The renaissance of cultural Majorcanism during the late Franco regime

Abstract

During the early Franco regime, in the decades of the forties and fifties, the political, social and cultural repression completely marginalized public expressions of Majorcanism, relegating it to the private and clandestine spheres. The survival of this Majorcanism was, at that time, mainly due to the maintenance by families of the native language and traditions. However, several cultural practices emerged and encouraged a process of national construction built by the people. Those practices shaped the renaissance of cultural (non-political) Majorcanism in the sixties and early seventies. From cultural publications of reference works and authors from the past and present, to the impact of Catalan music, and through learning and awareness of language, culture and popular identity, it estab­lished a national cultural awakening that, rather than rejecting Spanish culture, promoted the vindication and normalization of its own culture and language, which had existed long before the Franco regime but had been greatly repressed by it.