Chris Moyles had been presenting his Radio One breakfast show for over eight years when it came to an end yesterday morning. It's a long time, longer even than I have been providing insights into Mallorcan life that make me the most astute and regarded writer on Mallorcan matters of a generation. (I can, if pushed, be as immodest as Moyles.) Unlike Moyles, these insights were not originally daily. They have only been so five years. Still a long time though.
I'm not about to perform an act of sympathy with Moyles and announce my retirement, if for no other reason than I don't have a successor lined up. There is no "youthful" replacement, a likely Nick Grimshaw to fill my incomparable writing boots and attract a whole new, younger audience, eager to acquire knowledge about Mallorca. It falls to me and the Photo Blog's Klaus to be the ageing imparters of daily awareness. Such is our lot.
The daily exercise of writing about Mallorca brings with it vast knowledge. It can't help but do so. But in the process of acquiring this vast knowledge and then disseminating it, one might think that I have also undergone a process of having gone native, of having forgotten, neglected or distanced myself from aspects of British life and culture. One might think this, but then there is Chris Moyles. Had I undergone this process of nativisation, there would be no daily listening to Moyles nor would there be listening to Five Live or Talk Sport.
Being knowledgeable is not the same thing as being integrated, whatever this means. God knows, I have devoted articles to considering the concept of integration, but I am left to believe that it is, at its most diplomatic, illusory, and at its least diplomatic, a colossal load of old cock. Moreover, I couldn't care in the least bit, when I even think about the subject, whether I am integrated or not. It just doesn't matter.
Or perhaps it matters insofar as not being integrated facilitates the observational process. Observer is how I have tended to describe myself when people ask me what I think I am. I was described recently (by Paul Danks, financial person of the parish of Puerto Pollensa) as a diarist, which is accurate in terms of practice, but I prefer observer. It means looking on, digesting, accumulating but also interpreting. It is a more abstract state of being, and through non-nativisation one is able to retain a capacity for abstraction. Integration, at its fascistic and totalitarian worst, means a loss of objectivity, a being sucked in, a groupthink mentality, a failure to question, a blackening and whitening.
What happens in reality is that one cherry picks one's cultural alliances and in my case this is cherry-picking of a multitasking type. I can listen to Moyles whilst reading Spanish news websites. It creates a hybrid of appreciation of local society and culture, a quite deep appreciation, that is still suffused with an alien's perspective. Intellectually, one is acutely aware that observation solely through British eyes is wrongheaded. I understand this, but it is the distance that comes from having a strong but not innate appreciation that enables observational objectivity. It's why I challenge so often an insular parochialism in Mallorca. Not because I wish to be deliberately critical but because the conceptualising of issues (tourism, for example) should require a stepping outside of such parochial mentality and the assumption of the onlooker's role.
I'm not sure how Moyles' blokishness fits with any of this. Except for influencing how one perceives aspects of Mallorcan life with chameleonic and multifaceted cultural references from Britain which one can adapt to help explain this Mallorcan life in terms that resonate with an English-speaking (and predominantly British) audience. Moyles is a blokish extreme but it is an undercurrent of how one seeks to convey this life by alluding to football, music, soaps and some slightly less Philistine manifestations of British culture.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Showing posts with label Integration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Integration. Show all posts
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Feeling British (In Mallorca)
"The Guardian", not the first newspaper you would associate with rampant nationalism, is running a series on what it means to be British and how British its readers feel. It is asking for videos to demonstrate one's Britishness. Being "The Guardian", you would probably not expect a Union flag waving behind a gathering of tattooed gentlemen (and ladies) tucking into plates of fish and chips while a Chas 'n' Dave CD plays in the background.
This Britishness thing raises its head periodically and leads absolutely nowhere. Gordon Brown, if one remembers rightly, once proposed that there was a British day. Whatever happened to that? Indeed, whatever happened to Gordon?
Mere mention of the former Prime Minister gives the game away when it comes to feelings of Britishness for those who no longer live in Britain. Feelings of Britishness among the expatriate community are an interesting area for study, and they can also be important in ways over and above simply how one feels.
Gordon Brown, or now David Cameron, would, for most expats, be more relevant than José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Most, you would assume, would know who Cameron was. How many, by comparison, would know that Zapatero was the Spanish Prime Minister?
Knowing that Cameron is Prime Minister isn't a feeling of being British, but it is an example of identity with Britain, and feelings and identity equate to much the same thing. More than just identity, it is also an expression of where interest lies. I would hazard a guess that ninety-nine out of a hundred expats, were they interested at all (a moot point), would say that they knew more about and took greater interest in British politics than Spanish. Just as they would know more about and took greater interest in the Premier League and British soaps.
"The Guardian", one supposes, as it is that sort of a newspaper, would be angling for Britishness feelings and assimilation among the world's diaspora that has ended up in the UK. But what of Britishness that has gone offshore (to Mallorca) and its related topic, that of the big I - integration?
An enormous amount of garbage is spoken about integration, largely by those who labour under the misapprehension that they are integrated and insist on telling those unfortunates who aren't that they are.
To be fair, the garbage stems from the fact that the term itself is illusory and almost impossible to define. It is also a state of being that is increasingly difficult to achieve. A point I have made on several occasions is that the ease of contemporary communications in different forms (allied to a sizeable British community) militates against integration far more forcibly than might once have been the case.
