"La República Que Farem" Emerging Imaginaries of Migrantness and Nationhood in the Catalan Independence Movement

This paper presents the creative potential of the common future narratives within the Catalan pro independence movement; it focuses specifically on how the place for internal diversity is negotiated within Catalonia's nationalist narratives, along with the ongoing mobilizations.
Catalonia combines a huge impact of immigration on its current demographic composition (70% of its population has a recent migrant background), and a national claim with growing domestic support. During the last five years, independence has centered the political discussion in Catalonia. Recent mobilizations and claims for independence have transformed the Catalan national narrative itself. Based on a long-term ethnography of the Catalan national movement, this presentation explores the potential of social movements for bringing about alternative imaginaries of solidarity in the interplay of nationalism and migration.

After Francoism, the Catalan national discourse was built upon a relatively homogeneous national imaginary, which did not reflect the diversity of its population at the time. The absence of immigration as a "place of memory" into Catalan national narratives left those who held a migrant background having to deal with their heritage, factoring it in their own way of living Catalan nationhood. Imagining an independent Catalonia stirs up deep passions among its population; fears and hopes for a new beginning are now at the forefront, showing the complexity that has been lived for the last half of a century and remained silent. Independence leaders -aware of the challenge that the absence of immigration and cultural diversity in Catalan national narrative poses to their political goal- have made a consistent effort to reshape their discourse to appeal those (in many cases) still considered immigrants. By stating their wishes and defining their strategies, (new and old) independence supporters are not only imagining a future Catalan Republic, but also shaping their current nation.