Is the ‘casteller’ world really as inclusive and inclusive as it is said to be? This was one of the many questions raised Mireia González Mohedano and Elisa Alegre-Agís two years ago when they started the study ‘Una sociocultural slide of the ‘castellers’ and ‘castelleras de Catalunya’. It was a project that won the II scholarship convened by the Center for Prospective and Analysis of Castells (CEPAC) and that this Monday has presented its results, an investigation that until now had never been carried out in the world of ‘castellers’.
The typical profile of the ‘casteller’ is that of a person born in Catalonia, with a high cultural and economic level and with sympathies for the independence movement
The main objective was to break some myths and confirm some hypotheses. To do this, González and Alegre-Agís have worked with 88 ‘colles’ with a valid sample of 1,852 people surveyed.
Although the ‘castellers’ are still masculinized spaces, 20% of their members do not define themselves as heterosexual
From their responses it is clear that the profile type of ‘casteller’ or ‘castellera’ is that of a person mostly born in Catalonia, with a high level of studies and who speaks Catalan. His socioeconomic level It is usually medium or medium-high and the predominant ideology is left-wing, with sympathies for the independence movement. A portrait that breaks with the idea that the ‘colles castelleres’ are spaces for integration and diversity.
Just as they are “intergenerational” spaces, where there are people of all ages, the majority origin is from people born in Catalonia, which “contrasts with the reality of the Catalan population, which has a much higher percentage of immigrants”. According to data from the Statistics Institute of Catalonia (Idescat), in 2022 more than 16% of the resident population in Catalonia was of migrant origin.
The study does detect that the ‘colles’ are diverse spaces in terms of sexual orientation. 20% of ‘castellers’ and ‘castelleres’ “do not identify as heterosexual”.
women’s advance
However, the ‘colles’ are still masculinized spaces with regard to its members, especially those with more history. Little by little, women are making a name for themselves, as evidenced by the fact that they now occupy 57% of the ‘tronc’ positions. On the contrary, the positions of power (government boards and technical boards, where the heads and sub-heads of the ‘colla’ are) are occupied by men.
The research confirms that the ‘colles’ are a vehicle for the conservation and projection of the Catalan language, since catalan is the language that are predominantly used by its members to communicate.
For the authors, the socioeconomic level of the ‘castellers’ has also been a surprise. that is the level of studies: if the first ‘castellers’ had a low academic level, now more than 60% have university studies or higher; a percentage much higher than the average for Catalan society, which is 33%, according to data from Idescat.
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Another relevant factor is the commitment to the ‘colla’: an important bulk of ‘castellers’ adjust their work and daily life to meet the schedule of rehearsals and performances.
González and Alegre-Agís have positively valued the predisposition and participation of all the ‘colles’ in the study and have pointed out that the results should allow “analyzing the weaknesses and strengths of the movement and establishing management strategies”.