It is not sufficient, for example, to be able to speak the native. In itself, this proves nothing, other than an ability to speak a different language. Speaking Spanish (and/or, far less likely, Mallorquí) does not amount to integration. Language and culture go hand in hand and are indivisible, but only for those steeped in the culture, which generally means having been born into it. Integration is, therefore, a largely bogus concept, and as such raises the question as to why it is felt to be important.
Well, it can be important, if only in terms of perceptions by the locals. The more Mallorcan one appears to be, the easier things can become. Why? Simple. It means less discrimination, which officially may not exist but most certainly does.
Then there are feelings of Britishness among the second generation, those largely or wholly raised in Mallorca or Spain. And they are feelings which are, for the most part, absent. They ultimately manifest themselves, in practical ways, by a Spanish bar being preferred to a British one, by the reading of a Spanish newspaper and the watching of Spanish telly. Gradually and eventually this results in a lack of cohesion, a dis-integration of whatever the British community might have once been or thought that it was.
But it is also testimony to a British acceptance of integration. Unlike some other cultures, the British do not generally speaking assert their culture (probably because they can't define it). This may sound peculiar if one considers Brit bars and other examples of Britishness in Mallorca, but it is the case. The second generation is allowed to slip easily into Spanishness. There is no cultural proscription which prevents this, and so the second generation loses its Britishness, despite being British. Does it matter? No. Just as integration for the first generation also doesn't matter.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
This Britishness thing raises its head periodically and leads absolutely nowhere. Gordon Brown, if one remembers rightly, once proposed that there was a British day. Whatever happened to that? Indeed, whatever happened to Gordon?
Mere mention of the former Prime Minister gives the game away when it comes to feelings of Britishness for those who no longer live in Britain. Feelings of Britishness among the expatriate community are an interesting area for study, and they can also be important in ways over and above simply how one feels.
Gordon Brown, or now David Cameron, would, for most expats, be more relevant than José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Most, you would assume, would know who Cameron was. How many, by comparison, would know that Zapatero was the Spanish Prime Minister?
Knowing that Cameron is Prime Minister isn't a feeling of being British, but it is an example of identity with Britain, and feelings and identity equate to much the same thing. More than just identity, it is also an expression of where interest lies. I would hazard a guess that ninety-nine out of a hundred expats, were they interested at all (a moot point), would say that they knew more about and took greater interest in British politics than Spanish. Just as they would know more about and took greater interest in the Premier League and British soaps.
"The Guardian", one supposes, as it is that sort of a newspaper, would be angling for Britishness feelings and assimilation among the world's diaspora that has ended up in the UK. But what of Britishness that has gone offshore (to Mallorca) and its related topic, that of the big I - integration?
An enormous amount of garbage is spoken about integration, largely by those who labour under the misapprehension that they are integrated and insist on telling those unfortunates who aren't that they are.
To be fair, the garbage stems from the fact that the term itself is illusory and almost impossible to define. It is also a state of being that is increasingly difficult to achieve. A point I have made on several occasions is that the ease of contemporary communications in different forms (allied to a sizeable British community) militates against integration far more forcibly than might once have been the case.
It is not sufficient, for example, to be able to speak the native. In itself, this proves nothing, other than an ability to speak a different language. Speaking Spanish (and/or, far less likely, Mallorquí) does not amount to integration. Language and culture go hand in hand and are indivisible, but only for those steeped in the culture, which generally means having been born into it. Integration is, therefore, a largely bogus concept, and as such raises the question as to why it is felt to be important.
Well, it can be important, if only in terms of perceptions by the locals. The more Mallorcan one appears to be, the easier things can become. Why? Simple. It means less discrimination, which officially may not exist but most certainly does.
Then there are feelings of Britishness among the second generation, those largely or wholly raised in Mallorca or Spain. And they are feelings which are, for the most part, absent. They ultimately manifest themselves, in practical ways, by a Spanish bar being preferred to a British one, by the reading of a Spanish newspaper and the watching of Spanish telly. Gradually and eventually this results in a lack of cohesion, a dis-integration of whatever the British community might have once been or thought that it was.
But it is also testimony to a British acceptance of integration. Unlike some other cultures, the British do not generally speaking assert their culture (probably because they can't define it). This may sound peculiar if one considers Brit bars and other examples of Britishness in Mallorca, but it is the case. The second generation is allowed to slip easily into Spanishness. There is no cultural proscription which prevents this, and so the second generation loses its Britishness, despite being British. Does it matter? No. Just as integration for the first generation also doesn't matter.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Wherever I Lay My Hat, That's My Home
In following up on the piece of 23 September (I Don't Belong Here), I'd like to thank Colin for his considered comments. The nub of these concerned the notion that existing or old definitions do not necessarily obtain any longer - specifically, in respect of so-called expatriate integration. In citing Arthur C. Clarke, he referred to the idea of a society in which, inter alia, one's allegiance is to a place where one feels ideologically "at home". Philosophical this may be, but it is helpful in directing the debate regarding integration into altogether more fertile territory.
Integration implies a transformation into a state of some permanence in that the expat adopts, pretty well lock, stock and barrel, the mores of his new country, or Mallorca from our perspective. This permanence is not just a case of "being there" but also a permanence in the mind, a new way of thinking or the discarding of previous influences. My argument the other day was that the media are complicit in preventing this, and therefore a state of permanence or integration is unattainable. Whatever role the media may play, I'm not sure that either integration is the right description or indeed that what it implies is wholly desirable.
