EXPECT RESPECT: Transculturality in Lleida
''EXPECT RESPECT''
Transculturality in Lleida, cultural backgrounds thriving in the city
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| Figure 1: Panoramic vision of the Linguistic Landscape (LL) token. Source: Authors, 2022 |
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| Figure 2: Close-up of the LL token. Source: Authors, 2022 |
INTRODUCTION
This project aims to observe the Englishization in the city of Lleida in Catalonia. In order words, we, students, went out to the streets of Lleida to find out how the English language blooming and taking “its” place within the culture of this Catalan city. The project relies on the crucial idea that becoming aware of the city’s languages provides insights into how society and languages are interconnected and shape the community’s behavior. Images and words painted on walls can contribute to our behavior because they form part of our environment. In a city, words and images can influence our behavior causing a reaction or reflexion (Krompák, Fernández-Mallat, & Meyer, 2021).
Our Linguistic Landscape (LL) token was found during a walk through Lleida’s city. It is called "EXPECT RESPECT" because we understand it functions as a motivation and demand to show respect towards people, oneself, (other) cultures and the nature. The LL token is located downtown Lleida. The city center is full of commerce and social and cultural life; therefore, this zone is alive and growing sociolinguistically speaking. The LL token “EXPECT RESPECT” is mural/graffiti art that contains one image, several alphabets, and a message. It is signed by the “Projectes Educatius Municipals i D’Entorn” which is a Summer project supported by the city's council and dated 2019.
Our LL’s medium (text typology) is a mural/graffiti work situated in the center of the city, a neighborhood called Centre Històric (See Figure 3). In the mural “RESPECTE” (See Figure 1 and 2) the primary language is Catalan with other 6 languages. (See Figure 5 & 6). Addionally, it has two different alphabets: Arabic and Latin. In the mural work, we can find seven secondary languages: English, French Spanish, Basque, Arabic, Portuguese, and Galician. Multimodality is present and relevant in the LL token because an image of a young person’s face is also painted in the piece. The face is painted in blue; nevertheless, it has physhoanatomycal pecularities that could represent the African communities. The type of sign has a transgressive discourse. A social institution, “Projectes Educatius Municipals i D’Entorn.”, signs it; therefore, it is to infer that they had permission to paint it since the law in Lleida states that it is not allowed to paint or collocate any signs without the authorization of the City Hall (Ajuntament de Lleida, 2018; BOP 2014).
The main message found in this mural is a value: respect. In the primary language, Catalan, it is written: “Respect the people, yourself, other cultures and the nature”. It is a written text that motivates and somehow demands respect for all these elements that conform society. This motivating/demanding mural/graffiti art has been more and more common in European cities to support the continuous changes that cultures are facing. According to Benessaieh (2010) transculturality describes the intertwinment of cultures in one space. Since cultures are no longer percibes as a static concept, they interconnect and the lines tat define them turn blury due to the interchange among them. Lleida’s city is growing and thriving with different cultures, and this LL token can express the multi-/trans-culturality in it. Languages, religions, cultures are sharing a common space and learning from each other. Since immigration has become a common event in Lleida, “pluralized cultural repertoires” (Benessaieh, 2010, p. 11) are present in the daily life. Migration has contributed to the enrichment of cultures in Europe, and languages and cultures share values and traditions to create a new transcultural space.
CONTEXTUALIZATION
This project aims to observe the Englishization in the city of Lleida in Catalonia. In order words, we, students, went out to the streets of Lleida to find out how the English language blooming and taking “its” place within the culture of this Catalan city. The project relies on the crucial idea that becoming aware of the city’s languages provides insights into how society and languages are interconnected and shape the community’s behavior. Images and words painted on walls can contribute to our behavior because they form part of our environment. In a city, words and images can influence our behavior causing a reaction or reflexion (Krompák, Fernández-Mallat, & Meyer, 2021).
Our Linguistic Landscape (LL) token was found during a walk through Lleida’s city. It is called "EXPECT RESPECT" because we understand it functions as a motivation and demand to show respect towards people, oneself, (other) cultures and the nature. The LL token is located downtown Lleida. The city center is full of commerce and social and cultural life; therefore, this zone is alive and growing sociolinguistically speaking. The LL token “EXPECT RESPECT” is mural/graffiti art that contains one image, several alphabets, and a message. It is signed by the “Projectes Educatius Municipals i D’Entorn” which is a Summer project supported by the city's council and dated 2019.
