Even with an intact Spain, the number of professorships in Spanish on this continent dropped x3 within just 15 years. If the Scots and Catalonians think anybody will start departments of Scottish and Catalonian Studies after they achieve independence, they are deranged. Now their culture is still preserved and studied. If they become tiny new countries, nobody will. And since Americans are the only people on the planet who are still interested in preserving the world’s cultural legacy, if Americans don’t study you, you don’t exist. The possibility that Scots and Catalonians will have resources to develop their own scholarship from scratch is non-existent.
The really funny part in all this is that Catalonians want independence because they say they are haunted by the memories of the time when Castilian-speaking Spaniards persecuted their language and culture. So to honor these memories, they will deliver a mortal blow to this very language and culture and finish the work of their long-dead oppressors.
Of course, as we all know, nationalism appeals to emotions precisely because it is so baseless and stupid that it can’t sustain the light of reason shining on to it even for 2 seconds. Nobody thinks logically when there is a slightest opportunity for joyous flag-waving. It is really curious to observe people who are willing to destroy their own culture for the sake of latching on to a state-form that is in its death throes anyway.
Clarissa's Blog 
No exit polls on the Scottish referendum so we won’t get an early heads up and there won’t be any reliable information on a detailed breakdown of voter preferences (damn!).
Here’s an interesting map of Europe if all of the separatist movements got their way. Note that Spain doesn’t break into two segments but six with names like Andalucia, Galiza etc.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/politics/140917/map-shows-what-europe-will-look-if-every-separatist-movement-succeeds
We’ll be hearing lots about Mark 3:25 – “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand (KJB)” but don’t worry. If the University of Washington’s Department of Scandinavian studies can have the funds to teach Faroese studies (Faroe Islands’ population 50,000 in 2003) then they’ll still be lots of Spanish academic positions.
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“Note that Spain doesn’t break into two segments but six with names like Andalucia, Galiza etc.”
– Yes, exactly. Catalonia is just the beginning.
“If the University of Washington’s Department of Scandinavian studies can have the funds to teach Faroese studies (Faroe Islands’ population 50,000 in 2003) then they’ll still be lots of Spanish academic positions.”
– There already isn’t a lot of Spanish positions. The field has contracted enormously in the last decade. And actually, Scandinavian Studies have also dropped off a cliff since the 1980s. Shockingly, even Chinese and Arabic Studies contracted!!!
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This map gets no credit it from me because it doesn’t distinguish between the Catalan associated areas and Catalonia itself. Valencia and the Balearic Islands will not leave Spain even if Catalonia does (and the language which is much weaker there is liable to go into massive retreat).
And one of the things about Spain is that local identity has always meant a lot to people. Cultivating local identities within Spain is completely Spanish but serious independence movements are very scarce. Given, pretty much every region has some kind of independence movement but most are tiny and have no broad based support beyond barking at Madrid now and then. Even Basque separatists have toned things down a lot. I really don’t see other regions leaving even if Catalonia proper does.
And… autonomy/independence movements are essentially a new(?) way of making a career in politics.
1. Find a local population that can be distinguished….. some way,
2. Become their spokesman on the national stage agitating for autonomy
3. Profit
Also, given relatively generous EU funding for cultural issues and minorities, a lot of separatist movements are essentially tax-funded employment programs for educated people who would otherwise be in the unemployment line.
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One of my colleagues is Scottish. I asked him today how he’d vote. He said he’d vote no if he could. But I guess ex-pats aren’t invited to vote. Anyway, he had good reasons. I think “no” will probably win, but the people who want independence might not give up so easy.
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“now” won.
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I mean, “no”
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Democracy won!
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Yay for democracy!
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