Colonists under Franco: rural masculinity during the dictatorship … and beyond

This article examines the construction of rural masculinity in Spain under Franco. Based on oral sources and institutional documentation, it analyzes the effects of the regime's colonization policy on rural men in the post-civil war context. The article explores the dominant ideal of agrarian masculinity used to convey the image of the good farmworker in a new Spain, based on hard work and an idealized relationship between farmers and the land, all promoted by the agrarian reform discourse of the Franco regime. This figure did not only have a critical economic value in times of shortage, but also a social and symbolic value, as it reinforced a patriarchal system that marginalized women, relegating them to tasks considered secondary and establishing discourses that are still prevalent today. • Analysis of rural masculinity construction in Francoist Spain. • Impact of colonization policy on rural men in the post-civil war period. • Agrarian masculinity ideal used as a tool in Franco's agrarian reform discourse. • The farmworker figure held economic and symbolic value during times of scarcity. • Reinforcement of a patriarchal system that marginalized women in rural society.