Our LL’s medium (text typology) is a mural/graffiti work situated in the center of the city, a neighborhood called Centre Històric (See Figure 3). In the mural “RESPECTE” (See Figure 1 and 2) the primary language is Catalan with other 6 languages. (See Figure 5 & 6). Addionally, it has two different alphabets: Arabic and Latin. In the mural work, we can find seven secondary languages: English, French Spanish, Basque, Arabic, Portuguese, and Galician. Multimodality is present and relevant in the LL token because an image of a young person’s face is also painted in the piece. The face is painted in blue; nevertheless, it has physhoanatomycal pecularities that could represent the African communities. The type of sign has a transgressive discourse. A social institution, “Projectes Educatius Municipals i D’Entorn.”, signs it; therefore, it is to infer that they had permission to paint it since the law in Lleida states that it is not allowed to paint or collocate any signs without the authorization of the City Hall (Ajuntament de Lleida, 2018; BOP 2014).
The main message found in this mural is a value: respect. In the primary language, Catalan, it is written: “Respect the people, yourself, other cultures and the nature”. It is a written text that motivates and somehow demands respect for all these elements that conform society. This motivating/demanding mural/graffiti art has been more and more common in European cities to support the continuous changes that cultures are facing. According to Benessaieh (2010) transculturality describes the intertwinment of cultures in one space. Since cultures are no longer percibes as a static concept, they interconnect and the lines tat define them turn blury due to the interchange among them. Lleida’s city is growing and thriving with different cultures, and this LL token can express the multi-/trans-culturality in it. Languages, religions, cultures are sharing a common space and learning from each other. Since immigration has become a common event in Lleida, “pluralized cultural repertoires” (Benessaieh, 2010, p. 11) are present in the daily life. Migration has contributed to the enrichment of cultures in Europe, and languages and cultures share values and traditions to create a new transcultural space.
The token is located on Avinguda Blondel, 94 (See the Map in Figure 3); a street that belongs to the Centre Històric (CH) neighbourhood,
which is indeed the most ancient part of the city. It is also the connection
between La Seu Vella and the city, walking
through C/ Cavallers until El Turó de la Seu Vella (the hill where
it is placed). It is necessary to point out the high level of commercial
activities that takes place in this area. As a consequence, the neighbourhood
has also received the name of Eix
Comercial, one of the longest in Europe (more than 4km length) as seen in
La Paeria (La Paeria, 2022. https://www.paeria.es/cas/informacio-general.asp)
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| Figure 3: Map
of Lleida’s neighbourhoods Source: Aguilar, 2015 |
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| Figure 2: Street view of the token's surroundings. Source: Google Maps |
As seen in Aguilar's papers, CH neighbourhood had a total of 10,260 inhabitants in 2007. The following image shows how the population living in this area is divided by range of age:
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| Image 3: Population living in CH divided by ages. Source: Aguilar, 2015 |
According to Aguilar (2015) if there is a demographic change that has affected the Spanish region in the last decades it is the arrival of foreign population. The speed of growth of these communities has been considerably relevant, as well as the localisation and concentration. As a consequence of it, the initial homogeneous social ambient of the Spanish cities has been permanently transformed.
The immigrant sector has mainly occupied those urban areas that are most known for lacking qualities for habitability. This is in fact the specific case of CH, where the buildings date from older times, and occasionally present damage inevitably caused by the pass of time (Aguilar, 2015).
As seen in Aguilar’s (2015) work, the percentage of immigrants living in the city of Lleida has increased significantly over the years. The following table shows the data concerning the number of immigrants that has settled in the city:
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| Figure 4: Foreign people living in Lleida through the years. Source: Aguilar, 2015 |
METHODOLOGY
In order to analyze the LL token, this research adopted a critical metalinguistic approach (Sabaté-Dalmau, 2022). The authors visited the LL token in three different time slots to document its natural environment (USERS, PASSERS-BY..) through observation.
The first picture was taken on April 27th during a walk in the city center; additional three visits took place at different times of the day to observe the surroundings. Second visit May 11th at 8:00 pm , thirsd visit May 12th at 7:30 PM and last visit on May 17th at 8.00 am. Commerces such as supermarkets, hardware store, copyshops are in the first floor of the apartment buildings that are common not only in this neighborhood but in the whole city.
The street Avinguda del Blondel is located downtown the city of Lleida. Although it is a very populated zone, most people walk through this street to cross the city center or reach the crosswise Avinguda de Catalunya, where commerce and connections to the other city’s quarters are located. Parallel to this street is Carrer Major, according to an urban study cited in the local newspaper Segre (2019), it is the most profitable street in Spain, with an average visit of 8.07 pedestrians per day.
