The spreading of a counter-culture

The example of the french back-to-the-land movement (1968-2018)

Resumo

This article studies the 60s-70s counterculture, taking the example of the French back-to-the-land movement that spread after the May 1968 revolt. It is based on an ongoing ethnographic research started in 2008 in the Pyrenees. After having outlined an atlas of the French back-to-the-land phenomenon, my aim is to analyze its reasons and persistences, 50 years after first people moved to the countryside to live in intentional communities. Some of the areas invested by those people still preserve the original counter-cultural spirit of the 60s-70s, attracting until today « new settlers » trying to live differently form the rest of the society, defend nature and re-create sustainable communities.