Course 3: James Hawkey

Language and migration in the Catalan-speaking world

Justificació del curs

We live in a world characterised by increased mobility and globalisation. Politicians across the globe have weaponised the ‘migrant crisis’ in a bid to push right-wing agendas and curtail the rights of those living within their borders, be that permanently or temporarily. Recent years have seen a notable increase of migration into Europe, with Catalan-speaking areas as frequent destinations for those seeking a better future. But how does this impact the future of the Catalan language? How does the arrival of people who are not competent in the language contribute to the continued minoritisation of Catalan? To what extent do newcomers need to learn Catalan in order to integrate? And how might this force us to potentially reconsider the traditional power dynamics between Catalan and Spanish? This course brings together language rights, public policy and a focus on contemporary social issues, and will lead to interesting and timely discussions on the best ways to ensure the continued survival of Catalan in a globalising world.

Breu descripció del curs

This course will focus on theories of power and migration in the context of the Catalan language. After years of oppression, does Catalan now occupy a position of hegemonic dominance over Spanish in Catalan-speaking society? If so, how do these systems of linguistic power operate? How is Catalan represented in public policy, and how are these ideas of language and power discursively constructed, sustained and challenged by individuals? And what about migrants to Catalan-speaking areas – how do they engage with this ‘small’ language when it exists alongside the colossus that is Spanish?

In the theoretical sessions, you will learn about language and power, as well as the recent history of language and migration policy in different parts of the Catalan-speaking world. These will partly take the form of lectures, but I will also want your input. I will get you to think about questions of language and social justice, and how these manifest in the Catalan context. In the practical sessions, we will examine specific language and migration policy texts, and discuss how these shape the future of the Catalan language. We will also undertake critical readings of current scholarly criticism in the field, to further our knowledge of how we can relate the issues facing Catalan to other analogous cases worldwide.

You don’t need a background in sociolinguistics – just your curiosity and enthusiasm! Together, we’ll share what we know about power and migration, and learn more about the diversity contained within the Catalan-speaking world.

Esborrany del programa

Interactive Plenary Session 1 (1 hour). We will examine the discourses that have surrounded the Catalan and Spanish languages in Catalonia in recent decades. What is said about each of these languages in the media, by politicians, by intellectuals, by ordinary citizens? Focusing on the themes of authenticity and anonymity, we will ascertain how power circulates in twenty-first century Catalonia, and how this is connected to language.

Interactive Plenary Session 2 (1 hour). We will take a look at recent Catalan policies that seek to ensure the linguistic and social integration of migrants to Catalonia. Many migrants come from other Spanish-speaking countries, and so how are these people incentivised to learn Catalan? How important is migrant engagement for the future vitality of the Catalan language?

Seminar Session (1.5 hours). We will examine policy texts that address issues of language and the integration of newcomers into Catalan-speaking territories. We will undertake a comparative analysis of different texts and link this to the theoretical issues learned in the first two classes.

Tutorial Session (1 hour). This final session will give you the opportunity to clarify any doubts or queries you may have.

Bibliografia bàsica

Alarcón, A. i Garzón, L. 2013. Children of immigrants and social mobility in officially bilingual societies: The case of Catalonia. Spanish in Context 10.1: 92-113.

Alarcón, A. i Parella, S. 2013. Linguistic integration of the descendants of foreign immigrants in Catalonia. Migraciones Internacionales 7.1, 101-130.

Ali, F. i Ready, C. 2021. Integration or assimilation? A comparative intertextual analysis of language policy in Madrid and Catalonia. International Journal of Language and Law 10: 24-47.

Appadurai, Arjun. 1996. Modernity at Large. University of Minnesota Press.

Atkinson, David. 2018. ‘Catalan and Spanish in an independent Catalonia: Linguistic authority and officiality’, Language in Society 47: 763-785.

Barakos, Elisabeth and Unger, Johann W. (eds.) 2016. Discursive Approaches to Language Policy. Palgrave Macmillan.

Blommaert, Jan. 2010. The Sociolinguistics of Globalization. CUP.

Flors-Mas, Avel.lí. 2021. Immigration and languages in Catalonia: From policies to results. Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research 27.2: 368-385.

Frekko, Susan E. 2009. ‘“Normal” in Catalonia: Standard language, enregisterment and the imagination of a national public’, Language in Society 38: 71-93.

Hawkey, James. 2024. La política lingüística i les experiències d’integració de les persones amb orígens migratoris: el cas de la comunitat portuguesa a Andorra. Revista de Llengua i Dret 81: 51-68.

Hawkey, James and Horner, Kristine. 2022. Officiality and strategic ambiguity in language policy: Exploring migrant experiences in Andorra and Luxembourg. Language Policy 21, 195-215.

Hernández-Carr, Aitor. 2011. ‘Second generation Moroccan migrants in Catalonia: Language, employment and social inclusion.’ In A. Alarcón and L.G. Garzón Guillén (eds.) Language, Migration and Social Mobility in Catalonia. Brill.

Patiño-Santos, Adriana. 2018. ‘“No-one told me it would all be in Catalan!” – Narratives and language ideologies in the Latin American community at school’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 250, 59-86 (pre-print version).

Trenchs-Parera, Mireia and Newman, Michael. 2015. ‘Language policies, ideologies and attitudes Part 2: International immigration, globalization and the future of Catalan’, Language and Linguistics Compass 9.12: 491-501.

Vertovec, Steven. 2007. ‘Super-diversity and its implications’, Ethnic and Racial Studies 30.6, 1024-1054.

Woolard, Kathryn. 2016. Singular and Plural: Ideologies of linguistic authority in 21st century Catalonia. OUP.