Contemporary Catalonia Research Articles

Rebel bodies: feminism as resistance in the Catalan pro-independence left

ABSTRACT This article discusses the political potentialities of embodied feminist resistance in a nationalist setting like contemporary Catalonia. It strives to provide a better understanding of the body-gender-nation assemblage and pave the way for different formulas of resistance. I study how feminist nationalism in the Catalan pro-independence left opposes far-right populism through embodiment (rebel bodies), affects such as solidarity and companionship, and other visual, linguistic and political strategies. In this context, embodied feminism becomes a sentiment attached to a value system as well as a political strategy that produces particular gendered bodies that are political and confront and resist far-right populism and other forms of anti-genderism through feminism, affects and alternative ideals of the nation. Since anti-gender has become a key element in holding together various demands of right-wing populism (nationalism, religious fundamentalism and so on), it is urgent to study the connection of gender, nationalism and current politics in order to explore its effects in different ideological positions.

Language policy and the status of languages in contemporary Catalonia: a public debate

Language ideological debates are a constant feature of virtually all language contact situations, particularly in contexts of a conflictive nature. In this article, we analyse one recent debate about languages in Catalonia. In April 2016 a group of linguists and language professionals published a manifesto - the Manifest Koiné - that provoked an explosion of opinions in mass-media outlets in the region. In the article, we analyse both the content of the manifesto and the reactions that it sparked. Our analysis shows that in presenting the situation of Catalan in a rather pessimistic light, the manifesto finds itself in line with a long-solidified line of thought in the Catalan language imaginary. At the same time, the negative terms that are used to portray both Spanish and bilingualism in the manifesto are the points that gathered the strongest opposition during the debate. In addition, the single official status for Catalan in an imagined future independent state (the position implicitly endorsed by the manifesto) also was not supported in the debate. We conclude that these results are in line with the changing nature of the language ideological landscape that Catalonia has experienced over the last decades.

Repression and Dissent in Contemporary Catalonia

AbstractAn extensive literature in political science and sociology has analyzed how state repression shapes attempts by social movements to pursue political objectives. Less studied, however, is the effect that state repression of activists has on the broader public. Understanding public responses to repression is important, as both states and social movements take action with an eye toward (de)mobilizing broader constituencies. This letter analyzes this dynamic in the context of contemporary Catalonia, where the Spanish state cracked down on efforts by Catalan activists to hold a public referendum on independence. Matching poll respondents in the months before and after the crackdown in late 2017, the study finds that repression increased public sympathy for independence for a short period, and heightened animosity towards actors perceived to be associated or complicit with the Spanish state. The findings speak to the potential for state repression of nonviolent movements to create windows of opportunity for broader mobilization.

Language attitudes, linguistic authority and independence in 21st century Catalonia

ABSTRACT In a context of increasing linguistic and cultural diversity and political uncertainty in Catalonia, this article reports on a research project which set out to explore the attitudes of members of independence organisations operating in the city of Girona toward the Catalan and Spanish languages. This study approaches language attitudes through the theoretical lens of linguistic authority, in particular, the concepts of anonymity and authenticity. The data, gathered from six focus groups, provide an insight on the nature of linguistic authority in contemporary Catalonia. Two themes emerge in the informants’ discussion of Catalan and Spanish: ‘twenty-first Century Catalanisme’ and ‘Embracing Linguistic Diversity’. The comments of the respondents indicate that, against the backdrop of the independence process in the region, bilingualism and multilingualism have become highly valued in the territory. In addition, this study suggests that a fuller understanding of the situation in Catalonia may be facilitated by qualitative approaches, which explore attitudes in-depth.

THE RACIAL LIMITATIONS OF FREEDOM IN SANTIAGO RUSIÑOL’S LLIBERTAT!

(Català)Santiago Rusiñol’s 1901 play Llibertat! is known as a harsh critique of Catalan liberalism. Little scholarly attention, however, has been devoted to the racialized nature in which Rusiñol frames his satire. This article will demonstrate that the play uses the rejection of the racialized Other (Jaumet Negre) not only to highlight the hypocrisy of liberal Catalan political rhetoric but also as a way to critique the notion of freedom as a societal ideal. As Josep Maria Mestres’s 2013 mise en scène demonstrates, freedom does exist in Catalonia, but only for some, thus establishing a connection between the racial injustice experienced by Jaumet Negre and the racialized tension that has emerged in contemporary Catalonia as a result of immigration.