Most pedestrians walk along our LL token’s street to avoid the crowded Carrer Major. During other visits, it was possible to observe that most pedestrians are used to the mural/graffiti work; in other words, they do not pay attention to it as a piece of art but as a mural that has been there for the last two years.
People’s ages vary; in the morning is possible to see the young population walking in school uniforms, adults, and senior citizens walking rapidly in front of the mural. Both at noon and in the afternoon, the behavior of passers-by is like that of the mornings. At night, the street is not as busy as the other dayparts. In some official city celebrations, the road is active at night; for e xample, on the Day of San Agustin, last May 11th, when gigantic sculptures danced in the street 200 meters away from the mural.
Additional photos (See Figure 5 & 6) were taken in the visit on May 12th, 2022:
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| Figure 5: Alphabets and languages. Source: Authors, 2022 |
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| Figure 6: Signature and date. Source: Authors, 2022 |
Since the LL token is in a city in the west of Catalonia, Catalan and Spanish are the two official languages of this bilingual autonomous community in Spanish territory (Estatut d'autonomia de Catalunya, 2016). The majority of the state and official texts are written in Catalan because, according to an official bulletin, the Catalan language must be prioritized in all kinds of formal communication in Catalonia (Ajuntament de Lleida, 2014), because it is the "vehicular" language of this society. Specifically, Article 14 established that public signage must be displayed in Catalan. In contrast, in the same document of the city’s bulletin, Article 17 states that announcements and publicity must be indicated in Catalan with an additional language, normally Spanish, or in the language of the addressed community; normally English. (Ajuntament de Lleida, 2014). Furthermore, these articles establish the official language in which any official/standard text should be written in Lleida, corresponding to a top-down policy.
While the ”RESPECTE” LL token conformed to part of a social project promoted by the Department of Policies for Social Rights through municipalities’ projects in 2019, the top-down policy was respected. The Department of Policies for Social Rights (“Regidoria de Polítiques per als Drets Socials”) worked with 150 girls and boys in the summer of 2019. (See Figure 7) The participants were from the Bordeta, Cappont, Magraners, and Centre Històric neighborhoods. (SEGRE, 2019) They cooperated in the creating process of the mural/graffiti design and its painting. The mural artwork aims to represent graphically and creatively the value of respect for the environment and the community,. Additionally, the project’s main objective is “to respond to educational demands of the territory of children, adolescents, and young people” (SOCIEDAD PORTAL DE LLEIDA SL, 2019).
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| Figure 7: Participants of the project. Authors of the mural artwork. (Segre, 2019) |
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Constant changes are taking place in the world and society, and the culture within it. Societies have gone from monocultural to multicultural and then, becoming transcultural, “a process of rapprochement between different cultures, which seeks to establish links above and beyond the culture itself in question.”(Hidalgo, V., n.d.). The token “RESPECTE” analyzed in this blog was displayed in a mural of the Centre Històric of Lleida, contributing to processes of multiculturalization and Englishization in Lleida.
At the same time, this mural represents different values. First, the social one is a call for respect among different cultures and other elements involved in it, such as people, nature, and oneself. Then, it is considered aesthetic due to the catchy combination of colors, font sizes, geometric varieties, and illustrations, aiming to attract the audience through sight. Nevertheless, we can also attribute identity value since different cultures are represented in each language.
The primary language of the token is Catalan, as we can see in the statements “RESPECTE” “A LES PERSONES, A UN MATEIX, A LES CULTURES, A LA NATURA.” As the central topic of the graffiti is “Respect,” that word is written in 6 different languages, including the four official languages in Spain; Catalan, Galician, Basque, and Spanish (Burgueño, J., 2002). English, French, Arabic, and Portuguese are present in terms of international languages. Understandably, different languages are used as it aims to spread the message to a broader range of populations and represent the national and global cultures, as this zone counts for 44.81% of the foreign population. Nevertheless, it can seem that some of the languages displayed were chosen randomly, as in the case of Portuguese, since there is no high incidence of the Portuguese population. On the other hand, African languages were missing, although most immigrants in Lleida and Catalonia are of African origin (Garfella, C., 2021).
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Linguistic landscapes are an adequate tool to raise students' awareness and help them to become better observers by understanding the reality of their surroundings. The project’s objective consisted of integrating students into Lleida’s environment and observing how sociolinguistics participates in everyday life. The research fulfilled its purposes by improving awareness by researching the particular chosen token and discovering another perspective of the city’s reality. We feel satisfied that the local government has supported projects promoting multiculturalism and improving transculturality. Governmental institutions should help children, adolescents, and young adults feel safe in an environment where they can thrive. A transcultural mindset can optimize a community’s social growth.
