Linguistic Cultural Capital among Descendants of Mixed Couples in Catalonia, Spain: Realities and Inequalities

ABSTRACT

Spain, along with the region of Catalonia in particular, has seen a significant increase in mixed unions between immigrants and natives, which, in turn, has given rise to a growing number of young people with mixed origins. Yet little is known about how these mixed families and individuals negotiate cultural differences and view their ‘mixed cultural capital.’ Drawing on 29 in-depth interviews with youth of diverse mixed cultural, racial, and religious backgrounds residing in Catalonia and 58 in-depth interviews with immigrants in mixed unions, this paper focuses on the role of language as a form of cultural capital. Do mixed families use a number of languages in their everyday lives? Which languages are transmitted, preferred, and used, and why? We find that mixed families are generally multilingual, as the knowledge of different languages is thought to contribute to communication with relatives, social integration, and social mobility. However, children and youth of mixed descent who belong to minoritized ethnic or racial groups may resist learning or actively using the language of their immigrant parent to avoid stigmatization and socially imposed categories of ‘foreignness.’ Therefore, stigmatization and prejudice may be limiting linguistic cultural capital – a key benefit of mixedness – in Catalonia.

KEYWORDS:

• Multilingualism
• cultural capital
• mixedness
• intermarriage
• ethnicity
• discrimination
• prejudice
• minority
• Islamophobia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dan Rodríguez-García is Serra Hunter Associate Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology and Director of the Research Group on Immigration, Mixedness, and Social Cohesion (INMIX) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. He was the Guest Editor for The ANNALS’ 2015 Special Issue ‘Intermarriage and Integration Revisited: International Experiences and Cross-disciplinary Approaches’ and is currently guest-editing a Special Issue for the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies on multiracial and multi-ethnic individuals. He is the PI of the funded R&D project ‘Social Relations and Identity Processes of Children of Mixed Unions: Mixedness, Between Inclusion and Social Constraints (MIXED_YOUTH).’

Miguel Solana-Solana is Associate Professor at the Department of Geography of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and a member of the INMIX Research Group. His research interests are immigration and settlement, social networks, and social changes in urban areas. His current research, as part of the MIXED_YOUTH project, examines mixed youth identities and cultural practices in Catalonia, Spain. Previous publications include ‘Contesting the Nexus Between Intermarriage and Integration’ (The ANNALS of the AAPSS, 2015), and ‘Official Language Knowledge Among Foreign-born Immigrants in Catalonia, Spain, and Implications for Their Social Integration’ (Migraciones, 2012).

Anna Ortiz-Guitart is Associate Professor at the Department of Geography of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and a member of the Geography and Gender Research Group and of the INMIX Research Group. She is particularly interested in methods, ethics and practice of research with children and youth. Her current research, as part of the MIXED_YOUTH project, examines mixed youth identities through daily-life practices. Previous publications include ‘Koristia, Bambini, Meninos, Niñas: A View of Children's Geographies in Southern Europe’ (Children's Geographies, 2011), and ‘Teenagers' Sense of Neighbourhood in Barcelona’ (in Space, Place and Environment, Springer, 2015).

Joanna Freedman is an English language specialist who has worked extensively as both an educator and a professional editor and translator. She is an accredited English as a Second Language teacher (OCELT) and holds a B.A. from McGill University, a B.Ed. from the University of Toronto, and an M.A. in English literature from the University of Sussex. As an editor, she specializes in scholarly publications and has worked in educational publishing for Oxford University Press, both in Canada and Spain. She is the co-author of ‘Exploring the Meaning of Intermarriage’(Love Across Cultures, SIETAR Europa Magazine).

ORCID

Dan Rodríguez-García http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1117-292X

Notes

1 Catalonia is one of the 17 autonomous communities that constitute Spain. Catalan was officially recognized as a nation in the Catalan Statute of Autonomy enacted in 1979 pursuant to the Spanish Constitution of 1978, the culmination of the Spanish transition from dictatorship to democracy. The statute, amended in 2010, establishes the following linguistic policies: [unofficial translation] ‘(1) The language of Catalonia is Catalan. As such, Catalan is the language for normal and preferential use by public administration and by public communications media in Catalonia, and is also the language normally used for communication and learning in the educational system. (2) Catalan is the official language of Catalonia. So too is Castilian, which is the official language of the Spanish State. All persons have the right to use both official languages, and the citizens of Catalonia have the right and the duty to know them.’

2 ‘Identity and Intercultural Dynamics of Descendants of Binational Families in Catalonia: A Key Aspect of Social Cohesion’ (2014), ‘Descendants of Binational Couples in Catalonia: Between Identity Choice and Social Constrictions’ (2015), both funded by the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC); ‘Young People in Mixed Families and Religion: Identity Dynamics and Religious Mixedness in Catalonia, Spain’ (2016–17), funded by the Agency for the Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR), Catalan Government (2015RELIG00025); and ‘Social Relations and Identity Processes of Children of Mixed Unions: Mixedness, Between Inclusion and Social Constraints’ (2016–2020), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) (CSO2015-63962-R). We gratefully acknowledge all funding received.

3 ‘Immigration and Intermarriage: Ethnicity and Social Integration’ (2012–15), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CSO2011-23242).

4 Rather than the French husbands becoming proficient in the important local language of Amharic, the Ethiopian wives learned French, a marginal language in Ethiopia, and French became the principal language of communication for the couple and their children. While, arguably, gender politics may have played a role in these decisions, the Ethiopian wives claimed that they were highly motivated to learn French because of its international status.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) [grant number CSO2015-63962-R]; the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca [grant number 2015RELIG00025]; and the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC) [grant numbers IEC-2014, IEC-2015].