History, Historiography and the Ambiguities of Catalan Nationalism’, In: Studies on National Movements, 1 (2013) Pp
Enric Ucelay-Da Cal HISTORY, HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE AMBIGUITIES OF CATALAN NATIONALISM This essay shall attempt to address some of the major difficulties encountered in the study of nationalism, with attention focused on Catalan nationalism and Catalan history.1 Precisely because the stress of the interpretation is on ambiguity, this article will use the most ambiguous (if also most common) Catalan term for patriotic or nationalist feelings: catalanisme or, literally, ‘Catalanism’. Both the questions and interpretation presented here are idiosyncratic, rather than representative, given that the author, who, not being a Catalan nor being a convert to the premises of catalanisme, has criteria regarding Catalan nationalism which are not shared by much of the profession in Catalonia, which is indeed partial, if not militant, in its feelings. Nor, it should be added, does he feel any particular regard for the often gratuitous suppositions of Spanish nationalist historians, who are increasing in presence and noise. Can a historian narrate a nationalist movement over time, and in context, without taking sides, without being influenced by the special pleading that all nationalisms, indeed, all social movements, invoke to buttress their case? Can the historian be without compassion, and not respond to the victimised nature of a ‘losing’, that is stateless, nationalism? Can the studious analyst avoid the implicit assumptions hidden in a field, say Hispanism or Hispanic studies, dedicated to the Spanish language and its culture, which is cluttered with doubtful suppositions? Is it even possible Enric Ucelay-Da Cal, ‘History, historiography and the ambiguities of Catalan nationalism’, in: Studies on National Movements, 1 (2013) pp.
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