When one talks in socio-political terms of a "narrative", one refers to a form of "story" with which an idea, ideology or philosophy is conveyed. The integration "narrative" is too precise; it ignores a whole raft of issues, be they psychological ones, be they religious, political, cultural or merely personal. I spoke the other day to a friend in Holland. She has lived there for 17 years; she has a Dutch husband and a daughter. What was integration for her? It was the whole shooting-match, of language and assumption of a different culture, displacing that with which she had grown up. She neither felt integrated, nor did she wish to be. Tellingly, were she to be integrated, she would no longer be who she is or was. I have a friend who has lived in Barcelona for about 30 years; he is married (to a Peruvian woman as it happens) and has a daughter now at university. He is fluent in the language, but his "integration" does not extend to not reading a British daily newspaper or to not regaling me with emails brimful of cricket, football and of old mates and our pranks in England. I once asked if he'd taken to supporting Barça. No effing way. He's still a Derby man and still sounds every bit a Derby man. By the same token, there are many here who, despite many years residence, display similar disregard to obvious statements of integration. As the clichéd maxim would have it, you can take the boy (or girl) out of London (or Derby or wherever), but you can't take London out of the boy. And this is surely the point. One defines oneself by who one is, not necessarily by where one lives. Integration, in its fullest sense, is undesirable as it requires psychological, cultural and personality dislocation. Clarke's notion of feeling "at home" does perhaps come closer as a narrative for the expatriate, and this "at home", in one's mind, can be whatever one chooses, be it the route of more or less everything British or most things Mallorcan.
The political desire for and hence narrative regarding "integration" is founded on the notion, pretty much, of total assimilation. In Britain, one has the dichotomy of integration and multi-culturalism residing alongside each other in the political narrative. The two states are essentially mutually exclusive. The assimilation of British immigration is an issue way beyond where I want to go here, but the same narrative does not really apply to expats coming to Mallorca. The fluidity of movement, especially from Britain into Spain, does not suggest permanence; the expat may come for a period and then decide to return. Moreover, the choice of moving from Britain is rarely one of economic need, as is the case with much immigration to Britain; it is essentially a lifestyle decision, even for those who do come to work. The consequence of this is then one of convenience. The expat, shielded by the existence of a ready-made community, readily-available media and readily-bookable flights "home" if wished, can cherry pick what he or she wants from the Mallorcan way of life; there is little urgency or pressure to do otherwise. To quote Colin - "with this sort of perspective (that of Clarke's "at home") one could have as much or as little ‘integration’ as one wanted without attracting opprobrium". And to take another cliché - home is where the heart is. Clarke's home is Mallorca if that is where the heart is, but the head determines how Mallorcan that home becomes.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Billy Bragg. Today's title - which British singer had a number one?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Integration implies a transformation into a state of some permanence in that the expat adopts, pretty well lock, stock and barrel, the mores of his new country, or Mallorca from our perspective. This permanence is not just a case of "being there" but also a permanence in the mind, a new way of thinking or the discarding of previous influences. My argument the other day was that the media are complicit in preventing this, and therefore a state of permanence or integration is unattainable. Whatever role the media may play, I'm not sure that either integration is the right description or indeed that what it implies is wholly desirable.
When one talks in socio-political terms of a "narrative", one refers to a form of "story" with which an idea, ideology or philosophy is conveyed. The integration "narrative" is too precise; it ignores a whole raft of issues, be they psychological ones, be they religious, political, cultural or merely personal. I spoke the other day to a friend in Holland. She has lived there for 17 years; she has a Dutch husband and a daughter. What was integration for her? It was the whole shooting-match, of language and assumption of a different culture, displacing that with which she had grown up. She neither felt integrated, nor did she wish to be. Tellingly, were she to be integrated, she would no longer be who she is or was. I have a friend who has lived in Barcelona for about 30 years; he is married (to a Peruvian woman as it happens) and has a daughter now at university. He is fluent in the language, but his "integration" does not extend to not reading a British daily newspaper or to not regaling me with emails brimful of cricket, football and of old mates and our pranks in England. I once asked if he'd taken to supporting Barça. No effing way. He's still a Derby man and still sounds every bit a Derby man. By the same token, there are many here who, despite many years residence, display similar disregard to obvious statements of integration. As the clichéd maxim would have it, you can take the boy (or girl) out of London (or Derby or wherever), but you can't take London out of the boy. And this is surely the point. One defines oneself by who one is, not necessarily by where one lives. Integration, in its fullest sense, is undesirable as it requires psychological, cultural and personality dislocation. Clarke's notion of feeling "at home" does perhaps come closer as a narrative for the expatriate, and this "at home", in one's mind, can be whatever one chooses, be it the route of more or less everything British or most things Mallorcan.
