Contribution short abstract:

This paper will discuss the thriving castells practice as a symbol of Catalan cultural heritage and identity amid debates around national autonomy and secession from Spain, as it provides a social base, image, and vocabulary for the independence movement.

Contribution long abstract:

The building of human towers (castells) is a centuries-old traditional sport where hundreds of men, women, and children gather in Catalan squares to create breathtaking edifices through a feat of collective athleticism. The result is a great spectacle of effort and overcoming, tension and release. This paper will discuss the thriving castells practice as a symbol of Catalan cultural heritage and identity amid debates around national autonomy and secession from Spain. While the main function of building castells is to grow community through a low-cost, intergenerational, and inclusive leisure activity, this unique sport also provides a social base, image, and vocabulary for the independence movement. Highlighting the intersection of folklore, performance, and sport, Catalonia’s human towers capture the subtle processes by which the body becomes politicized and ideology becomes embodied, with all the desires, risks and precarities of collective constructions.