Alexander Alland, with Sonia Alland, Catalunya, One Nation, Two States: An Ethnographic Study of Nonviolent Resistance to Assimilation, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. 209 pp.; Michael Eaude, Catalonia: A Cultural History, Oxford, Signal, 2007. 281 pp.; John Payne, Catalonia: History and Culture, Nottingham, Five Leaves, 2004. 324 pp.

Abstract

Once considered a rather marginal sub-discipline of Spanish, research on Catalan topics has increased substantially in recent years.As Spanish or Hispanic Studies has largely decentralised and diversified since the mid-1990s, Catalan Studies are seen as providing a unique and rich source of focus on issues such as nation formation, the maintenance of cultural identity, sociolinguistics, bilingualism, multiculturalism, regionalism, and even postcolonialism, all of which have challenged, while also providing great insight into, the assumptions that have underpinned Spanish Studies. The three books examined here are evidence of this.