Athenaeums in Catalonia. Culture and sociability in the 19th and 20th centuries

This article presents an overview of the history of athenaeums in Catalonia during the 19th and 20th centuries until the transition to democracy in the 1980s. This article outlines the essential role played by athenaeums as the backbone of the country, particularly from the cultural standpoint, while also noting that in Catalonia athenaeums have clearly gone beyond their initial cultural mission to play a key role in the political development of contemporary Catalonia as well.

The Spectres Haunting Europe: Reading Contemporary Catalan Nationalism throughThe Break-Up of Britain

This article reads contemporary Catalan nationalist discourse through the lens of Tom Nairn’s polemical classicThe Break-Up of Britain. First published in 1977, that text presents key issues for understanding contemporary Catalonia. The first is the emergence of a national sentiment that is separate from that of anti-colonialism because it is characterized by a higher level of economic development than the place it is seeking to break from, but is the repository of a legitimate claim to self-determination. That is how Nairn sees the Northern Ireland–Éire relationship, and that is a good analogy for Spain–Catalonia. The second is the tension between what he sees as ‘indifferent’, that is to say strictly civic-political nationalism and a more linguistically or culturally-driven nationalism. This is also a key tension in Catalonia, where immigration has transformed the national movement towards an interculturalist ideology and ade factobilingualism (with Catalan and Spanish) remains a key but strategically unacknowledged element of that movement. The third aspect ofBreak-Up, and the synthesis of the comparison, is the importance of federalism, which is key for Nairn in seeing a way forward for the constituent countries of the UK and long a crucial, if notthecrucial, political element ofcatalanisme.

Repression and Dissent in Contemporary Catalonia

Repression and Dissent in Contemporary Catalonia

The Palimpsestic Past: Crime Fiction, Cultural Memory and Catalonia

This study examines the articulation of cultural memories in a number of contemporary Catalan crime novels through the metaphor of the palimpsest. The article develops our understanding of the specific contribution of crime fiction to memory studies in Spain more broadly by focusing on content and form. I argue that the palimpsestic narrative structure of crime fiction replicates the attempted suppression of the past and the multiple rewritings of history that have occurred from the Civil War onwards. This reading questions the importance given to the recovery of the first erased text – the story of the crime – in previous studies of historical crimes in Spanish detective fiction. Instead, it argues that the connection between the two textual layers is important for understanding the construction of cultural memories in contemporary Catalonia.

Iconografía femenina en la dramaturgia y la narrativa catalanas de entreguerras

This text analyses the feminine representation, its image and attire in the cultural cycle from Romanticism to the interwar period, which was a key moment in the socio-cultural landscape of contemporary Catalonia. The article focuses on plastic art, making special emphasis on theatre and narrative literature and evolving hand in hand with the progress of women’s liberation. Literary commentaries focus on the works by Carles Soldevila and Maria Teresa Vernet as narrators, as well as Avel·lí Artís and Carme Montoriol.

Sports, society and collective identity in contemporary Catalonia

In Catalonia, the introduction of modern in the late 19th century was considered tantamount to a quest to modernise society. Clubs organised by civil society played a key role in consolidating as both practice and entertainment, and in league with Catalanism these clubs sought to put forth Barcelona's candidacy to host the 1924 Olympics. The Franco dictatorship subjugated all activities and strove to eliminate the Catalanist and democratic meaning of organisations like Futbol Club Barcelona. The resumption of democracy rekindled all sports, with the drive for sports for everyone and the international recognition of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

The projection on the wall: What audio-visual architectural mapping says about Catalan identity

Abstract Audio-visual architectural mapping transforms the façades of buildings into something completely different. Projectors and speakers coordinate computer-controlled images and sound in order to impose a visual and audio remapping of the surface. Through the projection of simulated shadows, fixed architectural elements can be made to appear to move. The practice of superimposing dynamically changing information over city space offers a new way to write and tell stories that inextricably links architecture, technology, public space and urban planning. Drawing on recent studies that have linked urban spectacles, screens and public space, this article explores the relationship between audio-visual architectural mapping and the production of identity in contemporary Catalonia.

