CIAO DATE: 08/2008

Who Are the Catalans? Language, Identity and Assimilation in Contemporary Catalonia

January 2008

Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Abstract

This paper analyzes patterns of linguistic adaptation, cultural assimilation, and hidden contestation in contemporary Catalonia. It makes use of public opinion data available for the general population there, compared and contrasted with the results of primary research from 355 inter-views conducted by this author with a random sample of Catalan politicians and schoolteachers. In the process, it assesses the relative merits of the “competitive assimilation” thesis, the domi-nant framework for understanding the dynamics of language politics in Catalonia. It contends that this thesis is critically flawed, both as description and as explanation.

Resource link: Who Are the Catalans? Language, Identity and Assimilation in Contemporary Catalonia [PDF] - 632K