when we were in lisbon, the guys we met mentioned a dislike of barcelona (compared to madrid) that they said was linked to the city's "anarchist vibe." "you mean.. the catalan thing?" i asked, surprised by their reaction to what i was beginning to learn about the history of catalunya.
looking back, this "vibe," the catalan presence in barcelona, was one of my favorite things about the city. i think the history of catalan culture, so suppressed politically and linguistically under franco, plays a fascinating role in the way this city behaves. in my last few weeks in barcelona i kept thinking, i wonder what it means to speak this language that is not technically needed to communicate with anyone (i could be wrong, but i don't know that anyone only speaks catalan). what does it mean to speak and create in a language that exists for reasons other than use-value? to make the choice to communicate in catalan because it signifies a history is, i think, very important and very interesting. to resist what gloria anzaldua calls "linguistic terrorism" is very important, very interesting. this is a reason to study language and literature, there is a free-ing there.
