The Reading Warehouse

The indigenous population of Deià has lived side by side with increasing numbers of foreigners over the past century, and what has occurred there over this period offers an example of how the population of one Mediterranean village has gained full advantage from the economic opportunities opened up by foreign investments, without losing the fabric of social relations, the meaning and values of their culture. Deià has been able to continue as a community with its own symbolic boundaries and identity, not in spite of the outsiders (some of whom are well-known literary personalities, artists and musicians) but because of their presence. This study shows how, under the impact of wars, migration, national politics, global economic and technological developments and especially tourism, the categories of Insider and Outsider are contracted and expanded, and reinterpreted to fit the constantly changing reality of the society; they assume different meanings at different times. The conflicts and resulting compromises over a hundred-year period have provided a sense of history that allows each group to define, develop, adapt and sustain their sense of belonging to their own communities.

Jacqueline Waldren is Research Associate, Lecturer and Tutor in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology and International Gender Studies and a member of Linacre College, University of Oxford. Her research on Europe includes identity, gender, migration, tourism and lifestyle changes. Her publications include Learning from the Children (co-ed, 2012), Tourists and Tourism (co-ed., 1997), Anthropological Perspectives on Local Development (co-ed., 2004) and many articles. She is Director of DAMARC, Deia Archaeological and Anthropological Museum and Research Centre in Mallorca, Spain.