Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses the issue of spatial transgression and explores ways in which folk festivals can become hubs of political action. Ethnographic fieldwork assesses the cross-border Sardana Festival of Ceret and its symbolic power on public space through a contestable sense of ethnic inclusivity.

Paper long abstract:

The territory of the Pyrenees Orientales, also known as Northern Catalonia, was formerly part of the middle-age Catalan Principality until it was annexed to France in 1659. Since then, the borderland has been considered an example of cultural resistance and safeguarding of Catalan national identity (Pagès, 2010; Hawkey, 2018), as well as a space for Catalan political asylum throughout the Primo de Rivera dictatorship (1923-1930), the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the subsequent Francoist regime (1939-1975). During the second half of the 20th century, cultural activism in the form of associationism allowed to build bridges between Southern and Northern Catalonia. This paper discusses the role of the Sardana Festival of Ceret (1957-) in contesting French power and cultural repression from Spain within the contemporary Catalan movement for independence. From an ethnographic perspective, the festival alters the French flow of power in the public space and displays a set of values based on ethnic moral superiority. The dynamics of the festival as a sardana dance contest, which also welcomes French-ethnic ensembles, create a complex dimension that blurs the boundaries between cultural dissent and entertainment. The study of the festival’s spatiality and narratives unveils an explicit political struggle for the display of Catalan national symbols, which is ultimately an issue of territoriality and belonging. The main aim of this paper is to establish a link between the notion of cross-bordering and folk festivals as sites of political opportunities and public space disruption.