Historical and Cultural Background of the Majorcan Community of San Pedro, Argentina

This chapter approaches the San Pedro community of heritage speakers of Catalan from an anthropological perspective, expanding on the concepts and qualitative data initially presented in Chap. 1 . The first sections approach the history of the community under study. This has been possible thanks especially to participant accounts from Task 2 (sociolinguistic interviews), as well as a—scarce—number of bibliographical sources on the matter. For this reason, I describe the history of the community as largely a “self-given” one. Participants’ perceptions on the community, in general, and Majorcan Catalan as a heritage language, in particular, are tackled from a comprehensive perspective, focusing on various societal features such as hierarchy, work ethic, societal conservatism, and even sense of humor. Based on this, I refer to an “Argentinian-Majorcan biculturality,” as reflected in traditional careers or professions, or naming peculiarities (e.g., Majorcan family names, malnoms or personal nicknames, geographical designations). The role of local cultural institutions in preserving the Majorcan heritage is also approached. These include Club Unido, La Balear, and—since 1966—the Agrupación Mallorca San Pedro, as well as a number of institutions beyond the community (especially the centres balears and casals catalans found throughout the country). Following brief historical contextualization, this chapter analyzes the impact of the relevant cultural and idiosyncratic aspects of the community, including traditional gastronomy, local festivities (e.g., Fiesta Nacional de la Ensaimada, matances, Crema(da) del Dimoni), traditional Majorcan dances, games, and other forms of entertainment. A full subsection follows that is dedicated to the institutional initiative known in Catalan as Operació Retorn, whereby the Balearic Government sponsored a series of trips to Majorca for San Pedroans of Majorcan descent (most recently, in 2009 and 2016), allowing these individuals to visit—often for the first time—the land of their ancestors. Finally, two subsections focus on the traditional attitudes of San Pedro locals toward Majorcan Catalan, including their perception of Majorcan speech. This provides a smooth transition into the unifying thread for Chap. 4 , which is entirely dedicated to the sociolinguistic status of Majorcan Catalan as a heritage language in the San Pedro community.