Quedem? (Shall we meet?), Leisure, Language and Social Cohesion in Catalonia

Eunice Romero, co-ordinator of Quedem? in Òmnium Cultural and Ph.D. student of Sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Catalonia

« A reflection about the experiences of a leisure programme that understands the potential of the language as a tool for social cohesion and not as an aim in itself. »

Quedem? is a leisure programme that offers, for free, a great variety of activities for all members of Catalan society, regardless their origin, to meet up and relate, while participating in shared activities.

Quedem? aims at promoting social cohesion in Catalonia and to bring beyond linguistic integration all people joining this society. The Catalan language becomes a privileged tool of understanding between persons who speak it. Even so, we are conscious that active participation in society has not to be limited exclusively to the belonging to a linguistic community, but it is necessary to promote other factors of social inclusion through its use. Therefore, the programmed activities extend several areas, such as the associative life , public resources, leisure areas, popular culture, music, theatre and other artistic expressions, as well as emblematic places of Catalonia. The aim is to reinforce and to generate ties of belonging to a same civic community for all the population.

The programme offers a meeting space for people exchanging knowledge, experiences and relating in an informal way at the same time that they share activities of public interest.

The activities are especially promoted among the newcomer population, through associations of foreign residents, Catalan language teaching institutions and other public entities like public information points, libraries and civic centres.

There is a team of animateurs in charge of the activities, stimulating the interrelation of participants, a part from promoting the objectives of the project (the use of the Catalan language as a tool of social cohesion and recognition of social citizenship). The participants can increase the knowledge of the places visited through a dossier with detailed and expert information.

During the activities, surveys have been distributed to allow a detailed follow-up, also to receive suggestions from participants and to know about the socio-demographic profile of participants. The data form the first semester shows that about 1,500 people participated in the programme and the majority in more than one occasion.

After this first period of activities we have been able to spot the aspects to be strengthened. Thus we aim at reaching new public and to give answers to the proposals of the first participants.