Description :
As part of the European project Tramontana Network (Réseau Tramontana / Rede Tramontana), co-financed by the European Union, this episode of Radio Pays’ “Orality and Humanity” explores oral testimonies and local memories as a way of understanding rural territories, their cultures and their people. Concluding the cycle dedicated to Bailonese, the programme brings together the voices of inhabitants who reflect on their relationship with the land, language, history and the struggles that have shaped their communities. Through personal narratives, the episode highlights the importance of oral heritage in preserving collective identity and transmitting experiences across generations.
The first part of the programme focuses on the testimonies of Jacky and Colette, two people who chose a rural way of life and settled in the countryside after the post-war period. They discuss their experience as newcomers, the social perceptions they faced, and the gradual changes in local attitudes towards people coming from elsewhere. Their reflections address self-sufficiency, agricultural practices, traditional knowledge, food production, and the importance of maintaining skills such as farming, craftsmanship and local forms of cooperation. Jacky also shares his links with Bolivian rural communities, his views on indigenous knowledge, the relationship with nature, and the need to protect common goods such as land and water.
The second part presents Martina’s testimony, centred on language, literature and cultural resistance. She describes her discovery of Occitan as a source of identity and belonging, after a period when the language was considered merely a “patois” and undervalued. Through her memories of the Larzac movement, poetry, Jean Boudou’s writings and the defence of local culture, Martina reflects on the links between language, social struggles and openness to the world. Her story shows how oral expression, memory and cultural engagement can become tools for questioning society, preserving diversity and imagining a more humane future.