Language, Culture, and the Curriculum Among European Minority and Peripheral Peoples

Abstract

1.1. One of the problems facing European integration is that some of the European peoples who have long been dominant in their own nation-states are having to get used to the fact that they are now minorities themselves within the larger Community. Some, like many of the English, find this difficult; memories of an imperial past may well exacerbate this difficulty. Others, like the Spanish (or at any rate the Castilians) realize that they have little choice and accept pluralism, even embrace it. Others again—opinions may differ as to who they are—find the idea easier to live with, as they see themselves playing a dominant or at least central role in the Community's affairs. Many of the minorities, notably the Catalans and the Scots, welcome a growth in the influence of European institutions as a counterpoint to the power of Madrid or London.