Through this module, students will be able to:

- Understand, explain, and identify issues and factors at play in the construction, maintenance, and articulation of Catalan identity.

- Detail the development of Catalan identity through historical facts and sites, as well as through an in-depth understanding of cultural production in the Catalan language.

- Explain the role played by the Catalans in shaping contemporary Iberian and European identities.

- Engage confidently in matters relating to Catalan culture and politics.

Week One - Meet the Catalans: Medieval Origins, Symbols, and the Founding of Catalan Identity

The Catalans have long, rich history and many contemporary Catalan symbols and institutions find their origins in Catalan medieval society. This week will be focused on the various symbols, such as La Senyera, and ideas, such as the development of medieval ‘democracy’ and holding royals to account, that play a key role in defining and distinguishing the Catalans.

In this part of the course, we will consider some of the debates and dynamics relating to gender and sexuality in the late medieval Catalan world. In our exploration of power and sexuality, we will explore the case of Ponç Hug d’Empúries (1277-1313), a successful Catalan knight whose sexuality would bring about his downfall. Sticking to the theme of power and its transfer between individuals and generations, we will then look at the figure of the pubilla, a woman who can inherit everything (land and riches). This will be contrasted with various literary texts that sought to limit women and their role within Catalan society, for example Espill (1460) by Jaume Roig. We will consider several prominent women with considerable power who are often overlooked within Catalan history, including:

Aldonça de Bellera, a Catalan noblewoman who led a peasant uprising (1370-1435)
Beatriu de Pinós, a learned Catalan noblewoman (1433-1484)
Margarida Borràs, a transgender Valencian woman who was murdered by the Inquisition (c. 1433-1460)

As we consider how symbols and sites are continually reused, recycled and reimagined in contemporary Catalan culture and identity, this section will end with an exploration of El roman de Flamenca, a proto-feminist novel in medieval Occitan from the thirteenth century and how the story is brought to life in Rosalia’s Castilian-language album, El mal querer (2018).


Week Two – An Unequal and Abusive Marriage? Conflict, Dissent, and the Incorporation of the Catalano-Aragonese Kingdoms into the New Concept of ‘Spain’

This week will be an exploration of conflict and struggles within Catalonia and against outside powers. We will begin by look at the Catalan Civil War (1462-1472) and its aftermath. Through the incorporation of the Catalan Countries within the new concept of Spain in 1469, sweeping economic changes and struggles for power created new tensions, which led to open revolt and conflict as seen in the Revolta de les Germanies (The Revolt of the Guilds / Brotherhoods) in Mallorca (1521) and Valencia (1519-1523).

Acknowledging the shake-up within Iberia as Portugal seeks its own independence from Spain, the module moves on to the Guerra dels Segadors (The Reapers’ War, 1640 to 1659), which inspired the Catalan national anthem, and which leads to the fragmentation of Catalonia as Spain agrees to give northern Catalonia to France. Various literary reactions to this conflict will also be examined. Our attention will then turn to the subsequent implementation of the Nueva Planta decrees (1707-1716), which saw Basque, Catalan, and Galician being replaced by Castilian. Surveying this panorama, we will look at the development of Catalan pessimism within the literature of the time and the new global dimension of Catalan literature:

Desengany del món (1649) by Francesc Fontanella i Garraver
Via fora els adormits (1734)
Record de l'Aliança fet al Sereníssim Jordi Augusto Rey de la Gran Bretanya (1736)


Weeks Three, Four, Five, and Six - Bursting into Bloom: Concepts and Debates in the Renaixença (the Catalan-language Revival), Catalan Modernisme, and Noucentisme

The 1800s see Catalan society undergoing immense changes, particularly on the economic front as industrialisation and the consolidation of Spain’s overseas empire create new wealth. A new elite seek to invest in their language and culture, which brings about a renaissance in the Catalan language, known as the Renaixença. This movement and act of language revival will be contrasted and compared with the Rexurdimento in Galicia, and the later Athbheochan na Gaeilge in Ireland.

Out of the Renaixença, we see the birth of two new artistic movements. First to manifest iself is the Modernisme movement, which is inspired by nature, the past, and symbolism. It is then followed by a new reactionary movement, Noucentisme, which is driven by an itching desire to be part of something bigger within Europe and the Mediterranean.

