A Synecdoche of Catalanness in Australia: The Visual Politics of the Casal Català in Sydney

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the formation of Catalanness within the parameters of the new surge of Catalan independentism in the 2010s. It specifically looks at the Casal Català of New South Wales in Sydney as an illustrative example, through which the visual symbols of Catalan independentism function synecdochically as part of the whole of what it is to be Catalan in Australia. This is what will be termed the visual politics of the Casal Català in Sydney. Having this in mind, the article lastly explores in what ways the symbols used by the Casal Català are effective markers of Catalan commonsense in an extremely fragile diasporic context.