This volume offers an overview of the ongoing debate regarding nationalism, globalisation, secessionism and languages in 21st century Catalonia. At the heart of the book is a set of interlocking questions relating to socio-political issues in sub-state nations seeking independence in the 21st century.

This volume helps us to understand that the current political disorders in Catalonia have deep cultural roots. It focuses on the rise of Catalan cultural, national and linguistic identity in the 20th century. What is happening in Catalonia? What lies behind its political conflicts? Catalan identity has been evolving for centuries, starting in early medieval ages (11th and 12lve centuries). It is not a modern phenomenon. The emergence of imperial Spain in the 16 c. and the French Ancien Régime in the 17 c. correlates with a decline of Catalan culture, which was politically absorbed by the Spanish state after the conquest of Barcelona in 1714. However, Catalan language and culture flourished again under the stimulus of the European Romantic Nationalism movement (known as the Renaixença in Catalonia). During the first Dictatorship (Primo de Rivera, 1923-1930), the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and the long Francoist era (1939-1975), Catalan language and culture were repressed, yet refurbished and reconstructed at the same time. This rise of a plural, complex, and non-homogeneous Catalan identity constitutes the subject matter of this volume. National conflicts that emerged later in the Spanish democratic state leant heavily on the life engagement and vital commitment experienced by the entrenched intellectual movements of the twentieth century in Catalonia, Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands. This book reveals the cultural and literary grassroots of these conflicts.

How does popular culture reflect and shape identity politics in the secessionist climate of contemporary Catalonia?

Winner of the Ramon Llull International Prize Winner of the 2017 Society for Linguistic Anthropology Edward Sapir Book Prize A vibrant and surprisingly powerful civic and political movement for an independent Catalonia has brought renewed urgency to questions about what it means, personally and politically, to speak or not to speak Catalan and to claim Catalan identity. In this book, Kathryn Woolard develops a framework for analyzing ideologies of linguistic authority and uses it to illuminate the politics of language in Spain and Catalonia, where Catalan jostles with Castilian for legitimacy. Longitudinal research across decades of political autonomy contextualizes this ethnographic study of the social meaning of Catalan in the 21st century. Part I lays out the ideologies of linguistic authenticity, anonymity, and naturalism that typically underpin linguistic authority in the modern western world, and gives an overview of a shift in the ideological grounding of linguistic authority in contemporary Catalonia. Part II examines discourses in the media surrounding three public linguistic controversies: an immigrant president's linguistic competence, a municipal festival, and an international book fair. Part III explores individuals' linguistic practices and views, drawing on classroom ethnographies and interviews with two generations of young people from the same high school. The book argues that there is an ongoing shift at both public and personal levels away from the ethnolinguistic authenticity that powered relations in the early transition to political autonomy, and toward new discourses of anonymity, rooted cosmopolitanism, and authenticity understood as a project rather than a matter of origins and essence. This shift is reflected in the current sovereignty movement.

Nationalism has recently been the focus of considerable interest, but relatively little is known about nation-building and competing identities in Spain and Portugal. In examining the roots of Iberian nationalism, and the conflicts and tensions which have come to the fore in the twentieth century, this timely collection offers a broad interdisciplinary base and socio-historical context through which to understand the region's nationalist challenges. Topics include:- how nationalism is constructed and used as a tool by political groups;- how language is used as a nationalist emblem; and- how cultural representations of nationalism manifest themselves at both a popular level and at the level of elites.This book will provide a welcome addition to Iberian studies and invaluable insights for students and specialists alike.

Recent political developments in Spain regarding Catalonia have prompted scholars from several disciplines to research the singularity of this region and of the territories of the old Crown of Aragon. Against the backdrop of the pro-independence movement, those in favor and against have insisted on the particularity or commonality of Catalonia and the Països Catalans (Catalan-speaking areas) within the Spanish State. From the Catalan point of view, their singularity is not sufficiently recognized, and respect for their institutions and their autonomy is at stake to the point that many prefer to secede from Spain. Singularity or its absence play a relevant role in the construction of identity, which seems to be key in understanding many Catalans' attitudes towards the central government, a fluid concept that allows for a variety of interpretations. History of Catalonia and Its Implications for Contemporary Nationalism and Cultural Conflict is a critical reference book that centers around the topic of Catalan cultural and linguistic identity. With input from renowned scholars in several fields, the chapters explore the issue of Catalan identity from a variety of perspectives. While highlighting the legal and historical component to identity and also sociolinguistics and political linguistics, this book is ideally intended for scholars in the fields of Hispanic studies, history, linguistics, political science, and literary studies as well as practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in contemporary politics and the political developments in Spain regarding Catalonia.

This book deals with the events leading up to the 1936 Popular Olympics which would have united the Popular Front in opposition to the Berlin Olympics. It also discusses the days after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War which began on the same day the games were due to start. Using a variety of primary and secondary sources, the book traces the biographies of several Popular Olympians who would go on to volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. The book also examines the planned events and locations for the Popular Olympics as well as the international funding that the games secured. The book argues that the events were a departure from Workers’ Sport as well as the IOC’s Olympic games and represented an important cultural manifestation of the Popular Front.

A comprehensive and revealing compilation of essays analyzing the varied dimensions of national identities and nationalisms across world regions and through time. The pervasiveness of nationalism, its many manifestations over the centuries, and the widely scattered way it has been studied make it a particularly difficult subject to approach and explore. ABC-CLIO offers the finest comprehensive reference available on an essential topic in modern world history. Across four volumes, Nations and Nationalism: A Global Historical Overview covers all aspects of nationalism, in all parts of the world, from the time of the French Revolution to the present day. Nations and Nationalism helps students, researchers, and other interested readers explore national identities and nationalistic movements in historical context. Organized chronologically, its four volumes combine thematic essays on different characteristics of nationalism with case studies of key historical developments involving specific nations at specific times. The encyclopedia focuses on Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, with featured coverage of nationalist cultural creations, including literature, music, symbols, and mythologies.

This manual is intended to fill a gap in the area of Romance studies. There is no introduction available so far that broadly covers the field of Catalan linguistics, neither in Catalan nor in any other language. The work deals with the language spoken in Catalonia and Andorra, the Balearic Islands, the region of Valencia, Northern Catalonia and the town of l'Alguer in Sardinia. Besides introducing the ideologies of language and nation and the history of Catalan linguistics, the manual is divided into separate parts embracing the description – grammar, lexicon, variation and varieties – and the history of the language since the early medieval period to the present day. It also covers its current social and political situation in the new local and global contexts. The main emphasis is placed on modern Catalan. The manual is designed as a companion for students of Catalan, while also introducing specialists of other languages into this field, in particular scholars of Romance languages.

Focusing on autonomy in countries whose societies are marked by ethnic diversity, this work examines the effects of territorial solutions to the safeguarding of cultural identities. Contributors distinguish among types of autonomy and their impact on pluralism, democracy and unity of the state.