Despite the crisis: The resilience of intercultural nationalism in Catalonia
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12323 |
| Published date | 01 April 2017 |
| Author | Daniele Conversi,Sanjay Jeram |
| Date | 01 April 2017 |
Despite the crisis: The resilience of
intercultural nationalism in Catalonia
Daniele Conversi*
,
** and Sanjay Jeram***
ABSTRACT
Interculturalism provides the core framework for immigration-related policies in Catalonia,
while remaining deeply intertwined with Catalan nationalism. We first identify ‘intercultural
nationalism’as the core doctrine through which Catalan nationalist discourse has been articu-
lated in relation to immigration. We trace interculturalism’s origins to nationalism in Quebec
and argue that, in Catalonia also, regional immigration policies have been constructed in oppo-
sition to those of the central state, while attempting to involve immigrants closely in subna-
tional belonging and social cohesion. Second, we investigate whether interculturalism is
durable during economic and political crises, arguing that intercultural policies did not change
following the economic recession of the 2010s. This harmonises with broader interpretations
that de-emphasise the role of economic factors in ethnic conflicts. In conclusion we note how
the continuing resilience of interculturalism in Catalan policies on immigration contrasts shar-
ply with the rise of xenophobia elsewhere.
INTRODUCTION
Recent debates about diversity in liberal democracies have highlighted a trend in policymakers’
vocabularies –they have abandoned the formerly popular concept of multiculturalism. Multicultur-
alism has become a victim of a broader reconfiguration of power relations and political priorities
following 9/11 and the “global war on terror”(Castles, 2011). In fact, it “has become so mired in
controversy and is so maligned in public debate that its semantic capital, as it were, has been
spent”(Levey, 2012: 223). Within the English-speaking world in particular it is possible to speak
about a “coordinated attack on multiculturalism”(Fekete, 2011).
Recent scholarship focusing on integration discourse in sub-state nations has revealed that most
stateless nationalist and regionalist parties (SNRPs) have not jumped on the anti-multiculturalism
bandwagon (Barker, 2010; Hepburn, 2011; Jeram et al., 2016). SNRPs are important to the poli-
tics of multinational states since they form governments in regional parliaments and often wield
influence in state-level politics (Lecours, 2012). In Catalonia, the nationalist federation Con-
verg
encia i Uni
o(CiU) led the regional parliament from 1979 to 2003, returning to government in
2010.
1
In reality, SNRPs have simultaneously pursued both multicultural policies that provide some
additional form of public support for the retention of immigrant cultural identities, and practices
and assimilationist policies that incorporate newcomers according to a one-sided process of
* IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
** Department of Contemporary History, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain
*** Simon Fraser University
doi: 10.1111/imig.12323
©2017 The Authors
International Migration ©2017 IOM
International Migration Vol. 55 (2) 2017
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
To continue reading
Request your trial