The political desire for and hence narrative regarding "integration" is founded on the notion, pretty much, of total assimilation. In Britain, one has the dichotomy of integration and multi-culturalism residing alongside each other in the political narrative. The two states are essentially mutually exclusive. The assimilation of British immigration is an issue way beyond where I want to go here, but the same narrative does not really apply to expats coming to Mallorca. The fluidity of movement, especially from Britain into Spain, does not suggest permanence; the expat may come for a period and then decide to return. Moreover, the choice of moving from Britain is rarely one of economic need, as is the case with much immigration to Britain; it is essentially a lifestyle decision, even for those who do come to work. The consequence of this is then one of convenience. The expat, shielded by the existence of a ready-made community, readily-available media and readily-bookable flights "home" if wished, can cherry pick what he or she wants from the Mallorcan way of life; there is little urgency or pressure to do otherwise. To quote Colin - "with this sort of perspective (that of Clarke's "at home") one could have as much or as little ‘integration’ as one wanted without attracting opprobrium". And to take another cliché - home is where the heart is. Clarke's home is Mallorca if that is where the heart is, but the head determines how Mallorcan that home becomes.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Billy Bragg. Today's title - which British singer had a number one?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
I Don't Belong Here
To what extent does the expat's relationship with the media define the relationship with his or her adopted island and country? It is a far from academic question; I think it is fundamental. In the past I have spoken about the ease of having access to the English-speaking media and recently looked at the issue of integration (15 August: Living Together In Perfect Harmony). I am beginning to wonder if "integration" is an unattainable state and whether its periodic consideration by the media fails, not only to establish a sensible definition, but also to recognise the role that newspapers and the rest have in inhibiting it.
On a typical day, I might see two British newspapers - "The Times" and "The Guardian"; I might see the local English paper, "Majorca Daily Bulletin"; I might see two Mallorcan papers - "Ultima Hora" and "Diario de Mallorca". I will also see the BBC's website and listen to some of the corporation's programmes. If I listen to Spanish radio, it will be to RNE3 for its eclectic music and occasionally Radio Alcúdia in order to have a laugh at the ridiculous adverts for local restaurants. Television is effectively banned in whatever language.
That I may peruse Spanish media does not make me in some sense "integrated". It's because I, personally and perhaps untypically, am interested and, in part, it's what I do on this blog. In the same way, the fact that I might go out for tapas does not make me "integrated". I did the other evening; the selection at a tapas restaurant is a convenient way of getting around others' indecisiveness as to what to eat. Also in the same way, that I may speak Spanish reasonably well does not make me integrated. Again, it's a matter of interest to be able to speak the language; it is also a matter of expediency - try dealing with local printers in English, for example. Also in the same way, my current reading includes yet another modern history of Spain. This does not make me integrated. I'm a historian in that I have a history degree. The subject interests me, and I'm interested to learn ever more about the country in which I live. Also in the same way, I have been to the bullfight and I would go again. This does not make me integrated. It's a matter of curiosity and of seeking to understand the purpose of its barbarity.
There would seem to have been a letter in the English "Euro Weekly" that passed me by. It had it that expats should go to the bullfight as a way of integrating into local life. Apart from ignoring the fact that many Spaniards do not attend the bullfight, to suggest this would be akin to Poles in Britain demanding a right to hunt foxes as a way of making themselves feel more British. By the same logic, if a tourist were to go to the bullfight would that make him or her integrated? Of course it wouldn't; the line of argument was nonsensical. Moreover, to have written a letter on the subject to an element of the English-speaking media falls straight into the trap set by the existence of English media. The act of writing in English to an English newspaper is, by its very nature, an act of non-integration.
Through the immediacy of English media, the expat retains not just a connection to but also a priority of interest in the old country, be that connection via newspaper, internet, television or radio. The choice of media and more importantly the specifics of that choice - what is read, what is surfed, what is viewed and what is listened to - define the expat's relationship with Mallorca and Spain and his or her perspective. And consequently, that relationship can be pretty tenuous.
I used to wonder quite why the local English press devoted so much space to matters in the UK. "The Bulletin", while it does contain local and Spanish items, is more anglo-centric than not. The answer why is quite simple; its readership. One can argue, with some justification, that running local news at least aids some appreciation of the island, but the bias remains. The other day, for instance, there was a yes-no exchange as to whether Gordon Brown should go or stay. To do something similar for José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero would run the risk of alienating a part of the readership that may not even know that he is the president of Spain. "Euro Weekly" is more Mallorca focussed (in its Mallorcan edition, that is), but still finds space for Leapy Lee who regularly rubbishes Brown but in a far less sober manner than "The Bulletin". He has variously referred to Brown and to his "cronies" and fellow "traitors" as Nazis and Commies - take your pick - and once enjoined his readers to partake in a few minutes of "hate" for Brown. That it would seem there is many an expat who finds this acceptable and craves for more makes one despair. I may not much care for Gordon Brown either, but I don't wish to be party to hatred. But it plays well with some, for whom British politics remains the only game in town. And for those who may take a different view, it is the British political scene that is the expat's talking-point, not the Spanish.
The fluidity of human movement enabled under European law coincided with the explosion of information channels and of the wide availability of media in their different forms. Perversely perhaps, it is this very ease of access to the media that has convinced some to make the move to the likes of Mallorca; this, and the ready-made expatriate community. The combination of the two has the potential to alienate as much as it has to integrate. But what does it actually mean to be integrated in Mallorca? Does one wake up one morning and think that one is integrated? Nope, probably not. Indeed, one doesn't think about the subject full stop, until, that is, it gets raised by the very media who act against it. To that extent, I suppose, I am equally culpable by writing about it here.
