Abstract
In recent decades, scholars of nationalism have paid increasing attention to the role of ethnicity in the formation of nations. In fact, nationalist narratives often structure the nation around a core ethnic group and a hegemonic language. Nevertheless, there are communities (such as many former colonies) which cannot easily define their nationhood in terms of a shared ethnic background, and Gibraltar is one such example. It offers an exceptional opportunity to shed light on the political strategies for the creation of a discursive common ethnicity from a community with a very culturally diverse background.
With two powerful countries determining their identity, Gibraltarians found it difficult to develop their own national narrative, much less a claim for independence. In the 1940s, however, the Spanish dictator, General Franco, began a campaign to recover Gibraltar, and it was during this campaign that Gibraltarians developed the clearest articulation of their unique collective identity through a nationalist discourse that would make them new British subjects, albeit with their own ethnic peculiarities.
This chapter analyses how a nationalist narrative helped Gibraltarians form their own ethnic identity, incorporating, at least discursively, a diverse ethnic background that would make the Gibraltarian a ‘melting pot’. It explores how political actors gave birth to a new British subject, the Gibraltarian, during the postwar period, and charts the reception of this ideological discourse on the Rock.
This chapter is an output of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project: Bordering on Britishness. An Oral History Study of 20th Century Gibraltar (Grant Ref. ES/K006223/1). Luis G. Martínez thanks the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU for granting him a Postdoctoral fellowship in 2017 to continue with his research on Gibraltar.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Although many scholars question the concept of a cultural ‘melting pot’, Gibraltarians often use it to define themselves. Will Kymlicka (1995) defines a ‘melting-pot’ as ‘the biological fusing of various (white) ethnic groups through intermarriage, more than the fusing of their cultural practices’.
- 2.
Bordering on Britishness interview (22 June 2014) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1940s. Canessa, A. (2017). Bordering on Britishness. [data collection]. UK Data Service. SN: 852694, http://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-852694
- 3.
Bordering on Britishness interview (20 June 2014) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1920s.
- 4.
Bordering on Britishness interview (19 August 2014) with a woman born in Gibraltar in the 1930s.
- 5.
Bordering on Britishness interview (19 June 2014) with a member of Gibraltar’s Indian community who was evacuated to India during World War II, despite being born in Gibraltar.
- 6.
There are many examples that demonstrate that Yanito or Llanito was used to name people inhabiting Gibraltar and the Spanish neighbouring cities, such as La Línea and Algeciras and is still occasionally used in Spain to refer to people from the Campo region. See, for instance, ‘Una Mirada a Gibraltar’, El Sol, 14 July 1926: 1.
- 7.
Bordering on Britishness interview (3 March 2015) with a man who was born in Gibraltar in the 1940s.
- 8.
Bordering on Britishness interview (12 February 2015) with a couple born in Gibraltar in the 1920s and 1930s.
- 9.
‘Gibraltar Curbs by Franco Failing’, The New York Times, 16 September 1956: 27.
- 10.
At the time, Gibraltarians were classified as British Dependent Territory Citizens and not as British Citizens, and consequently second class British subjects.
- 11.
Bordering on Britishness interview (30 March 2015) with a man born in Spain in the 1940s, but living in Gibraltar.
- 12.
Bordering on Britishness interview (22 July 2014) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1940s.
- 13.
Bordering on Britishness interview (22 June 2014) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1940s.
- 14.
Bordering on Britishness interview (14 July 2016) with a woman born in Gibraltar in the 1950s.
- 15.
Bordering on Britishness interview (14 July 2016) with a woman born in Gibraltar in the 1950s.
- 16.
Bordering on Britishness interview (06 March 2015).
- 17.
Bordering on Britishness interview (20 June 2014) with a woman born in Gibraltar.
- 18.
Bordering on Britishness interview (21 June 2014) with a woman born in London in the 1960s but living in La Línea and working in Gibraltar.
- 19.
Bordering on Britishness interview (24 March 2015) with a woman born in Gibraltar in the 1930s.
- 20.
Bordering on Britishness interview (22 June 2014) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1940s.
- 21.
Bordering on Britishness interview (8 June 2014) with a woman born in Gibraltar in the 1950s.
- 22.
Bordering on Britishness interview (2 February 2015) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1950s.
