My Village Is Dying? Integrating Methods from the Inside Out

The purpose of this paper is to confront the notion of 'decline' at the village level by illustrating a more immersive approach to sociological and demographic research within rural and remote communities. The research uses case studies of three villages in Australia, Canada, and Sweden, all of which have been labeled as 'declining villages,' typified by population loss, an aging population, high rates of youth outmigration, and loss of businesses and services. This paper argues that focusing solely on quantitative indicators of demographic change provides a narrow view of rural village trajectories and ignores subtle processes of local adaptation that are hidden from quantitative data sets. Our research integrates quantitative data from the 'outside' with qualitative data from the 'inside,' including visual ethnography, to develop a more balanced perspective on how villages have been changing and what change could mean locally. These objectives are accomplished by revisiting a Dirt Research methodology applicable to a broad range of research into rural and remote villages. Resume Le but de cet article est de confronter la notion de 'declin' au niveau d'un village en illustrant une approche sociologique et demographique plus immersive dans le cadre de communautes rurales et eloignees. La recherche utilise les etudes de cas de trois villages en Australie, au Canada et en Suede, tout consideres comme des 'villages en declin,' caracterises par des pertes de population, une population vieillissante, et des taux eleves d'emigration des jeunes, ainsi que la perte d'entreprises et de services. Cet article pretend qu'une emphase sur des indicateurs seulement quantitatifs et des changements demographiques donne une vision reductrice des trajectoires des villages et ignore des processus subtils d'adaptation locale qui sont masques par des donnees quantitatives. Notre recherche integre des donnees quantitatives 'externes' avec des donnees qualitatives 'internes,' incluant l'ethnographie visuelle, afin de developper une perspective plus equilibree montrant comment ces villages ont change et ce que le changement peut signifier localement. Ces objectifs sont realises en revisitant une methodologie 'Dirt research' applicable a un eventail large de recherche sur les villages ruraux et eloignes.
THE PURPOSE OF this paper is to first, confront the notion of 'rural decline' at the village level and second, to illustrate how a more immersive approach to demographic research [...]