There are some who doubtless do think about it; those who seek to wear their alleged integration as some form of badge of honour. I wonder quite how many of these still go home and switch on Sky or read "The Daily Mail", i.e. they are still more comfortable with their own media and their own language. I argued before that only through language does one really begin to attain a state of integration. But even then I'm not wholly convinced. We carry with us all sorts of items of baggage and are unwilling to cast them off. These may be in the form of humour, a fondness for sport or sporting teams, for authors or music. All of them maintain a link that is non-Mallorcan or non-Spanish. And so we continue to pursue those items, because we want to, and we do so by laughing at a columnist or comedy show, by reading a sports report or watching a football match in a (British) bar, by reading a latest book or magazine, by listening to a favourite show on Radio One or Two or 6 Music or other stations. None of this means integration. I have no wish to cease reading English newspapers or enjoying other English media. Why the hell should I? And so it is with the overwhelming majority of expats who may well participate in many local activities, who may have Mallorcan friends, who may speak the language reasonably well, but who also remain - essentially - detached, and who find it very easy to be detached, thanks to their original culture being all around them.
It is the media to which we look for information and entertainment and, in the case of the expat, for reassurance, that of what is current back home. We don't wish to lose touch, but critically we are more interested in "back home", even down to what horses are running at Haydock that afternoon. By and large, we don't embrace the Spanish media because we don't understand what is said, we have no interest and they're not our football clubs, our celebrities or our politicians. Ergo, we are not integrated.
Perhaps it would be simpler to just ignore the whole subject, but it won't go away because it will always crop up somewhere - in the media. And it will be used as an undefined and generic state of being to which the user of the word has probably applied little or no thought. Maybe we should rethink the term. Belonging, a sense of belonging; perhaps this is better. It's also difficult to define, but at least it is more personal and therefore more understandable, and if you feel you belong it doesn't matter what newspaper you read - or in which language.
MORE ON DRIVING LICENCES
The thread of a forum has been brought to my attention which tends to contradict what I said yesterday regarding Spanish driving licences. There is, let's be clear, a lack of clarity, one that I was aware of, so I spoke to my gestor, knowing that he has contacts at Trafico, and the word was, yes, you need to change the licence. If I'm wrong, I apologise, but this is my understanding. The problem is, like other aspects of Spanish law, not everything is clear. Here is the link to the forum: http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/forum/viewthread/1831/
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Elton John, "Bennie And The Jets" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0WCQadt864). Today's title - arch miserabilists; "so very special".
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
On a typical day, I might see two British newspapers - "The Times" and "The Guardian"; I might see the local English paper, "Majorca Daily Bulletin"; I might see two Mallorcan papers - "Ultima Hora" and "Diario de Mallorca". I will also see the BBC's website and listen to some of the corporation's programmes. If I listen to Spanish radio, it will be to RNE3 for its eclectic music and occasionally Radio Alcúdia in order to have a laugh at the ridiculous adverts for local restaurants. Television is effectively banned in whatever language.
That I may peruse Spanish media does not make me in some sense "integrated". It's because I, personally and perhaps untypically, am interested and, in part, it's what I do on this blog. In the same way, the fact that I might go out for tapas does not make me "integrated". I did the other evening; the selection at a tapas restaurant is a convenient way of getting around others' indecisiveness as to what to eat. Also in the same way, that I may speak Spanish reasonably well does not make me integrated. Again, it's a matter of interest to be able to speak the language; it is also a matter of expediency - try dealing with local printers in English, for example. Also in the same way, my current reading includes yet another modern history of Spain. This does not make me integrated. I'm a historian in that I have a history degree. The subject interests me, and I'm interested to learn ever more about the country in which I live. Also in the same way, I have been to the bullfight and I would go again. This does not make me integrated. It's a matter of curiosity and of seeking to understand the purpose of its barbarity.
There would seem to have been a letter in the English "Euro Weekly" that passed me by. It had it that expats should go to the bullfight as a way of integrating into local life. Apart from ignoring the fact that many Spaniards do not attend the bullfight, to suggest this would be akin to Poles in Britain demanding a right to hunt foxes as a way of making themselves feel more British. By the same logic, if a tourist were to go to the bullfight would that make him or her integrated? Of course it wouldn't; the line of argument was nonsensical. Moreover, to have written a letter on the subject to an element of the English-speaking media falls straight into the trap set by the existence of English media. The act of writing in English to an English newspaper is, by its very nature, an act of non-integration.
Through the immediacy of English media, the expat retains not just a connection to but also a priority of interest in the old country, be that connection via newspaper, internet, television or radio. The choice of media and more importantly the specifics of that choice - what is read, what is surfed, what is viewed and what is listened to - define the expat's relationship with Mallorca and Spain and his or her perspective. And consequently, that relationship can be pretty tenuous.
I used to wonder quite why the local English press devoted so much space to matters in the UK. "The Bulletin", while it does contain local and Spanish items, is more anglo-centric than not. The answer why is quite simple; its readership. One can argue, with some justification, that running local news at least aids some appreciation of the island, but the bias remains. The other day, for instance, there was a yes-no exchange as to whether Gordon Brown should go or stay. To do something similar for José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero would run the risk of alienating a part of the readership that may not even know that he is the president of Spain. "Euro Weekly" is more Mallorca focussed (in its Mallorcan edition, that is), but still finds space for Leapy Lee who regularly rubbishes Brown but in a far less sober manner than "The Bulletin". He has variously referred to Brown and to his "cronies" and fellow "traitors" as Nazis and Commies - take your pick - and once enjoined his readers to partake in a few minutes of "hate" for Brown. That it would seem there is many an expat who finds this acceptable and craves for more makes one despair. I may not much care for Gordon Brown either, but I don't wish to be party to hatred. But it plays well with some, for whom British politics remains the only game in town. And for those who may take a different view, it is the British political scene that is the expat's talking-point, not the Spanish.
