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BLOG POST 1: The National Self (and the other)

Hola Spain: Analyzing National Identity and the Others



The English Oxford Living Dictionary defines national identity as, “a sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language.” It can also be defined as the way one exists in the world by identifying with a specific group or nation. National identity organizes people through many different aspects of language, history, and politics. It is not an inborn trait. Therefore, it is known to be socially constructed. According to Anna Triandafyllidou, a professor at the European University Institute, if someone has no national identity or does not belong to a nation, then they are considered an outcast. 

People tend to conform to this idea of grouping and associating themselves with others based off of similarities. They often homogenize their ideas and behaviors, so that they can feel a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves. Every person in the world can be grouped, according to their own countries national identity. For example, people who live in Spain--also known as Spaniards--identify themselves through two key aspects of religion and language.
While national identity may seem like a very positive and cohesive idea, it's often misleading and disputed through many different aspects. National identity can bring about tension within a country and cause people to disagree with each other's ideas or beliefs. In this blog post, I state specific features that contribute to the creation of a nation's identity, then show how they add to the fact that national identity is deceiving and a challenging concept to comprehend.
According to the Central Intelligence Agency, 67.8% of Spaniards identify themselves as Roman Catholic. This percentage makes up a large majority of Spain’s population, which is at 48,958,159 peoples as of July 2017. When it comes to national identity, people are categorized by the majority. For this reason, religion is a key contribution to the creation of Spain's national identity. The people of Spain can find homophily and similarity with each other, by bonding over their religious practices and beliefs. Aside from religious practices, language can also be considered when analyzing Spain's national identity.  Similarities found in language often brings communities together and connects people on a more personal level. The official nationwide language of Spain is Castilian Spanish, which is spoken by 74% of its population.
However, language can also bring about a source of tension and disagreement within a country. While a majority of the population speaks Castilian Spanish, many states within Spain speak their own language as well. For example, Catalan is the official language in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian community, where it is spoken by 17% of all Spaniards. The fact that Catalans speak their own language and distinguish themselves from Spain brings about a lot of conflicts and discussions, in regard to their identity. According to BBC News, in June of 2006, "v(V)oters in Catalonia back(ed up) proposals to give the region greater autonomy as well as the status of a nation within Spain."  Also, on October 1, 2017, a Catalonian woman named Alexandra Galceran Latorre told CNN News, "We are fighting to defend our language, our traditions and our culture. This is what our ancestors fought for." (CNN News) This language barrier found within Spain builds tension and political issues, which later confirms how confusing and technical national identity can be.
On top of this, Spanish stereotypes can cause conflict and people to disagree. While one would consider their culture and traditional practices key aspects towards the creation of their national identity, it can be argued that tension or disputes are created instead. One stereotype often applied to Spaniards is the practice of bull fighting. According to author, David Thyberg of USA Today, bull fighting developed as an evolution of ancient Roman gladiator games, and its purpose was to pit human matadors against bulls. Many people in Spain disagree with this practice of bullfighting and don't participate in the sport. "Embraced by older generations as a quintessential element of Spanish culture, bullfighting has been protested by younger generations and animal-rights activists who decry it as brutal and immoral" (Thyberg.) Due to the fact that most Spaniards are uncomfortable with bull fighting and the high death rate it's imposed on riders, many propositions of banning the sport have arisen. According to an article titled "Bullfighting: The bloody tradition that divides Spain," "t(T)he tradition divides Spain with opponents claiming it’s a barbaric, bloody spectacle that has no place in a civilis(z)ed modern society." Rather than bringing people together, this stereotype and former cultural tradition causes disputes and tension among its people. For these reasons, it can further be concluded that national identity can delude one's thoughts or conceptions. Sometimes it affects a nation in ways we would not expect it to, and it is not always easily identified or analyzed.
Not only is it important to analyze what shapes national identity, but it’s also important to see how it compares to others. Anna Triandafyllidou, author of "National Identity and the ‘Other'" wrote, "the existence of their own nation presupposes the existence of other nations too" (Triandafyllidou, 594.) In order for one's national identity to exist, they must have an othering to compare themselves to. An othering is also known as a foreigner who belongs to "other communities" (Triandafyllidou, 593.) To a large extent, Spain is shaped on a very religious and political society. Francisco Franco's dictatorship, which began in 1923, put in place a "traditionalist Catholic, Castile-centered Spanish national identity" (Mueller, 4.) This act not only repressed Spain's non-Castilian languages and cultures, but it also brought about many political conflicts. Catalonia did not agree with Franco's leadership and political ideas, which influenced their idea of "ending the dictatorship and recuperating non-Castilian national identities" (Mueller, 4.)
On October 27, 2017, the Catalan parliament officially made a proposal of independence from Spain. This act caused a lot of chaos, conflict, and political issues throughout all of Spain. By this example, Catalonia can be classified as Spain's internal significant other, because it is a minority group trying to rebel and branch away from its dominant nation (Spain.) Othering is relevant here because it furthers the existence of one's national identity. In the case of Spain, othering by Catalonia (and vice versa) confirms this argument and allows for Spain's national identity to continue.



References: In APA

Catalonia’s Bid for Independence From Spain Explained. (2017, December, 22). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29478415


Dewan, A. The Millennials Voting for Catalan Independence. (2017, December 19). CNN News. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/19/europe/catalonia-youth-election-spain-intl/index.html

Guidance: The Importance of Geographical Names. (2014, July, 1). Gov.UK. Retrieved from
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-importance-of-geographical-names

Lee, A. Bullfighting: The Bloody Tradition That Divides Spain. (2017, June 19). Express. Retrieved from https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/818508/bullfighting-Spanish-matador-death-banned-divides-Spain

Mueller, A. S. Conflicting identities in Spain's peripheries: centralist Spanish nationalism in contemporary cultural production of Catalonia and the Basque country. (2013). Iowa Research Online: The University of Iowa’s Institutional Repository. Retrieved from http://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2588

National Identity. The English Oxford Living Dictionaries. Retrieved from
 https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/national_identity

Spain. (2018, January, 24). The CIA World Factbook. Retrieved from
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sp.html

Spain Profile-Timeline. (2017, August 21). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17955805

Thyberg, D. Culture & Customs in Spain. USA Today. Retrieved from
            http://traveltips.usatoday.com/culture-customs-spain-14450.html

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998) National Identity and the “Other.” Ethnic and Racial
Studies, 21(4), 593-612. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.seattleu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=1b0b4785-86ec-4e4e-aa21-ac43b32618c5%40sessionmgr103


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