Undergraduate Course: Catalan Culture and Society 1: From 1900 to 1975 (ELCH08023)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will provide an interdisciplinary introduction to the culture, politics and society in the Catalan speaking world from the beginning of the twentieth century to the end of Franco's dictatorship. Catalan Culture will be explored through the study of literary texts, architecture, art, documentaries, music and film in their socio-political and historical context. This course will be taught in English. |
| Course description |
From the beginning of the twentieth century to the end of Franco¿s dictatorship in the 1970s, this course will explore the Catalan-speaking world¿s vibrant cultural and political landscape from an interdisciplinary perspective. This course offers a profound engagement with Catalonia¿s transformative artistic and ideological currents, interrogating the interplay of creativity, resistance and identity.
Students will analyse modernist visions and subversive narratives, beginning with an in-depth study of Antoni Gaudí¿s revolutionary architectural oeuvre, which redefined spatial aesthetics and cultural identity. We will also examine the modernist tension between individual and society through a marginalized female perspective in Caterina Albert¿s Solitude, a pivotal novel that challenges patriarchal structures. At the same time, we will engage with the radical innovations of Salvador Dalí¿s surrealist paintings and Joan Salvat-Papasseit¿s futurist poetry, which disrupted traditional artistic models with provocative originality.
Moreover, we will explore the socio-political resistance to Francoist oppression through Mercè Rodoreda¿s In Diamond Square, an impressive portrayal of working-class female experience. We will also concentrate on the dissident voices of ¿Nova Cançó¿ songwriters, subversive poetry, and feminist photography, which collectively challenged authoritarian cultural suppression. Pere Calders¿ short stories, blending the real and the fantastic, invite profound debates on social norms and existential boundaries.
Finally, we will engage with the countercultural School of Barcelona cinema, heavily influenced by pop art, and the experimental films of Pere Portabella, whose works interrogate aesthetic and political conventions. These texts offer a rich terrain for the analysis of the intersection between visual culture and ideological resistance.
Indicative Reading List 25/26:
Essential
ALBERT, Catarina (1992), Solitude: A Novel of Catalonia, London, Readers International.
FORN, Josep Maria, dir. (1967). La piel quemada [Burnt Skin], Teide P.C. (film)
RODOREDA, Mercè (2013). In Diamond Square, London, Virago.
SALVAT-PAPASSEIT, Joan (1982). Selected Poems, Oxford, Anglo-Catalan Society. (free online access)
Recommended
ARCHER, Robert (1993). Catalan Literature, Madrid, Vox/AHS.
ARKINSTALL, Christine (2004). Gender, Class, and Nation: Mercè Rodoreda and the Subjects of Modernism, Lewisburg, Bucknell University Press.
EVERLY, Kathryn A. (2003). Catalan Women Writers and Artists: Revisionist Views from a Feminist Space, London, Bucknell University Press.
GRAHAM, Helen (2005). The Spanish Civil War: A very Short Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
GUIBERNAU, Montserrat (2004). Catalan Nationalism: Francoism, Transition, and Democracy, London, Routledge.
KEOWN, Dominic (ed.), (2011). A Companion to Catalan Culture, Woodbridge, Támesis.
McNERNEY, Kathleen and Nancy VOSBURG (ed.) (1994), The Garden across the Border: Mercè Rodoreda's Fiction, Selinsgrove, Susquehanna University Press.
PAYNE, John (2003). Catalonia: History and Culture, Nottingham, Five Leaves.
RADFORD, Robert (1998). Dalí, London, Phaidon Press. PENROSE, Roland (1993). Miró, London, Thames and Hudson.
WALTERS, D. Gareth (2006). The Poetry of Salvador Espriu, Woodbridge, Boydell and Brewer.
Further Reading
BALCELLS, Albert (1996). Catalan Nationalism: Past and Present, New York, St. Martin's Press.
BLAU, Herbert (1992). To All Appearances: Ideology and Performance, New York, Routledge.
EAUDE, Michael (2007). Catalonia: A Cultural History, Oxford, Signal Books Ltd.
GINER, Salvador (1980). The Social Structure of Catalonia, Sheffield, The Anglo-Catalan Society.
JACKSON, Gabriel (1965). The Spanish Republic and the Civil War, 1931-39, Princeton, Princeton University Press.
LLOBERA, Josep R. (2004). Foundations of National Identity: From Catalonia to Europe, Oxford, Berghahn Books.
MAR-MOLINERO, Clare (2000). The Politics of Language in the Spanish-Speaking World: From Colonisation to Globalisation, London, Routledge.
MARFANY, Joan-Lluís (2005). 'Religion and the Survival of 'Minority' Languages: The Catalan Case', Social History, 30, 154-74.
MAY, Stephen (2012). Language and Minority Rights: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of Language, New York and London, Routledge.
McROBERTS, KENNETH (2001). Catalonia: Nation Building without a State, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
PRESTON, Paul (2006). The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge, London, Harper Perennial.
SOBRER, Josep Miquel (ed.) (1992). Catalonia: A Self-Portrait, Indianapolis, Indiana University Press.
TRUETA, Josep. The Spirit of Catalonia (London: Oxford University Press, 1946)
WEBBER, Jude and Miquel STRUBELL i TRUETA (1991). The Catalan Language, Sheffield, The Anglo-Catalan Society.
TERRY, Arthur (2003). A Companion to Catalan Literature, London, Támesis.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | £15-20 |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
50% Coursework, 50% Exam
Research Poster - 20% of the final mark - LO1, LO2, LO3 and LO4
Book/Film Review - 30% - LO1, LO2, LO3 and LO4
2-hour Comparative Commentary Exam (during the exam diet) - 50% - LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 and LO5 |
| Feedback |
There will be a formative written exercise.
Feedback will be given in written form for all the written assignments.
There will be continuous oral feedback in class both for group work and individuals. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | Comparative Commentary Exam | 120 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Utilise analytical and communication and presentation skills through group discussions and individual presentations on aspects of literature and history.
- Assess the relationship between Catalonia's history, politics, society and aspects of cultural expression.
- Apply knowledge of the background to the cultural and artistic expression of Catalonia, the Valencian Community and the Balearic Islands.
- Consider the present of Catalonia in relation to the past and understand the wider role of culture and memory in the shaping of a nation's development as well as its political institutions.
- Identify and compare different kinds of Catalan audiovisual and written materials.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
On Completion of this course, student will be able to:
be sensitive to and understand the diversity in people from different communities, genders and backgrounds.
communicate complex ideas and arguments in oral and written form.
think independently and come up with their own lines of arguments.
Conduct research and enquiry into specific areas of knowledge. |
| Keywords | Catalan,culture,society,history,literature,art,cinema,politics |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Sergi Mainer
Tel: (0131 6)50 8966
Email: sergi.mainer@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Hope Hamilton
Tel: (0131 6)50 4167
Email: hope.hamilton@ed.ac.uk |
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