The fluidity of human movement enabled under European law coincided with the explosion of information channels and of the wide availability of media in their different forms. Perversely perhaps, it is this very ease of access to the media that has convinced some to make the move to the likes of Mallorca; this, and the ready-made expatriate community. The combination of the two has the potential to alienate as much as it has to integrate. But what does it actually mean to be integrated in Mallorca? Does one wake up one morning and think that one is integrated? Nope, probably not. Indeed, one doesn't think about the subject full stop, until, that is, it gets raised by the very media who act against it. To that extent, I suppose, I am equally culpable by writing about it here.
There are some who doubtless do think about it; those who seek to wear their alleged integration as some form of badge of honour. I wonder quite how many of these still go home and switch on Sky or read "The Daily Mail", i.e. they are still more comfortable with their own media and their own language. I argued before that only through language does one really begin to attain a state of integration. But even then I'm not wholly convinced. We carry with us all sorts of items of baggage and are unwilling to cast them off. These may be in the form of humour, a fondness for sport or sporting teams, for authors or music. All of them maintain a link that is non-Mallorcan or non-Spanish. And so we continue to pursue those items, because we want to, and we do so by laughing at a columnist or comedy show, by reading a sports report or watching a football match in a (British) bar, by reading a latest book or magazine, by listening to a favourite show on Radio One or Two or 6 Music or other stations. None of this means integration. I have no wish to cease reading English newspapers or enjoying other English media. Why the hell should I? And so it is with the overwhelming majority of expats who may well participate in many local activities, who may have Mallorcan friends, who may speak the language reasonably well, but who also remain - essentially - detached, and who find it very easy to be detached, thanks to their original culture being all around them.
It is the media to which we look for information and entertainment and, in the case of the expat, for reassurance, that of what is current back home. We don't wish to lose touch, but critically we are more interested in "back home", even down to what horses are running at Haydock that afternoon. By and large, we don't embrace the Spanish media because we don't understand what is said, we have no interest and they're not our football clubs, our celebrities or our politicians. Ergo, we are not integrated.
Perhaps it would be simpler to just ignore the whole subject, but it won't go away because it will always crop up somewhere - in the media. And it will be used as an undefined and generic state of being to which the user of the word has probably applied little or no thought. Maybe we should rethink the term. Belonging, a sense of belonging; perhaps this is better. It's also difficult to define, but at least it is more personal and therefore more understandable, and if you feel you belong it doesn't matter what newspaper you read - or in which language.
MORE ON DRIVING LICENCES
The thread of a forum has been brought to my attention which tends to contradict what I said yesterday regarding Spanish driving licences. There is, let's be clear, a lack of clarity, one that I was aware of, so I spoke to my gestor, knowing that he has contacts at Trafico, and the word was, yes, you need to change the licence. If I'm wrong, I apologise, but this is my understanding. The problem is, like other aspects of Spanish law, not everything is clear. Here is the link to the forum: http://www.spainexpat.com/spain/forum/viewthread/1831/
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Elton John, "Bennie And The Jets" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0WCQadt864). Today's title - arch miserabilists; "so very special".
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Friday, August 15, 2008
Living Together In Perfect Harmony
Integration. "The intermixing of persons previously segregated." "(Psychological) the combination of the diverse elements of perception etc. in a personality." The Concise Oxford.
Integration. There is a letter in this week's "Euro Weekly" which takes to task columnist Leapy Lee's assertion that Mallorca "has not been taken over by expatriates". The author of the letter bemoans the fact that Mallorca has lost its "traditional Spanish way of life" and has in effect been colonised by those (and he's referring to the Brits) who don't bother to learn the language.
Integration. It's an old theme, one tossed around without, one senses, a great deal of appreciation as to its meaning or its subtleties. The first of the Oxford definitions is questionable in its accuracy, in a Mallorcan context at any rate. Segregation suggests a form of apartheid or separate development; this has never been the reality save for some unofficial and occasionally official discrimination. The second definition is the more meaningful as it alludes to the degree to which mentally the incomer, the expatriate, embraces his new society as opposed to purely physically in terms, for instance, of location. But to return to segregation, this ties in with what the letter-writer says about colonisation - as he sees it.
If I recall correctly, the piece by Mr. Graham (to give Leapy Lee his name; I find it somewhat absurd using "leapy" when referring to someone close on being a septuagenarian, but be that as it may) referred to his urbanisation - in Santa Ponsa I think. There was an enclave of different nationalities living in peace and harmony, or something like that. My own urbanisation is perhaps similar: British, Germans, Mallorcans. It would be stretching the imagination to say that we're all best mates. Most keep themselves to themselves, especially the Mallorcans; pretty much like many places I would suggest. But colonies? Where are these colonies exactly? It is not as if certain roads or districts in towns can be said to be "British". That Brits may live in reasonable proximity to each other is a fact of the places not being that big, not that they have actively sought to re-create parts of Mallorca that are forever England. If the writer is referring to bars, then he may be on firmer ground but even then anyone with an ounce of knowledge of bars in for example Alcúdia's Mile will know that many of these, whilst proclaiming "Britishness", are well and truly not British. Colonisation by cultural import perhaps, but not by any means all by British-owned businesses. If there is any source of colonisation it has been the tour operators.
