Constructing Catalan Identity

This is a book about how Catalans use their past, real and imagined, in the construction of their present and future. Michael A. Vargas inventories the significant people, signal events, and familiar icons that constitute the Catalan collective memory, from Wilfred the Hairy and Sant Jordi to the mountain monastery of Montserrat, red peasant caps, and human towers in town squares. He then considers how that inventory is employed to posit a brilliant political heritage at the forefront of modern European democracyand for some, to build a powerful independence movement. As the future of Catalonia remains fraught, this book offers a lively and engaging exploration of how we draw upon history to confront contemporary challenges.

Offers an accessible, engaging study of Catalonia's medieval past and how it is used to construct cultural and political identity Appeals to students and scholars of European history, nationalism, memory studies, and medievalism Concludes with reflections on the 2017 referendum and declaration of independence

Auteur
Michael A. Vargas is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the State University of New York at New Paltz, USA. He is the author of Taming a Brood of Vipers: Conflict and Change in Fourteenth-Century Dominican Convents (2011).

Contenu

1. Introduction.- I. Inventory.- 2. Events and Accidents.- 3. Princes and People.- 4. Patrons, Protectors, and Creative Defenders.- 5. Castle, Coast, and Cathedral.- II. Making Meaning.- 6. Decadence and Renaissance.- 7. Medievalizing and Modernizing.- 8. Fighting Words. 9. Epilogue: In an October of Another Year. <p