| Abstract | The effects of migration have also given rise to discussion on another level: its impact on the development of the Galician ethnonationalist movement. It is difficult to evaluate the extent to which mass migration affected the recovery of Galician culture and language after the mid-nineteenth century, or whether migration accelerated the process of linguistic assimilation of Galician-speaking peasants who went in large numbers to Spanish-speaking countries and eventually returned to Galicia using Castilian as a vehicular language instead of Galician.(16) Here pessimistic and optimistic views again confront each other. For the former, mass migration to Spanish-speaking countries has diminished the number of Galician-speaking people, since linguistic assimilation was accelerated in Latin America and returnees tended to introduce "Creole" Spanish into rural settings. For others, however, this effect was counterbalanced by the fact that many Galician writers, periodicals and political groups emerged among the migrant communities in Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay, waving the banner of Galician ethnonationalism. In fact, in the 1930s cthnonationalist groups enioyed a broader audience among the Galician migrants of Buenos Aires than in Galicia. A significant number of leaders favoring autonomy in the 1920s and 1930s turned into regional activists after migrating to Buenos Aires or Havana.(17)
The new policy of enforcing the symbolic link with Galician migrants was also given greater visibility: since the mid-1990s the regional TV (in Galician language) has devoted a weekly program to Galician migrants (Galeguidade, replaced in 2001 by Encontros, "Encounters"). Featuring testimonies and a sort of "soft portrait" of what migration meant to its protagonists, these programs are followed not only in Galicia but also in some Latin American countries where Galician TV programming is part of the "package" offered by cable TV companies.(28) This greater symbolic visibility was also evident in the frequent transatlantic trips to America, Europe and even Australia by Regional President Fraga and his "special envoy" (until 2001) Amarelo-de Castro. Their formal purpose was to visit the Galician migrant communities and establish formal links with the authorities of the host countries. But their underlying agenda clearly goes beyond that purpose, and could be defined as the permanent expression of the Xunta's concern for emigrants as part of a "supraterritorial" imagined community. Visibility and affective demonstration are in many respects more important than the practical results of [Manuel Fraga]'s and Amarelo-de Castro's trips, as seen by the constant media coverage of these activities.
Now that mass emigration from Galicia has ended and is a historical subject, the emphasis is on supraterritorial solidarity. Criteria for belonging to the galeguidade are not at all clear. Though defined in nonexclusive terms, the main attributes of ascription are "birth place, blood, culture and tradition"; based more on ius sanguinis (sic!) than on ius solis without specifying what is intended by such sensitive concepts as "blood" or "tradition." Amarelo-de Castro illustrates this with the image of Galicia as a mother who cares for her children scattered throughout the world, and is in turn loved by the absent members of the family. The concept of Galicianicity transcends class and territory, ideology and individual preferences, a "large lap" that welcomes all Galician descendants.(49) This, however, does not exclude overall Spanish identity. The preservation of Galician identity among migrants is considered the best way to keep the love for Spain alive, since Galicians "in their feelings, in their way of life, in their love, will never give up the principles which integrate them within Spain."(50)
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