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Paper short abstract:

The communication presents ethnographic research on the secessionist process in Catalonia. It focuses on the role of trust/untrust in empowerment and collective action during the organization and celebration of a non-recognized referendum of Independence from Spain on October 1st, 2017.

Paper long abstract:

Although theorist has recognized the emotional attachment to the nation as one of the elements that explain the strength of nationalism, few of them studied how the emotional dimension contributes to the development of nationalism and its different manifestations. The affective turn that occurred in the 90s has shown that emotions are essential to all aspects of political action and emphasize that they play a role in the motivation for action and the results of these mobilizations. Therefore, they have structural consequences that affect movements, so the analysis must include the emotional dimension.

This communication will present the results of ethnographic research on the independence process experienced in Catalonia (Spain) since 2006. It will focus on the historical relationship of trust/mistrust with Spain as a political structure and on the role of trust in empowerment and collective action in the spaces where shared community actions have been organized and experienced. Especially during a cycle particularly intensive of mobilization between 2012 and 2019 and its landmark: the organization and celebration of a non-recognized referendum of Independence on October 1st, 2017. The consulting was organized clandestinely by anonymous subjects who did not know each other. The performance of this collective mobilization required prior trust in sharing the same political project, a confidence that in turn was reinforced by the success of the performance, as well as by the violence exerted by the state against people participant in the reference the same day, and posteriorly by judicial persecution of referendum organizers.