Xarnego ( in Catalan or charnego in Spanish is a
pejorative
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
or descriptive term used primarily in the 1950s–70s in
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
(
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
) to refer to economic migrants from other regions of Spain. In its modern usage, it refers to Catalans with recent heritage from other Spanish-speaking parts of Spain. The word is used solely in the context of internal migration.
As of 1999 it was estimated that over 60% of Catalans descended from 20th century migrations from other parts of Spain. and over 1.1 million Catalans are of Andalusian origin alone.
Historical context
Between 1950 and 1975 a second wave of a million and half immigrants arrived from other less developed parts of Spain, particularly Andalusia and Extremadura, where hunger and economic hardship was prevalent. These new immigrants represented 44% of the total growth of the Catalan population during this period.
[Ajeno i Cosp, 1993] This immigration resulted from the high demand for cheap labour resulting from the new economic policy of "desarrollismo" of
Francoist Spain
Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spai ...
, which involved huge investments in sectors such as transport and infrastructure primarily aiming to stimulate the tourism,
heavy industry
Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...
and new industries such as the car industry with the creation of the SEAT car company and the building of its factory in the free-zone of Barcelona in 1953. Such industries, the availability of jobs and higher salaries in the Barcelona region would stimulate two decades of immigration from rural areas throughout Spain - a phenomenon comparable to other large scale international migrations throughout history due to the volume of people and geographic distances involved.
Usage of term and discrimination during the 20th century
This wave of immigration led to a new rise in xenophobia in Catalonia, with the generalization of the derogatory term "''
xarnego Xarnego ( in Catalan or charnego in Spanish is a pejorative or descriptive term used primarily in the 1950s–70s in Catalonia (Spain) to refer to economic migrants from other regions of Spain. In its modern usage, it refers to Catalans with recent ...
''" (Charnego, in Spanish), to refer to these new Catalans.
The term, originally meaning "mongrel", was historically used in southern France to refer to French people mixed with Spanish/Catalan heritage. Upon its introduction in Catalonia, it referred to immigrants from non-Catalan speaking regions of Spain - in other words, a foreigner to Catalonia. Eventually it also took on a linguistic sense referring to those Catalans who do not speak Catalan, without losing its ethnic, and classist connotations. The Catalan language thus became an important criterion to distinguish between "them" (the immigrants) and "us" (the Catalans). Francisco Candel describes the situation in "Los otros catalanes (1964) and later defines himself as a Charnego in the senate (1979).
In film
* ''
The Bilingual Lover
''The Bilingual Lover'' ( es, El Amante Bilingüe) is a 1993 Spanish film, written and directed by Vicente Aranda and adapted from a novel by Juan Marsé. The film stars Imanol Arias, Ornella Muti and Loles León. The film is a grotesque drama, wi ...
'', based upon a novel by Barcelonian writer
Juan Marsé
Juan Marsé Carbó (8 January 1933 – 18 July 2020) was a Spanish novelist, journalist, and screenwriter who used Spanish as his literary language. In 2008, he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, "the Spanish-language equivalent" to the Nobel ...
, is a 1993 film in which the protagonist is a working-class Catalan man who reinvents himself as a charnego to recover his fetishist wife.
See also
*
Maketo, a Basque pejorative for immigrants from the rest of Spain
References
{{reflist
Catalan words and phrases
Catalan language
Catalan culture
Pejorative terms for European people
Discrimination in Spain