| dc.description.abstract | Rural and agrarian societies are increasingly transformed through processes of agricultural expansion, industrialization, and market capitalism, imposing an economic squeeze on the small-scale farming sector. In Sweden, this results in a continuous decline in the number of farms and an aging farmer population, posing challenges for the sector’s future. Simultaneously, there is an increasing public interest for local and sustainable food, driven by concerns for climate change, self-sufficiency, and civil preparedness in the face of crisis, as well as common imaginaries of the good life on the countryside. Focusing on aspirations as drivers of rural development processes, this study is inspired by research within critical agrarian studies and rural geography, contributing to research on the geographies of wellbeing. The aim of this thesis is to explore the rural aspirations of small-scale farmers in Västmanland, Sweden, using imaginaries of ‘the good life’ as a lens, and how these aspirations are connected to rural development processes. It does so by using conceptualizations of ‘the good life’ (Fischer 2014) and rural aspirations (Bennike, Rasmussen, and Nielsen 2020), as well as semi- structured interviews and participative observation with four farming families. Findings suggest that their aspirations for the good life are shaped by what they deem meaningful and are rooted in their relationship to the land and the rural community. Past experiences and political, economic, and cultural structures shape their perceptions of conditions of possibility for the future, influencing their decisions about farming activities and the future of their farms. These aspirations incorporate both anticipatory and transformative visions of the future in the face of modern, capitalistic rural development, but in seeking alternative pathways to build a sustainable farm economy and to farm according to their values of ecological and social sustainability, the farmers in this study largely follow a transformative direction. As they engage in strengthening the small-scale farming sector and their rural communities, the farmers in this study navigate between their individual aspirations and aspirations rooted in rural collectives and embody the social capacity and potential provided by rural people themselves. | eng |