El Seny I La Rauxa: Identity, Ideologies, and Communicative Practices of Honduran Youth in Catalonia

Abstract

Catalonia, struggling with a national identity, minority language rights, and an independence movement serves as the backdrop for this dissertation which focuses on the communicative practices of fifteen Honduran youth immigrants living in a segregated neighborhood on the periphery of a Catalan city. Ethnographic fieldwork in a Catalonian neighborhood and high school dominated by Latin American immigrants reveal a number of factors which influence the languaging of Honduran diasporic youths. The participants in this study negotiate multi-layered, often hybrid, transnational identities which influence their linguistic choices both in and out of school. Data collection via in-depth interviews and participant observations identify investment in Catalan language for academic and employment purposes and the maintenance of Honduran Spanish and/or variations for social "currency." Furthermore, this dissertation examines the implications of the Honduran youths' communicative practices for educational and pedagogical purposes as well as for language policy and planning in Catalonia, Spain.