Physically, therefore, there is integration in the sense of lack of segregation when it comes to where people live. In Puerto Pollensa, a resort of almost total British tourism dominance, there are also plenty of Brit residents, but no one could say that it looks or feels British, because it doesn't. The town may have lost some of its charm (its "Spanish way of life" perhaps to use the letter-writer's words) but that's the fault of developers responding not only to British or overseas demand but also local. There is "intermixing" of the races. The only sense in which one might agree that colonisation has been undertaken lies with the fact that towns such as Puerto Pollensa have an attraction to the new-coming British expatriate because there is already a strong British community, but this does not translate into the equivalent of ghettoes or anything approaching them.
Then there is intermixing at a social level. Here the author has a stronger case. Freedom of movement and of property rights have caused the growth in immigration and the inexorable rise of the British expatriate group and of other nationalities. Ally these to the existence of British establishments and to the sheer convenience of Britishness abroad, courtesy of daily newspapers now printed locally, Sky, the internet, cheap flights back home, and the motivation to move out of a predominantly British way of life is greatly reduced. There is not the same imperative to mix with the local population as might have been the case decades ago when to have not done so would have meant virtual isolation.
There are plenty of people who will say that they have any number of Spanish friends. Some seem to wish to boast of this in a notching-up manner; it's trophy friendship-making - I've got more Spanish friends than you have sort of thing. It's tacky and ultimately patronising to those Spaniards who might be included among their ranks. Of course there are expats who spend most of their existence with and around Mallorcans or Spaniards; many of them have married a local, a few have gone native. But for the most part, the "Spanish friends" are really acquaintances; the expat still exists within his own community. There is the reverse side of the coin. How many Mallorcans actually want to "intermix" with the expats? They can be very friendly but that does not make them friends; the Mallorcan is not typically antagonistic but nor is he totally accommodating.
The British and the Germans form the largest expatriate groups in Mallorca among the "old" Europe countries. But they are not the largest groups. The Argentinians, for instance, outstrip them both by some distance. The difference of course lies with language. The Argentinian may have a discernible accent and some different usages but his language is that of Spain. He intermixes far more readily as he shares a cultural birthright. Language is the greatest obstacle to integration. Can one really create friendships without communicating properly? Moreover, without good language understanding it is impossible to fully come to terms with the society one lives in. For the Brit who struggles with a bit of the lingo, it is so much easier to simply fall back onto his community. Even for those who speak Spanish reasonably fluently, there is a gap. Spanish is not the language of the Mallorcan. Oh yes, Mallorcans speak Spanish, but it is not their language and nor, in many ways, is Spain their culture. When the letter-writer talks of a "Spanish way of life", he's missing the point.
Recently I said to an old lag of many years British expatriatism that I wished to learn Mallorquín (I may have explained before that while I can understand much of it in written form I can't speak it). Why did I want to do that? They all speak Spanish. My motivation is not so that I can say I have integrated. To be honest I never give the subject much thought except when compiling pieces such as this. But I do want to understand and to be able to converse. Guy de Forestier's "Beloved Majorcans" is quite clear on the nuances of both the Mallorquín language and non-verbal communication. These are signficantly different not obviously just to Spanish but also mainland Catalan. The Mallorquín language is the culture and vice versa; the two are indivisible. Integration - "the combination of the diverse elements of perception" - begins and ends with language. To this end, only a minority of British expatriates, and probably quite a small one, can be said to have integrated. The letter-writer is correct in this regard, but I suspect he's also wrong as he's talking in a different language - as it were.
This claim of an erosion of the "Spanish way of life" in Mallorca is tenuous as well as it is fallacious in failing to allude to a "Mallorcan way of life". What erosion may have occurred is the result only in part because of immigration. Mallorca's societal shift in the later part of the last century was down to its equivalent of an industrial revolution - tourism. The expat is a consequence of a change in Mallorcan society not the cause of it; a change brought about by Europeanisation and legislation. Mallorca comprises many different nationalities now; it is cosmopolitan. But this has not meant an undermining of traditions. The language has been rediscovered following the period of proscription and if anything, as I wrote about in a previous piece, there has been a rediscovery of traditions, partly perhaps as a buffer to the changes in the wider society. The expat, far from eroding that way of life, has probably, inadvertently, helped to strengthen it.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Johnny Hates Jazz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRHLkLFJxaw). Today's title - a lyric from a well-intentioned but ultimately yucky allegoric duet by?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Integration. There is a letter in this week's "Euro Weekly" which takes to task columnist Leapy Lee's assertion that Mallorca "has not been taken over by expatriates". The author of the letter bemoans the fact that Mallorca has lost its "traditional Spanish way of life" and has in effect been colonised by those (and he's referring to the Brits) who don't bother to learn the language.
Integration. It's an old theme, one tossed around without, one senses, a great deal of appreciation as to its meaning or its subtleties. The first of the Oxford definitions is questionable in its accuracy, in a Mallorcan context at any rate. Segregation suggests a form of apartheid or separate development; this has never been the reality save for some unofficial and occasionally official discrimination. The second definition is the more meaningful as it alludes to the degree to which mentally the incomer, the expatriate, embraces his new society as opposed to purely physically in terms, for instance, of location. But to return to segregation, this ties in with what the letter-writer says about colonisation - as he sees it.
