PATRIMONIALIZATION PROCESSES AND THE CREATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY: A CASE STUDY ABOUT EL BORN CENTRE DE CULTURA I MEMÒRIA

This paper analyzes the process of patrimonialization of the former El Born wholesale market, located in one of the oldest areas of Barcelona, in the Ciutat Vella district. Combining the qualitative and quantitative methodologies of Mediated Discourse Analysis and of Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies, patrimonialization is considered as an action mediated by material objects exposed in the urban space that are regulated by the principles of indexicality, dialogue and selection, put forward by geosemiotics. The mediated action is explored as an intersection of social practices that generate a pro-independence Catalan identity based on selective collective memory, thus naturalizing a victimistic narrative produced by inaccuracies and distortions of history.