Dimensiones territoriales de la ruralidad: sinuosa narrativa desde un cercano ayer a los rumbos de hoy

This contribution examines the trajectory of rural territoriality, particularly in Latin America, based on four narratives from different periods of the past century: agrarian structuralism, regional-cultural, systemic-functional and new ruralities. Critical readings of some social science bibliographic sources reveal that the traditional rural-territorial relationship, based fundamentally on agriculture, has been repositioned in academic and public policy spheres by accelerated global changes. However, the instantaneousness and simultaneity of socio-economic, cultural, environmental and spatial activities complicated, even more, its explanation and theoretical interpretation. In fact, territorial approaches and new ruralities advance more in the empirical dimension than in the epistemological one, an evident trend in the adoption of rural territorial development in several countries of the region. This is why the theoretical interpretation of rural territories continues to represent a challenge in the social sciences.