Catalunya, One Nation, Two States: An Ethnographic Study of Nonviolent Resistance to Assimilation [Paperback]

Alexander Alland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 2006

Few historians and fewer lay people know that the first feudal constitution to recognize equality between the burghers and nobles was established in 1150 in Catalunya, sixty-five years before the signing of the Magna Carta in England. In the fifteenth century the Corts of Barcelona (a legislative body) established the principle of a "limited" monarchy obliged to govern according to laws, while guarding a degree of royal power. These facts lie at the foundation of a culture of nonviolent resistance to assimilation that has been used to combat state power in France and Spain ever since.
 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This gracefully written ethnography of two adjacent Catalan towns-- one in France and one in Spain-- is suffused with the often poignant voices in three languages of people on both sides of the border.  Only rarely has an anthropological community study been employed so effectively to shed light on state policies, the politics of language, and macro-level processes of ethnic, regional and national identity formation."--Marc Edelman, Professor of Anthropology, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York

About the Author

Alexander Alland, Jr. is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University. He is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association, the Royal Anthropological Institute, Sigma Xi, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. He is also the author of Race in Mind: Race, IQ, and Other Racisms (Palgrave Macmillan 2002), and of Crisis and Commitment: The Life History of a French Social Movement (2001).

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; annotated edition edition (December 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403974403
• ISBN-13: 978-1403974402
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,935,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting......., May 3, 2010

By 

Christopher Vitto "Christopher Vitto" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Catalunya, One Nation, Two States: An Ethnographic Study of Nonviolent Resistance to Assimilation (Paperback)

Recently planned and taken trip to Cataluña inspired this purchase to gain a sense on the culture and traditions of the region. This study was fascinating in terms of the relationship of the region and the influence of the country split between France and Spain it represents. Similar culture but influence of country provides a unified divide only supported by a language as unique as this book.

I enjoyed immensely the interviews with citizens on both sides of the border and found interesting the role commerce and rail played into industry. The opening of the EU changed everything but the historical links to a culture remain. A beautiful language which I fear may be losing its hold as generations look to mainstream on either side of the border....a shame.

Great trip as well and this book supported a broader view.

5.0 out of 5 stars Catalunya: An ethnographic study, August 24, 2007

By 

Maria Daly (Wyckoff, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catalunya, One Nation, Two States: An Ethnographic Study of Nonviolent Resistance to Assimilation (Paperback)

Alexander and Sonia Alland have produced a rigorous yet fascinating ethnographic study which will prove of enormous interest to those scholars of anthropology while remaining accessible to the layman. Theirs is fieldwork at its best.
I admire the historic knowledge of the Catalan idiosyncrasy throughout two focus points. Two centers in two countries; Port-Bou, in Catalunya, an autonomous region in Spain, and Cerbère in France.
When we read maps, we see the geographic boundaries but we rarely see maps that indicate the boundaries of language, surely, a more accurate guide to the cultures of the world than politically negotiated frontiers. Catalan, the language, straddles the line of the Pyrenées like a shadow on the landscape of the Principality it once was.
The book portrays the Catalan language heritage, the political prosecutions it has suffered and the different ways of dealing with them Catalan people on both sides of the border have demonstrated. It also reveals the, not very promising, current reality of the language.
Into the living fabric of a language is woven the cultural personality of a nation and it is upon this entity that Alex Alland has directed his attention with dedicated scholarship. Indifference, neglect and persecution have each in their turn taken their toll, but this excellent study shows the pulse of this ancient language yet beats with life.

An absorbing book I cannot recommend too highly.

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring Catalunya, February 15, 2007

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Reader "Reader" (New York, N. Y.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catalunya, One Nation, Two States: An Ethnographic Study of Nonviolent Resistance to Assimilation (Paperback)

This book guides us through one of the world's most fascinating regions -- Catalunya, a nation without a state located between France and Spain. The author, Alexander Alland, is an anthropologist who has written extensively about visits to other strange lands and friendly people. Here he provides an excellent background of Catalunya's history and culture, then focuses on two villages, Portbou and Cerbére, where he interviews locals and learns of their struggles to maintain their language and culture in the face of constant change.