If I recall correctly, the piece by Mr. Graham (to give Leapy Lee his name; I find it somewhat absurd using "leapy" when referring to someone close on being a septuagenarian, but be that as it may) referred to his urbanisation - in Santa Ponsa I think. There was an enclave of different nationalities living in peace and harmony, or something like that. My own urbanisation is perhaps similar: British, Germans, Mallorcans. It would be stretching the imagination to say that we're all best mates. Most keep themselves to themselves, especially the Mallorcans; pretty much like many places I would suggest. But colonies? Where are these colonies exactly? It is not as if certain roads or districts in towns can be said to be "British". That Brits may live in reasonable proximity to each other is a fact of the places not being that big, not that they have actively sought to re-create parts of Mallorca that are forever England. If the writer is referring to bars, then he may be on firmer ground but even then anyone with an ounce of knowledge of bars in for example Alcúdia's Mile will know that many of these, whilst proclaiming "Britishness", are well and truly not British. Colonisation by cultural import perhaps, but not by any means all by British-owned businesses. If there is any source of colonisation it has been the tour operators.
Physically, therefore, there is integration in the sense of lack of segregation when it comes to where people live. In Puerto Pollensa, a resort of almost total British tourism dominance, there are also plenty of Brit residents, but no one could say that it looks or feels British, because it doesn't. The town may have lost some of its charm (its "Spanish way of life" perhaps to use the letter-writer's words) but that's the fault of developers responding not only to British or overseas demand but also local. There is "intermixing" of the races. The only sense in which one might agree that colonisation has been undertaken lies with the fact that towns such as Puerto Pollensa have an attraction to the new-coming British expatriate because there is already a strong British community, but this does not translate into the equivalent of ghettoes or anything approaching them.
Then there is intermixing at a social level. Here the author has a stronger case. Freedom of movement and of property rights have caused the growth in immigration and the inexorable rise of the British expatriate group and of other nationalities. Ally these to the existence of British establishments and to the sheer convenience of Britishness abroad, courtesy of daily newspapers now printed locally, Sky, the internet, cheap flights back home, and the motivation to move out of a predominantly British way of life is greatly reduced. There is not the same imperative to mix with the local population as might have been the case decades ago when to have not done so would have meant virtual isolation.
There are plenty of people who will say that they have any number of Spanish friends. Some seem to wish to boast of this in a notching-up manner; it's trophy friendship-making - I've got more Spanish friends than you have sort of thing. It's tacky and ultimately patronising to those Spaniards who might be included among their ranks. Of course there are expats who spend most of their existence with and around Mallorcans or Spaniards; many of them have married a local, a few have gone native. But for the most part, the "Spanish friends" are really acquaintances; the expat still exists within his own community. There is the reverse side of the coin. How many Mallorcans actually want to "intermix" with the expats? They can be very friendly but that does not make them friends; the Mallorcan is not typically antagonistic but nor is he totally accommodating.
The British and the Germans form the largest expatriate groups in Mallorca among the "old" Europe countries. But they are not the largest groups. The Argentinians, for instance, outstrip them both by some distance. The difference of course lies with language. The Argentinian may have a discernible accent and some different usages but his language is that of Spain. He intermixes far more readily as he shares a cultural birthright. Language is the greatest obstacle to integration. Can one really create friendships without communicating properly? Moreover, without good language understanding it is impossible to fully come to terms with the society one lives in. For the Brit who struggles with a bit of the lingo, it is so much easier to simply fall back onto his community. Even for those who speak Spanish reasonably fluently, there is a gap. Spanish is not the language of the Mallorcan. Oh yes, Mallorcans speak Spanish, but it is not their language and nor, in many ways, is Spain their culture. When the letter-writer talks of a "Spanish way of life", he's missing the point.
Recently I said to an old lag of many years British expatriatism that I wished to learn Mallorquín (I may have explained before that while I can understand much of it in written form I can't speak it). Why did I want to do that? They all speak Spanish. My motivation is not so that I can say I have integrated. To be honest I never give the subject much thought except when compiling pieces such as this. But I do want to understand and to be able to converse. Guy de Forestier's "Beloved Majorcans" is quite clear on the nuances of both the Mallorquín language and non-verbal communication. These are signficantly different not obviously just to Spanish but also mainland Catalan. The Mallorquín language is the culture and vice versa; the two are indivisible. Integration - "the combination of the diverse elements of perception" - begins and ends with language. To this end, only a minority of British expatriates, and probably quite a small one, can be said to have integrated. The letter-writer is correct in this regard, but I suspect he's also wrong as he's talking in a different language - as it were.
This claim of an erosion of the "Spanish way of life" in Mallorca is tenuous as well as it is fallacious in failing to allude to a "Mallorcan way of life". What erosion may have occurred is the result only in part because of immigration. Mallorca's societal shift in the later part of the last century was down to its equivalent of an industrial revolution - tourism. The expat is a consequence of a change in Mallorcan society not the cause of it; a change brought about by Europeanisation and legislation. Mallorca comprises many different nationalities now; it is cosmopolitan. But this has not meant an undermining of traditions. The language has been rediscovered following the period of proscription and if anything, as I wrote about in a previous piece, there has been a rediscovery of traditions, partly perhaps as a buffer to the changes in the wider society. The expat, far from eroding that way of life, has probably, inadvertently, helped to strengthen it.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Johnny Hates Jazz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRHLkLFJxaw). Today's title - a lyric from a well-intentioned but ultimately yucky allegoric duet by?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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