Spain’s National Identity (Revised)

    National identity is a concept that may inspire different conceptual meanings for different people. From my understanding, national identity can be defined as a sense of belonging among a distinctive group of people who share similar commonalities such as history, culture, language, and religion. This bond between people is not only formed by what they have in common but also what they don’t have in common when compared to other nations. It is when comparing the national characteristics of nations that you can begin to identify the differences in history, culture, language, religion, and other commonalities shared by a nation that distinguish national identity.

    This personal definition of national identity was influenced by and expands on the definitions of many previous authors’. For example, Anna Triandafyllidou’s definition of national identity includes a perspective that she noted that other definitions did not include. According to Triandafyllidou (1998), “[n]ational identity becomes meaningful only through the contrast with others” (p. 593). I have chosen to include this ability to contrast one nation to another in my own definition of national identity because, otherwise, it can be difficult to see how each nation differs from another and to distinguish who is considered to be a member of a nation and who is considered an outsider (Trianfyllidou, 1998). From Trianfyllidou, I also included in my own definition the term “a sense of belonging” (p. 595). I think this term really solidifies the relationship between an individual and their nation in a way that can be described their national identity. Overall, national identity is the sentiment of belonging plus the shared commonalities of a nation that can be distinguished when comparing it to another nation.

    When looking at the national identity of a unique country like Spain, it is important to understand this country’s history, symbols, values, historical figures, race, and religion of importance to the nation. Spain is in the Iberian Peninsula in the southwestern part of Europe and primarily shares a border with Portugal. One of the most pivotal and important events in Spain’s history for their national identity was the Reconquista. The primary purpose of the Reconquista was to “liberate southern Portuguese and Spanish territories” (Cartwright, 2018). Essentially, this was a battle between the two religious communities, Muslims and Christians: the Christians ultimately claimed victory after driving out the Muslims who previously had control over Spain. Religion since then has played a particularly important role in developing Spain’s national identity and is one of the most important aspects of Spain’s national identity. After driving Muslims out of Spain, Christianity became the dominant religion in the area. More specifically, Catholicism became the dominant Christian religion, which retains deep roots in Spanish culture today with 58.2% of the people in Spain identifying as Catholic (Central Intelligence Agency, 2022).

    The aspect of history and religion relates to my definition of national identity as my definition is the sense of belonging among a group of people who share a similar history and religion among other things. The Spaniards, in this case, were united against a common enemy (Muslims) and shared that part of history with each other. Additionally, they were united by a common religion, in this case, Catholicism. These two aspects of Spain’s national identity, although similar in some ways to neighboring countries, are still distinct and unique as they are. Even though the majority of western Europe is Christian-Roman Catholic, I think what makes being Catholic different in Spain compared to the other nations is the fact that Catholicism became the dominant national religion. As for the history of Spain, there is no other event like the Reconquista that unified the people of Spain against a common enemy, and it is the irreplicable nature of history that makes it unique to Spain.

    When looking at Triandafyllidou’s (1998) definition of national identity, the comparison between one group and another, is her main argument of national identity that distinguishes her definition from the rest. The term “others” or “significant other” is used to distinguish between those who are members of a group and those who are outsiders. According to Triandafyllidou (1998), “significant other refers to another nation or ethnic group that is territorially close to, or indeed within, the national community and threatens, or is rather perceived to threaten, its ethnic and/or cultural purity and/or its independence” (p. 600). The word “significant” in addition to the word “other” emphasizes the nature of a particular nation or group and in this case a nation/group that is perceived to threaten another group or nation. The ongoing conflict between Spain and Catalonia is a good example of Triandafyllidou’s first type of significant other which is an internal significant other in which you are the national majority of a nation state.

    In this case, the Madrid-led majority of Spain would be the national majority/the dominant nation while Catalonia would be considered as the ethnic minority. Spain is currently made up of 17 semi-autonomous regions with broad political powers in which the Basque and Catalan nationalist movements reflect Spain’s cultural and historical diversity (Bollen & Medrano, 1998). Each semi- autonomous region is unique, but in particular, Catalonia is far different from the rest. Catalonia has its own language (Catalan), culture, cuisine, and literature, and the 1978 Constitution recognizes the right of the autonomous communities to use their own language “as long as this does not jeopardize the use of Castilian [Spanish]” (Bollen & Medrano, 1998). This aligns with Triandafyllidou’s explanation of internal significant others as she describes,

    Such minorities usually have distinct culture, language, traditions, and myths of origin from the dominant nation and may therefore be perceived by the dominant nation to pose a threat either to the territorial integrity of the quasi nation-state, if they raise succession claims, or to its cultural unity and authenticity, when they assert their right to difference and thus disrupt the cultural and political order of the quasi nation-state. (Triandafyllidou, 1998, p. 601)

    Currently, Catalonia wants to hold a referendum to secede from Spain and that poses a threat to Spain’s national identity. Catalonia is Spain’s most prosperous region, producing 20% of Spain’s economic input (Vox, 2017), but only getting 14% back for public expenses (Benevides, 2017). This along with a history of repression by Spain has Catalans felling like they do not belong in Spain (Bollen & Medrano, 1998). This conflict has pitted two groups against each other, those in favour of independence (primarily individuals in Catalan) and those not in favour of independence (primarily the rest of Spain). The threat of Catalonia’s independence has renewed many Spaniards’ sense of national identity as many believe that Spain is comprised of regional identities and languages. According to one Spaniard, “It’s more than the Spanish flag. Spain is the Spanish people, and the Spanish people are very plural and very diverse” (Kingsley & Minder, 2017). This illustrates that Spain is all about embracing differences in identities, languages, and how they aren’t meant to all be the same, Spain is comprised of different regional identities that make Spain, Spain. With a stronger national identity, Spain looks towards a more prosperous future with hopes that Catalonia remains a part of Spain.

    Although the national identity of Spain has been primarily shaped by its history and religion, other factors including language, culture, and race have also played a significant role in shaping Spain’s national identity. I primarily chose to focus on the aspects of religion and history because in my opinion it has played the greatest role in shaping Spain to be the country it is today. Language, culture, and race are all very much important to Spain’s national identity as well, in which I wasn’t able to cover, however, all these commonalities that Spaniards share is what gives them their national identity.

Word count: 1294

References

Benevides, L. (2017, September 29). The big reason Catalonia wants to secede may be economic: it’s one of the richest regions in Spain. Marketplace. https://www.marketplace.org/2017/09/29/big-reason-catalonia-wants-secede- economic-richest-regions-in-spain/

Bollen, K., & Medrano, J. (1998). Who are the Spaniards? nationalism and identification in Spain. Social Forces, 77(2), 587-621. https://doi.org/10.2307/3005540

Cartwright, M. (2018, October 05). Reconquista. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Reconquista/

Central Intelligence Agency. (2021). Spain. In CIA World Factbook. Retrieved January 26, 2022 from www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/spain/

Kingsley, P., & Minder, R. (2017, October 05). Catalonia separatism revives Spanish nationalism. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/world/europe/catalan-independence- referendum.html

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National identity and the “Other.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(4), 593–612. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198798329784

Vox. (2017, November 3). Catalonia’s independence movement, explained [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__mZkioPp3E