Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Águeda Villa Díaz
Title: Los paisajes agrarios de cortijos, haciendas y lagares: Paisajes icónicos de la vida rural en Andalucía
Abstract: RESUMEN:
Los paisajes de las campiñas del Río Guadalquivir asociados a las grandes explotaciones
agrarias denominadas como cortijos, haciendas y lagares, son el corolario de un sustrato físico
relativamente joven (fi niterciario y cuaternario) y cuentan con un largo recorrido histórico, siempre
vinculado a la agricultura de las grandes explotaciones agrarias. La centralidad geográfi ca y
socioeconómica de estos paisajes ha dado lugar a la existencia de un importante volumen de
información producido desde distintas disciplinas y que permite el conocimiento necesario y sufi -
ciente para acercarse a sus paisajes. Por otra parte son numerosas las recreaciones artísticas del,
por antonomasia, campo andaluz ocupando en todas el paisaje un lugar central. Este artículo se
ha concebido como una primera aproximación a estos paisajes desde la literatura, concretamente
desde ocho obras que han ido apareciendo a lo largo del siglo XX y concebidas desde posturas
muy distintas pero donde el paisaje aparece como el gran escenario donde se imbrican tanto los
elementos como las relaciones de su medio físico y humano. A partir de esta premisa y combinando
palabra e imagen se realiza este primer acercamiento a los paisajes de las campiñas béticas a
partir de cuatro ejes interpretativos: las grandes vistas, el vínculo con la tierra, la casa y la vida en
las fi ncas y la estacionalidad.
ABSTRACT:
The countrysides of Andalucía are varied enough to warrant the use of this plural terminology.
One of the reasons for this variety is the sheer size of the area covered, since they follow much
of the River Guadalquivir along its 600 km course, through the provinces of Jaén, Córdoba and
Sevilla, with the highest concentration on the left bank of the mid valley, although they stretch south west towards Cádiz and even west towards the peripheral plains of Huelva. These countrysides create a continuous strip where the edges become blurred as they accommodate the tormented and ragged profi les of the Bética mountains, after which they spread out over different altitudes which - in the form of large and unequal steps - sweep down from the mountains and gradually occupy the large central river bed until they reach the river course itself, which erodes the Hercinian bedrock as it fl ows through.
The structural foundation of this great valley stretching over 35,000 km2 was laid through
the sedimentary fi lling process which began in the Miocene age although the fi nal movements of
the Alpine orogeny were still active, with the rest of the Tertiary and Quaternary ages continuing in
complete orogenic calm, albeit subject to climatic alterations. This variety of events has caused the
Guadalquivir depression to be differentiated into various sub-units of countrysides: the river plain, the low-lying countryside, the Villafranciese glacis and the high-lying countryside. The specifi c materials, altitudes, morphologies and soils of these sub-units paint varied landscapes that share an agrarian vocation, a social-historical process and a strong connection between crops and architectures.
These countryside landscapes are equally determined by their central location within the
region, which gives them a very privileged position in terms of their visibility, particularly the landscapes immediately surrounding the major communication and transport links. Hence, with their
open horizons and soft clean lines, they have become one of the most typical and stereotypical
images of Andalucía as a whole, specifi cally the Andalucía that is identifi ed with orchards dominated by large estates.
The adoption of the term Latifundio for these large farming estates and what this has meant
for the social and economic history of Andalucía over the last 150 years, endows these landscapes
with a multitude of meanings, where the capacity of the landscape as palimpsest takes on particular
importance, as does the need to turn to artistic expressions to attain true perception, understanding
and interpretation. This capacity to represent the essence of Andalucía is refl ected very well in the
recurring presence the countrysides and their landscapes in disciplines such as history, geography,
agronomy, anthropology etc., as well as artistic expressions, since there have been and indeed are
multiple and varied creative gazes of -by antonomasia- Andalucías countryside, recreated by painters, writers, photographers and fi lmmakers, recreations in which the landscape plays a central role.
The agrarian landscapes of these countrysides, owing to their dependence on the annual
climatic cycle and its systems and crop types, inscribe this extreme region in the timelessness of the
Mediterranean world. Wheat, grapes and olives are the holy fruits which, accompanied by fruit trees
and other crops, make up the triad that balances the Mediterranean; in the words of F. Braudel:
All life must be balanced. Or it will disappear: which is not the case with Mediterranean
life, vivacious and indestructible. Life in this region is certainly tough, often precarious, and
its balance regularly shifts against man, condemning him to endless sobriety. (Braudel,
1985, p.9) Perhaps this diffi culty and sobriety sustains the beauty we fi nd in these landscapes and the pleasure derived from their contemplation. Landscapes which, in this article, are shown as a fabric where certain physical, historical and social determinants have formed a dense strong web to
construct their current images as civilised rural landscapes, serenely productive. Calming images
maybe, but the gradual emptying of country people also empties them of many of their meanings,
some of which are very recent which makes it diffi cult to know and understand them. There could
be many different ways of approaching these representative landscapes of Andalucía, but this
paper proposes the importance of always incorporating their artistic manifestations, where the
land is always present:
Drinking Corinthian sun, reading the marble ruins, striding through vineyards and seas
aiming the harpoon at a votive fi sh that slips away found the leaves the suns psalm learns
by heart, the living earth desire rejoices. (Elytis, 1943, p. 8).
Classification-JEL: R1
Keywords: Paisaje, Campiñas, Río Guadalquivir, Cortijos, Hacienda, Lagares, Mediterraneidad, Latifundio, Landscape, Countrysides, The Guadalquivir, Farmhouses, Household tasks, Presses, Large estate, Artistic expressions
Pages: 293-319
Volume: 01
Year: 2013
File-URL: http://www.revistaestudiosregionales.com/documentos/articulos/pdf1212.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:rer:articu:v:01:y:2013:p:293-319