Land of welcome, land of fear: explaining approaches to ‘new’ diversity in Catalonia and South Tyrol

Who is on our side? complexities of national identification among native and immigrant youth in Catalonia

“…On the one hand, we know that Catalan nationalists portray the Catalan identity as inherently inclusive (e.g., Conversi, 1990;Erickson, 2011;Woolard, 2016). The Catalan independence movement does reject identification with Spain, but displays openness to immigrants seemingly in hopes that nationalized immigrants might eventually support Catalan independence (Carlà, 2018). On the other hand, Spanish-identifying residents of Catalonia, and who are much less likely to support Catalan independence, are much more likely to oppose immigrants and immigration (see Wilson-Daily et al, 2018;cf.…”

“…Whereas Catalan identity may certainly be based on ancestry and heritage, one would expect Catalan identity to be highly influential as a civic identity as well. Consistent with this idea, Catalan independence supporters have specifically reached out and argued for the inclusion of immigrants (see Carlà, 2018;Franco-Guillén, 2015). The idea of being Catalan reflecting a civic identity has long played a role in Catalan integrationist discourse through the concept of convivència.…”

“…Recent studies have argued that sub-state nations generally tend to be open to immigrants and to their adoption of host national identities with the aim of cultural or political perpetuation (e.g., Blad & Couton, 2009;Conversi & Jeram, 2017;Jeram, 2013). Catalonia seems to be no exception in this regard (e.g., Carlà, 2018;Conversi, 1990;Erickson, 2011). Whereas Catalan identity may certainly be based on ancestry and heritage, one would expect Catalan identity to be highly influential as a civic identity as well.…”

Majority nation‐building through language requirements: Minority perspectives from EU27

“…Taking Catalonia as an example, Kymlicka has stated that immigrants who choose to learn the nationally dominant Spanish language rather than Catalan do not make a ‘neutral’ choice, but ‘are de facto integrating into the language, institutions and expectations of the dominant group’ (Kymlicka, 2011, p. 292), which may counter the identity interests of Catalans. The choice is to a certain extent regulated through the promotion of the Catalan language in integration within the Catalan territory (Carlà, 2018). Pujolar has identified a dichotomy between an instrumental, work‐related integration that is expected to take place in Spanish alongside a symbolic, cultural integration expected to take place in the Catalan language (Pujolar, 2010, p. 240).…”

“…75–76). Research on immigrant integration carried out on substates, such as Quebec (Barker, 2015; Kymlicka, 2001; Taylor, 1994), the Basque Country (Jeram & Adam, 2015), Wales (Augustyniak & Higham, 2019), Catalonia (Hepburn & Zapata‐Barrero, 2014), Scotland (de Casanova, 2014), Galicia (Bermingham & Higham, 2018), and South Tyrol (Carlà, 2018; Strazzari, 2016), shows how such territories operate to some extent like nation‐states in relation to immigration and thereby make nation‐state‐like requirements on immigrants, albeit not nationally but regionally.…”