The Rebirth Of Catalonia

2017 saw Catalonia come under the world's spotlight as it again fought for independence and the preservation and protection of its unique Catalan culture. Answering the questions and complications behind the fight for Catalonian Independence, Catalonia Reborn is a detailed guide to the region's political, historical and cultural issues. For the layman as well as the expert, it takes the reader through the rich history of Catalonia – its language, culture and political background – to the present day, covering defining eras of the region from Franco's dictatorship to the 2017 independence referendum and elections.

Squeezed between more powerful France and Spain, Catalonia has endured a violent history. Its medieval empire that conquered Naples, Sicily and Athens was crushed by Spain. Its geography, with the Pyrenees falling sharply to the rugged Costa Brava, is tormented, too. Michael Eaude traces this history and its monuments: Roman Tarragona, celebrated by the poet Martial; Greek Empuries, lost for centuries beneath the sands; medieval Romanesque architecture in the Vall de Boi churches (a World Heritage Site) and Poblet and Santes Creus monasteries. He tells the stories of several of Catalonia's great figures: Abbot Oliva, who brought Moorish learning to Europe, the ruthless mercenary, Roger de Flor, and Verdaguer, handsome poet-priest. Catalonia is famous today for its twentieth-century art. This book focuses on the revolutionary Art Nouveau buildings (including the Sagrada Familia) of Antoni Gaudi. It also explores the region's artistic legacy: the young Picasso painting Barcelona’s vibrant slums; Salvador Dali, inspired by the twisted rocks of Cap de Creus to paint his landscapes of the human mind; and Joan Miro, discovering the colours of the red earth at Montroig.

This manual is intended to fill a gap in the area of Romance studies. There is no introduction available so far that broadly covers the field of Catalan linguistics, neither in Catalan nor in any other language. The work deals with the language spoken in Catalonia and Andorra, the Balearic Islands, the region of Valencia, Northern Catalonia and the town of l'Alguer in Sardinia. Besides introducing the ideologies of language and nation and the history of Catalan linguistics, the manual is divided into separate parts embracing the description – grammar, lexicon, variation and varieties – and the history of the language since the early medieval period to the present day. It also covers its current social and political situation in the new local and global contexts. The main emphasis is placed on modern Catalan. The manual is designed as a companion for students of Catalan, while also introducing specialists of other languages into this field, in particular scholars of Romance languages.

Offering a window into the history of the modern legal profession in Western Europe, Stephen Jacobson presents a history of lawyers in the most industrialized city on the Mediterranean. Far from being mere curators of static law, Barcelona's lawyers were at the center of social conflict and political and economic change, mediating between state, family, and society. Beginning with the resurrection of a decadent bar during the Enlightenment, Jacobson traces the historical evolution of lawyers throughout the long nineteenth century. Among the issues he explores are the attributes of the modern legal profession, how lawyers engaged with the Enlightenment, how they molded events in the Age of Revolution and helped consolidate a liberal constitutional order, why a liberal profession became conservative and corporatist, and how lawyers promoted fin-de-siecle nationalism. From the vantage point of a city with a distinguished legal tradition, Catalonia's Advocates provides fresh insight into European social and legal history; the origins of liberal professionalism; education, training, and the practice of law in the nineteenth century; the expansion of continental bureaucracies; and the corporatist aspects of modern nationalism.

Art on the brain? Plan your visits to the world's great cities with ART SHOP EAT. The best museum and gallery districts mapped out for the busy traveler--with tips on the hottest dining and most fashionable shopping for the perfect day in town. In a handy format with full color maps, these are terrific guides for discovering the finest that each of these cities has to offer. Stroll through the Picasso Museum shop at the exquisite Model Flamenca Flora Albaicin seafood at Passadis d'en Pep

Catalonia Since the Spanish Civil War examines the transformation of the Catalan nation in socio-economic, political, and historical terms, offering an innovative interpretation of the determinants of its nationalist mobilization. With Franco's and Spanish nationalism's victory in 1939, and the consolidation of a long-lasting dictatorship, it appeared certain that the Catalan national movement would be crushed. Yet, this did not happen, and Catalan nationalism and identity re-emerged at the end of Franco's dictatorship in 1975 more firmly rooted than before. The core of the book traces the Francoist repression and the nationalist response to it, demonstrating how new political actors reconfigured Catalan nationalism over the course of the Franco regime (1939-1975). Post-Franco, Catalan cultural and political identity was consolidated and Catalonia became the most successful state-less nationalism in Western Europe. The 21st century has been marked by an ever-growing independence movement, culminating in the vast demonstration in the city of Barcelona in July 2010. The book provides multi-faceted viewpoints in historic perspective, and reflects on possible steps and outcomes for this new pro-independence turn in Catalan nationalism. Catalonia Since the Spanish Civil War will appeal not only to students of Spain, but also to those interested in nationalism as a separate issue of enquiry. The themes treated in the book - Franco's Spain, nationalism, anarchism, Catholicism, communism, and the Catalan role in Spain's transition to democracy - make this work an essential point of reference for students and researchers in Hispanic studies, modern European history, and political science. (Series: Sussex Studies in Spanish History)

Insightful and accessible, A Social History of Modern Spain is the first comprehensive social history of modern Spain in any language. Adrian Shubert analyzes the social development of Spain since 1800. He explores the social conflicts at the root of the Spanish Civil War and how that war and the subsequent changes from democracy to Franco and back again have shaped the social relations of the country. Paying equal attention to the rural and urban worlds and respecting the great regional diversity within Spain, Shubert draws a sophisticated picture of a country struggling with the problems posed by political, economic, and social change. He begins with an overview of the rural economy and the relationship of the people to the land, then moves on to an analysis of the work and social lives of the urban population. He then discusses the changing roles of the clergy, the military, and the various local government, community, and law enforcement officials. A Social History of Modern Spain concludes with an analysis of the dramatic political, economic, and social changes during the Franco regime and during the subsequent return to democracy.

This book looks at the reasons behind the emergence of a Catalan nationalist movement from the late 1880s, one of the most important developments that took place in nineteenth-century Spain, with the 'Catalan question' thereafter never far from the centre of the Spanish political stage.

This volume presents studies of some of the key artistic manifestations in Catalonia in recent times, a period of innovation and experimentation, and addresses issues concerning literature, film, theatre and performance art. From the creation of a new popular theatre in the work of the Valencian playwright Rodolf Sirera, or the conception of landscape, myth and memory in the late work of the novelist Mercè Rodoreda and the urgency of memory and remembrance in the writings of Jordi Coca, the effects of censorship in Catalonia appear to have proved a spur and a challenge to writers. Desiring to occupy illegal spaces, performance groups have manifested both literally and metaphorically the international dimension of Catalan culture in the modern period, posed in the present volume by the instances of La Cubana and Els Joglars, and further evidenced in the cross-fertilization in the work of contemporary Catalan playwrights and filmmakers to foreground issues of national plurality and tensions arising between the periphery (Catalonia) and the centre (Spain and Castile).