Anti-social behaviour in the square. Differentiation mechanisms among non-native groups in a peripheral neighbourhood of Barcelona

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses differentiation processes between non-native groups in a stigmatized peripheral neighbourhood of Barcelona. Its more established dwellers – internal migrants from the South of Spain – have set in place differentiation processes between them and the more recently arrived international migrants. To substantivize differentiation processes, in a context where race has been largely silent, they appropriate the “civic terminology” that has become popular in the city in the last decade. In the global context of hyper-regulation and increasing privatization of urban public spaces, this group’s discursive strategies, based on the civic/non-civic divide, aim to ensure control over accessible open public space, a resource that is locally scarce. Using the ethnographic example of the tensions around “proper behaviour” in the area’s main square, the article explores processes of identification and differentiation in a context where autochthony cannot be unproblematically called upon.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigrant
• civic
• autochthony
• we-ness
• public space
• Barcelona

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the journal anonymous reviewers for their insights and to fellow OACU researchers for their trained eye to dissect conflict in urban areas. Also my gratitude to Bethan Prosser for sharing with me her language privilege. And to all the people in El Carmel, old and new residents, who make the area what it is.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The materiality of the built and social environment, including the presence of unpleasantly intrusive sound or smellscapes, impacts on actual interactions and consequently it can also be used in group boundary-work. However, the sensorial aspects of interaction remain an aspect requiring further exploration.

2 The road tunnel linking El Carmel with the rest of Barcelona was only opened in 1987 in the context of the city 1992 Olympics major restructuring. The metro arrived to this neighbourhood in 2011 after a considerable delay due to the collapse of one of its tunnels.

3 In January 2018, out of the 6,253 Carmel dwellers born abroad, the three main nationalities only accounted for 1,052 people (Barcelona City Council 2017).

4 This ordinance has become the model for similar ordinances in many other Spanish cities.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca [grant number AGAUR 2014 BP-B 00262].