Modernisme is a unique moment in Catalan culture as it begins to not only shape the literary landscape, but also the urban one. We will discuss how the urban and rural landscapes are characterised and valued within Modernisme and Noucentisme, and focus on buildings and structures that reflect or challenge these ideals. Students will learn about the contrasts and connections between these artistic movements, as well as their representations within Catalan culture. All of this will be mapped out within the growing sentiment of Catalan nationalism, the creation of the Commonwealth of Catalonia, and associated cultural developments, such as the development of obligatory schooling, social programmes to combat illiteracy, and the creation of new centres for higher education.

We will consider the following texts that emerge within each movement:

La pàtria (1833) by Bonaventura Carles Aribau
L'Atlàntida (1877) and Canigó (1886) by Jacint Verdaguer
Plays by Àngel Guimerà and Santiago Rusiñol i Prats

La nacionalitat catalana (1906) by Enric Prat de la Riba i Sarrà
Llibre de la cuina catalana (1928) by Ferran Agulló i Vidal

We will also consider how women were side-lined within these artistic movements, the themes they explored, and how women ‘gate-crashed’ the party:

Infanticida (1898) by Víctor Català

We will also look at two texts that charter new developments in political Catalanism:
Lo Catalanisme (1886)
Missatge a la Reina Regent (1888)
Bases per a la Constitució Regional Catalana (1892)


Week Seven – Representing the ‘Other Catalans’

This week is dedicated to the other(ed) Catalans, as well as the ‘Insiders and Outsiders’ who enrich and complicate Catalan identity. Centring our focus on Paco Candel’s seminal text, Els altres Catalans (1964), we will look at how social groups and specific identities (the lower classes, gypsies, the disabled, sexual and racial minorities) are depicted in Catalan-language literary works from 1898 onwards. This will include a survey of individuals and the questions relating to identity that emerge in their work, as well as the artistic contributions from Catalan anarchism.

With Spain’s overseas empire abruptly coming to an end in 1898, many Catalans returned home. For some, whilst they identified as Catalans, they had never been to their homeland. To better understand the mood of the time, we will look at the representation of Black and Mixed-Race Catalans and feelings of colonial guilt in two plays from the beginning of the twentieth century.


Week Eight – Reading Week

Students will be assigned a text to read and will be expected to complete their assessment.


Weeks Nine and Ten - Tomba l’estaca! Catalan Culture against Francoism

The Franco dictatorship (1939-1975) represents some of the darkest moments for Catalan culture and language. This week’s classes will reflect on linguistic discrimination under Franco, censorship and outlawing of publications in Catalan, and how Catalans worked to resist the imposition of Spanish. To understand some of the emotions and ideas held by young Catalans, and to inquire as to what post-Franco futures they had in mind, we will look at several plays created by young Catalan dramaturgs in the final years and direct aftermath of the Franco regime.

These creative literary outbursts will be complemented by an analysis of the Nova Cançó (‘New Song’), a musical movement that sought to create more songs in Catalan and, at the same time, revive Catalan cultural memory and denounce the injustices of the Franco regime. We will consider the following singers and songs from across the Catalan Countries:

Raimon (Valencian Country): De vegades la pau (1969), and Jo vinc d’un silenci (1975)

Lluís Llach (Catalonia): L’Estaca (1968) and Morir en aquesta vida (1974)

Maria del Mar Bonet (Mallorca): Què volen aquesta gent? (1968)

Biel Majoral (Mallorca): Dansa de L'odi Sobre la Tomba de Franco (poem/chant/mock prayer)

Núria Feliu (Catalonia): Mireu com va, mireu com ve (1981)


Week Eleven – A New Dawn? Catalan Culture after the Regime Change of 1975

The death of Franco in 1975, which sees power being transferred to the House of Bourbon, is a moment of brief celebration for Catalan culture. The continued marginalisation of Catalan language and culture, alongside the frustrations of wanting to see real social change, sow the seed of dissent. At the same time, the Rambla becomes the catwalk for one of Barcelona’s most famous dragqueens, Ocaña.

We will analyse songs of discontent:
Qualsevol nit pot sortir el sol (1975) by Jaume Sisa
Companys, no és això (1978) by Lluís Llach

And we will look at new explorations of Catalan identity in film, all of which are available with English subtitles:
Ocaña, retrato intermitente (1978)
El mar (2000), based on the 1958 novel by Blai Bonet
Pà negre (2010), based on Emili Teixidor’s 2003 novel


Week Twelve -

In the final week, we will run through an overview of the content covered in this module and map out the evolution of Catalan cultural production, whilst acknowledging different challenges, changes in the mood of the Catalans, and moments of oppression.

Not applicable to this module.

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

Feedback as required prior to submission and afterwards.