By using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), new generations can be aware of their surroundings and discover the wide diversity present in their own spaces. The two ICTs used in this project to study Lleida’s sociolinguistics repertoire helped students to develop their metalinguistic awareness. Since the Google Map functioned as a Technology of Knowledge Acquisition (TKA), students could observe in an easier way in which areas of the city multiculturality is more present. The Blog tool served as a Technology of Empowerment and Participation (TEP) whch helped them to reflect on the linguistic landscapes and analyze their chosen LL token. It also provided the space to present their ideas, sociolinguistic knowledge, and results of exploratory research. This publishing process was fundamental for the collaborative learning's objectives to be achieved.
The fact that the mural is located at the beginning of an area which is pretty known for its high lievel of commercial activity such is Eix Comercial, which is connected with a neighbourhood that remains catalogued under risk of suffering social exclusion (Centre Històric) gives us some clues about the objective of the mural itself. Seems that this mural is an opportunity for those children who may suffer social exclussion to be included and adapted in modernism and progress, and try to 'safe' them of being isolated by society.
REFERENCES AND WEBSOURCES
- Ajuntament de Lleida. (2014). Butlletí Oficial de la Província de Lleida. Número 212. [Retrieved from http://bop.diputaciolleida.cat/faces/consultaF/servlets/donarEdicte/?id=2014_212_9251].
- Benessaieh, A. (2010). Multiculturalism, Interculturality, Transculturality. In A. Benessaieh (Ed.), Amériques transculturelles - Transcultural Americas (pp. 11–38). University of Ottawa Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1ch78hd.4
- Burgueño, J. (2002) El mapa escondido. Las lenguas en España. Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles, Retrieved from https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=660070 on May 15th 2022.
- Garfella, C., (2021) Cataluña bate récord de extranjeros, que ya suponen el 16,2% de su población. El País. Retrieved from https://elpais.com/espana/catalunya/2021-02-25/cataluna-bate-record-de-extranjeros-que-ya-suponen-el-162-de-su-poblacion.html#:~:text=En%20el%202019%20un%20total,numerosa%2C%20seguida%20de%20la%20rumana. on May 15th 2022.
- Hidalgo Hernández, V. (s. f.). Cultura, multiculturalidad, interculturalidad y transculturalidad: evolución de un término. Retrieved from http://pedagogia.fcep.urv.cat/revistaut/revistes/juny05/article04.pdf on May 15th 2022.
- Krompák, E., Fernández-Mallat, V., & Meyer, S. (2021). The Symbolic Value of Educationscapes – Expanding the Intersections Between Linguistic Landscape and Education. In E. Krompák, V. Fernández-Mallat, & S. Meyer, Linguistic Landscapes and Educational Spaces (pp. 1-28). Bristol: Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters. doi:https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788923873-003
- La Paeria (2022). Informació General. https://www.paeria.es/cas/informacio-general.asp
- Ministerio de Fomento (2013). Análisis de Barrios Vulnerables. http://habitat.aq.upm.es/bbvv/municipios/25120.pdf
- Ortiz Aguilar, L. (2015). Segregación residencial y población extranjera en Lleida. Análisis espacial y representación geográfica: innovación y aplicación (pp. 1901-1910). Departamento de Geografía y Ordenación del Territorio.
- Parlament de Catalunya (2016). Estatut d'autonomia de Catalunya. Barcelona.
- SEGRE. (May 22nd, 2019). La calle Major de Lleida es la más rentable de Europa para abrir un comercio. Lleida, España. [Retrieved from: https://www.segre.com/es/noticias/lleida/2019/05/22/la_calle_major_lleida_mas_rentable_europa_para_abrir_comercio_76944_1092.html
- SEGRE. (July 31st, 2019). Niños y jóvenes leridanos pintan un mural sobre el respeto a la avenida de Blondel. Lleida, Spain. [Retrieved from: https://www.segre.com/es/noticias/lleida/2019/07/31/ninos_jovenes_leridanos_pintan_mural_sobre_respeto_la_avenida_blondel_83094_1092.html
- SOCIEDAD PORTAL DE LLEIDA SL (2019). Joves de Lleida pinten un mural sobre el respecte a l’Avinguda de Blondel. In: Lleida.com. [Retrieved from: https://www.lleida.com/noticia_canal/joves-de-lleida-pinten-un-mural-sobre-el-respecte-lavinguda-de-blondel]
- Sabaté-Dalmau, M. (2022). ‘Localizing English in town’: a linguistic landscape project for a Critical Linguistics Education on multilingualism. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(5), 1–17. doi:10.1080/)13670050.2022.2067978
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