- 23.
Bordering on Britishness interview (09 February 2016) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1980s.
- 24.
Bordering on Britishness interview (09 February 2016) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1980s.
- 25.
Bordering on Britishness interview (4 July 2015) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1980s.
- 26.
Bordering on Britishness interview (4 March 2015) with a man born in Gibraltar.
- 27.
Bordering on Britisness interview (24 April 2015) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1950s.
- 28.
Bordering on Britisness interview (03 March 2016) with a woman born in the UK in the 1980s.
- 29.
Bordering on Britishness interview (10 February 2016) with a woman born in Morocco in the 1950s.
- 30.
Bordering on Britishness interview (05 April 2016) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1990s.
- 31.
Bordering on Britishness interview (01 April 2016) with a man born in Gibraltar in the 1990s.
Bibliography
Ballantine Perera, J. (2010). Pablo Larios y el Royal Calpe Hunt como ejemplo de relaciones transfronterizas entre Gibraltar y España durante el siglo XIX y principios del XX. Historia Contemporánea, 41, 345–371.
Bond, P. (2003). “The Third Century 1904–2004”. 300 Years of British Gibraltar, 1704–2004. Gibraltar: Peter-Tan Publishing.
Burbank, J., & Cooper, F. (2010). Empires in World History. Power and the Politics of Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Burke, S., & Sawchuck, L. (2001). Alien Encounters: The jus soli and Reproductive Politics in the 19th-Century Fortress and Colony of Gibraltar. History of the Family, 6, 531–561.
Cavilla, M. (1976). Diccionario Yanito. Gibraltar: Mediterranean Sun Publishing.
Chi, J. K. G. (2003). National-Ethnic Identity Negotiation in Malaysia and Singapore: A State-Society Interaction Perspective. Berkeley Journal of Sociology, 47, 49–75.
Díaz Martínez, B. (2010). Camino de Gibraltar. Dependencia y Sustento en La Línea y Gibraltar. Sevilla: Delegación Provincial de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía.
Finlayson, T. (1991). The Fortress Came First: Story of the Civilian Population of Gibraltar During the Second World War. Gibraltar: Gibraltar Books.
Garcia, J. (1994). Gibraltar. The Making of a People. Gibraltar: MedSUN.
Garratt, G. T. (1939). Gibraltar and the Mediterranean. London: Jonathan Cape.
Grocott, C., Stockey, G., & Grady, J. (2015). Anarchy in the UK(’s Most Famous Fortress): Comradeship and Cupidity in Gibraltar and Neighbouring Spain, 1890–1902. Labour History, 56(4), 385–406.
Hoare, S. (1946). Ambassador on Special Mission. London: Collins.
Howes, H. W. (1946). The Story of Gibraltar. London: Philip & Tacey.
Howes, H. W. (1982 [1951]). The Gibraltarian. The Origin and Development of the Population of Gibraltar from 1704. Gibraltar: Mediterranean SUN Publishing.
Hutchinson, J. (2000). Ethnicity and Modern Nations. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 23(4), 651–669.
Hutchinson, J., & Smith, A. D. (1996). Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jackson, W. (1990). The Rock of the Gibraltarians. A History of Gibraltar. Grendon: Gibraltar Books.
Kymlicka, W. (1995). Multicultural Citizenship. A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mylonas, H. (2013). The Politics of Nation-Building. Making Co-Nationals, Refugees, and Minorities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sawchuck, L., & Walz, L. (2003). The Gibraltarian Identity and Early 20th Century Marriage Practices. Gibraltar Heritage Journal, 10, 81–90.
Smith, A. (1986). The Ethnic Origins of Nations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sommer, D. (1991). Foundational Fictions. The National Romances of Latin America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Stockey, G. (2009). Gibraltar: ‘A Dagger in the Spine of Spain?’. Brighton/Portland: Sussex Academic Press.
West, M. (1953). Bilingualism in Gibraltar. Overseas Education, 24, 148–153.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Martínez Del Campo, L.G., Canessa, A., Orsini, G. (2019). A New British Subject: The Creation of a Common Ethnicity in Gibraltar. In: Canessa, A. (eds) Bordering on Britishness. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99310-2_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99310-2_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99309-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99310-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)