Resilience of rural cultural landscapes: A case study of hazelnut in the Giresun-Ordu subregion

Abstract

This article examines the resilience of the rural cultural landscape (RCL) shaped by hazelnut production in the Eastern Black Sea Region of T & uuml;rkiye. Addressing the cultural landscapes shaped by agricultural production with their economic dimensions constitutes the original aspect of the article. In the study, the resilience of RCLs is discussed in the context of the socioecological resilience approach. The main aim is to evaluate the resilience of the RCL of the region by identifying causal relationships between socio-cultural, economic, and institutional dynamics in the Giresun-Ordu Subregion. In the study, historical profiling, which enables the provision of context-specific detailed information, has been adopted. Within the scope of the article, the effects of the historical change and development of socio-cultural, economic, and institutional dynamics in the Giresun-Ordu sub-region on the RCL of the region are analyzed comparatively in three periods. This comparison has been carried out through agricultural production mode-methodeconomy, social structure and culture, and physical space features. The changing, unchanging, and evolving characteristics of the rural cultural landscape of the region were identified. As a result of the method followed and the evaluations made, migration and demographic changes in the region have brought about adaptations in the agricultural production style, method, and economy. These adaptations have transformed the way of life by making migration permanent and continuous. It is possible to say that the rural cultural landscape of the region, which can continue its traditional economic and social structure by adapting to all these changes and transformations, is resilient.