Cultural and linguistic nationalism in the Esperanto movement: The Catalan case (1887–1928)

Abstract

The emergence of Esperantism in 1887 coincided with a nationalist movement in Catalonia that was gaining momentum. During the first decades of the 20th century, both phenomena became deeply intertwined, as Catalan nationalists embraced the constructed language and used the transnational network that developed around it to revindicate their cultural particularities. This article explores how the relationship between the constructed language and Catalanists evolved between 1887 and 1928, when a political regime unfavourable to regional nationalisms forced the Catalan Esperanto movement to reframe their activities and adopt a more apolitical and neutral position.