ABSTRACT
This chapter builds on Chapter 3 (culture and public relations) by introducing the notion of “nations within nations” to describe how multicultural societies often have cultural fault lines that, by virtue of being present for millennia, continue to split regions within national borders. Analyzing the case of bullfighting – synonymous with the country of Spain – this chapter showcases how the cultural roots of different regions may create tension among citizens of a country. Spain is a land of at least four distinct cultural regions and in this instance the Catalonian region banned bullfighting not only because the sport is cruel to bulls, but also because the Catalan government saw this as a way of resisting the cultural hegemony of Spain as a country. Banning bullfighting was a political decision with cultural motives, because Catalan nationalism is cultural nationalism that turned political when used as an argument and ideology by national political parties. Importantly for public relations scholars, the campaign to ban bullfighting in Catalonia had strong international allies such as animal rights groups and international celebrities – who helped immensely with media relations.
