse, we examine how farmers are imagined across the ideological spectrum, and how they are caught between structural marginalization and symbolic centrality. By foregrounding the farmer as a cultural figure, we show how agrarian life is being reconfigured in the name of the environment, and why it matters, especially for left politics, to understand what is being lost, transformed, or claimed in this process.