4
COMPILATION
Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya
character that ethnographic research has historically had in Catalonia. Since 1992, then, the Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya has been an invaluable voice for Catalan ethnological research. Yet it does not only deal with Catalonia. The journal has from the start been open to a great diversity of subjects from around the world. This is clearly seen in a diversity of thematic dossiers, as well as in miscellaneous articles published by researchers from Catalonia, Spain and the world over. Together with the thematic dossiers, research funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia and that done in the context of the research program of the Inventory of Ethnographic Heritage of Catalonia has always had space in the journal, with its presence growing in size and importance in parallel to the Inventory’s consolidation as the leading research program in Catalan ethnology. Furthermore, from the very start the Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya has sought to look at the world from the perspective of Catalan ethnology, with the world simultaneously able to see what is happening in this field in Catalonia. For this reason the table of contents of each
L
a Revista d’Etnologia de Catalunya naixia el 1992 com una publicació de caràcter científic del Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya, amb l’objectiu d’esdevenir una tribuna oberta a l’etnologia catalana. La paraula “etnologia” incloïa llavors diverses mirades disciplinàries sobre la cultura catalana que comptaven amb una llarga trajectòria a Catalunya. D’una banda, la més recent, la de la moderna antropo-
Juny 2015
Núm. 40
issue can be found in Catalan, the language of the country and the journal itself, as well as in English, while the articles in the specialized dossiers feature abstracts in Catalan and English. Technological changes and globalization, however, have altered the conception of the journal. From its original publication on paper it has gone to being a digital publication openly available online, which has exponentially increased its public potential. For this reason we have chosen to release this issue entirely in English, with 15 previously-published articles along with an original text on the Institute Ramon Muntaner, a private foundation patronized by the Generalitat of Catalonia, whose objective is the spread and support of research projects and the cultural promotion of Catalanlanguage study centres, dedicated to the study of local ethnology, amongst other questions. The selection of the articles has been made on the basis of criteria of representation, diversity and quality, as well as current interest, given that the oldest was published in 2006, when the journal had already been active for 14 years. It is our hope that this issue might be useful for readers both in allowing for greater understanding of certain aspects of Catalan society and in increasing knowledge of subject areas that world academic anthropology has been particularly interested in. n
logia acadèmica, que havia entrat a l’Estat espanyol per Catalunya de la mà de Claudi Esteva Fabregat a finals de la dècada de 1960 i que es va institucionalitzar el 1972 amb la creació de la Càtedra d’Antropologia Cultural de la Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres de la Universitat de Barcelona. Hi havia també, però, tot aquell món que genèricament coneixem com el de la “Cultura Popular”, íntimament lligat amb els estudis de folklore. Es tracta aquesta d’una disciplina amb molta tradició des de la segona meitat del segle xix a Catalunya i a tota la seva àrea lingüística i cultural, que primer va centrar la seva atenció en la llengua per després anar encabint en el seu focus altres manifestacions de la cultura: la cançó, el ball,