UC San Diego

Since 2010, Catalonia has undergone a series of sociopolitical, economic, and cultural crises that have sparked a national debate over sovereignty. In the same period, the casteller phenomenon has also grown to almost double the number of casteller teams. Castells or human tower building is a cultural activity dating to the 18th century that has undergone changes in recent decades and has become an emblematic expression of the Catalan society.

This study explores two casteller teams in Barcelona’s metropolitan area from an anthropological perspective in a context of socioeconomic crisis and national debate over sovereignty. Although the relationship between castells and the increased support for sovereignty in Catalonia might seem evident, this study takes a more nuanced ethnographic approach to understand what motivates a socially, economically, and ethno-linguistically diverse population to join these teams. The increased interest in casteller activity raises many questions, of which I highlight four: 1) what brings people from diverse backgrounds to participate in castells; 2) what meanings do

participants themselves assign to the activity; 3) how are different semiotic practices mobilized to negotiate a collective identity that is relevant to them; and 4) how may the notion of community at castells contribute to or reflect a re-imagination of the larger Catalan society in the context of the independence debate.

The dissertation demonstrates how participants learn and engage with different semiotic strategies that construct a sense of community. I show how participants use and regulate their bodies and physicality at castells, their linguistic practices and experiences with language, and the formation of local identities rooted in the streets and plazas. Finally, I also address how these experiences are instrumentalized for political action and how participants respond to political and economic challenges within the casteller community. This study reveals that even within a hierarchical team organization, these practices support collaborative and relatively egalitarian relationships among members that challenge traditional boundaries and stereotypes in Catalonia based on class, language, and origin. It shows how collective identities are negotiated physically, linguistically, and spatially to construct a meaningful community for an increasingly diverse population in Catalonia.