Continuity and change in intergenerational relationships: hazelnut-farming families in Giresun, Turkey

This article investigates transforming intergenerational relationships within hazelnut-farming families in Giresun, Turkey, amid profound socio-economic changes. Addressing the paradox of simultaneous rupture in agricultural practice and continuity in belonging, the article draws on qualitative fieldwork conducted across 17 villages in 2023. Utilising a multi-method design that includes oral histories, expert interviews and participant observation, we employ a dual theoretical framework bridging the life-course perspective with intergenerationality. Analysis reveals that the rupture is an active family strategy driven by a ‘save yourself’ discourse, where elders deliberately disrupt knowledge transmission to propel youth towards formal education. However, families actively reconstruct the generational order to preserve belonging, transforming the hazelnut grove from a space of labour into a place of memory. Through digital connections and myths of return, families sustain rootedness, demonstrating that intergenerational bonds are resiliently renegotiated from material dependence to symbolic attachment.