From Elegies de Bierville to Separatism: Constituent Power or Global War?

The elegy IX of Carles Riba's Elegies de Bierville, written in occupied France in 1941, contains an apparent contradiction about the role of war in the construction of democracy. On the one hand, Riba writes that, in order to found democracy, the Greeks did not have to win the war against Persia; all they needed was to recognize and accommodate the longing for freedom of a particular group of Athenians. On the other hand, however, the poem suggests in the end that war is also part of democracy, as those who are not free, the universal vanquished, can only regain their souls by acting as soldiers who fight for freedom. My paper undertakes a historical reading of Riba's political elegy and relates its contradiction to the emergence of separatism in contemporary Catalonia. My question is whether we must understand separatism as a longing for democracy or as a war to obtain state power. To formulate this question, I juxtapose Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri's notion of constituent power, which theorizes t...

Resistance and normalization: uses of the past and cultural discourses in contemporary Catalonia

Los seis articulos que componen este dossier de Digithum son versiones revisadas de ponencias presentadas en el seminario internacional Resistencialismo y Normalizacion: Usos del Pasado y Discursos Culturales en la Cataluna Contemporanea. Este seminario, llevado a cabo en Barcelona los dias 13 y 14 de diciembre de 2012, es el primero de una serie anual inscrita en el proyecto de investigacion Funciones del pasado en la cultura catalana contemporanea: institucionalizacion, representaciones e identidad (FFI2011-24751), que debera culminar en 2014 con la celebracion de un congreso internacional. El proyecto esta asociado al grupo de investigacion (GRE) Lengua, cultura e identidad en la era global (Identi.cat) de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.

"Linguistic immersion" and political conflict in contemporary Catalonia

This article focuses on linguistic policies in the educational system. It traces the tactics employed by the Catalan nationalist movement in its surprisingly successful pursuit of the goal of a Catalanised educational system. It documents the evolution of a particularly ambitious linguistic revitalisation program, a program that can be considered both intensive and extensive, and that has been implemented with dedication and ideological commitment in the last decades by different Catalan governments. It simultaneously analyses the significant political and constitutional controversies surrounding these policies, and closes with an exploration of the current pro-independence move of the Catalan government.

Liberalisme i Independentisme, O L'Esperit Treballador Català

An emergent discourse in contemporary Catalonia has linked economic liberalism and the project to constitute an independent state. By examining the journalistic texts of economist Xavier Sala i Martin and executive Xavier Roig, I show how this discourse reacts against two main and closely related phenomena: first, the fact that the restoration of the Generalitat after Francoism has entailed the statalization of Catalan civil society; and, second, the vanishing of the «entrepreneurial Catalan» as a central figure of the collective imaginary. My paper argues that the statalization of civil society and the devalorization of work are not conjunctural phenomena specific to Catalonia but structural tendencies of finance capitalism. To illustrate this point, I analyze Jordi Galceran's play El metode Gronholm, in which the main character, Ferran Auge, is the perfect expression of the contradiction between the «entrepreneurial Catalan» and multinational capitalism. I further argue that liberalism cannot contest these structural tendencies; on the contrary, these are the consequence of the fusion of the state and the market that is essential to neoliberal capitalism. In this respect, the separatism of this liberal discourse emerges as the desire that Catalonia can fully participate in the interstate competition for global capital.

The Sardana as a Socio-Cultural Phenomenon in Contemporary Catalonia

Si la « sardana » fut d'abord une danse collective locale au Nord de la Catalogne, elle s'etendit a toute la region entre la fin du 19 eme et le debut du 20 eme siecle avant d'etre consideree comme une danse nationale de la Catalogne. A cote de son caractere folklorique il faut noter sa valeur morale. Mais aujourd'hui cette danse veritablement consideree comme un mouvement social s'estompe