Spain is facing the greatest challenge in the post‐Franco era to the nation's constitutional unity, as the Catalonian government in October 2015 issued a motion to unilaterally declare Catalonia's independence. The independence movement helped build support by using a 200‐year‐old cultural performance, the building of human towers (castells). The movement discarded other cultural performances (soccer, the sardana dance, and fire festivals), drawing from the human towers’ performative iconicity, associational culture, affective dimensions, and operative values to rally disparate social groups behind independence. In using human towers, the movement envisioned a solution to the ideological divisions of nationalist politics, but the instrumentalization of culture has a contradictory effect on politics. As European secessionist movements intensify, cultural performances reveal the objectives and risks of nationalist constructions. [human towers, associational culture, nationalism, performance, iconicity, Catalonia, Spain] Espanya s'enfronta al major repte de la seva unitat constitucional de l’època post‐franquista. A l'octubre del 2015, el govern català va aprovar una moció per declarar unilateralment la independència de Catalunya. Un esdeveniment cultural amb una història de dos‐cents anys, els castells, semblen haver‐se convertit en l'emblema dominant de la sobirania catalana. El moviment independentista ho prefereix a d'altres actuacions culturals, com ara la sardana, els festivals de foc, o esportives, com el futbol. La seva cultura associativa, les seves dimensions afectives, la seva iconicitat i els seus valors escènics fan que els castells serveixin per unir grups diversos, tot expressant la voluntat d'esdevenir una nació unida i sobirana. Alhora que el moviment casteller presenta una solució a les divisions ideològiques de la política independentista, la instrumentació política de la tradició cultural pot resultar problemàtica. Tanmateix, mentre els moviments secessionistes s'intensifiquen a Europa, la comunicació cultural identitària revela els objectius i els riscos de les manifestacions sobiranistes. [castells, cultura associativa, nacionalisme, performativitat, iconicitat, Catalunya, Espanya]

Soccer in Spain functions as a powerful ideological apparatus. Historically, the under-performance of the national selection ("Spanish Fury") was attributed to a lack of patriotism on part of players from ethno-regional peripheries. The recent successes (2008 Euro Cup and 2010 of Spanish soccer are hailed as proof of a modern country that has finally overcome its regional divisions. Or has it? This article will explore soccer as a contested ideological terrain between Spanish, Basque and Catalan nationalism. The peripheries have been instrumental in the development of Spanish soccer and the "Spanish Fury," as I will show in this paper, while they remain at odds with the idea of a central "Spain." This paper explores soccer as a schismogenic system of integration and disintegration that affect center-periphery relationships. I will explore the historical-particular mechanisms, achievements and impasses of ethnic, racial and national identity construction in three epochs: the pre-Franco dictatorship, when soccer was established as the hegemonic sports culture; the Franco dictatorship, an era of intensive homogenization; and the current democratic era in a supra-national Europe, where the peripheries emerge with renewed separatist energies.

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Critical feminist analysis has produced much important work on women in the gender regime of men's sport. The protagonists of these studies have been mostly female athletes, fans, managers and journalists. This article focuses on yet another female persona in men's sport: the lover. Complementing research that identifies wives and girlfriends (WAGs) as helpmates who fulfill traditional auxiliary roles to their athlete partners, this article presents another sexual persona through the Spanish soccer scene: femmes fatales or 'fatal women'. Through fantasy narratives, these WAGs are constructed as 'dangerous destabilizers' that threaten elite male sport performance through their sexuality. The presence of female fans, athletes and professionals in men's sport has often provoked redressive actions such as techniques of sexualization, the denial of authentic female fandom and expertise, or the prescription of gender-appropriate behaviors and aspirations. Complementing critical feminist research on these mechanisms, and with an attempt to gain a wider perspective of female presence in men's sport, this article explores the often contradictory reactions to 'fatal women': demonization, fetishization, the pathologization of sex and the proliferation of erotic fantasies.

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