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News Archive - Summer 2006
Zuriñe Vélez de Mendizabal completes year in Reno Zuriñe Vélez de Mendizabal has returned to the Basque Country after spending the 2005–2006 academic year at the Center. During her time in Reno she worked on several CBS marketing and web projects, including publicity for our seminars and for our booth at the Durango Book Fair. We greatly appreciate her contributions to the Center and miss her cheerful presence. | |
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Xabier Irujo new faculty member at CBS New faculty member Xabier Irujo Ametzaga joined the Center for Basque Studies in August. coming from Boise State University. He was born in exile in Caracas, Venezuela and educated in the Basque Country, and brings impressive educational achievements and experience that will enhance the Center’s teaching and research production.
Dr. Irujo
has three Master’s degrees—in Linguistics, History, and Philosophy—and
is studying for a fourth, in Law, from the Universidad Nacional de
Educación a Distancia (UNED) in Spain. He also has a Ph.D. in History
from the University of Navarre, with a dissertation on “Basque Exile in
Uruguay, 1943–1955.” When he studied for his philosophy degree, his main
focus was on political philosophy, and he is currently completing a
Ph.D. in Basque Political Philosophy at the Universidad del País Vasco.
His research is on the political philosophy of the Basque
Government-in-Exile (1937–1975). | ||
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Pedro Oiarzabal completes Ph.D. CBS doctoral student Pedro Oiarzabal completed his Ph.D. program on August 4, 2006 by presenting a defense of his dissertation, “The Basque Diaspora Webscape: Online Discourses of Basque Diaspora Identity, Nationhood, and Homeland.” His research discusses the impact of new global technologies such as the Internet on maintaining Basque identity in the diaspora. Dr. Oiarzabal’s degree is in Basque Studies, with an emphasis in Political Science. His Ph.D. committee was chaired by CBS director Dr. Gloria Totoricagüena, and included Dr. Linda White, Isabelle Favre of the Foreign Languages Dept., and Leonard Weinberg of the Political Science Dept., along with Dr. Joseba Zulaika who participated in the defense via videoconference from the Basque Country. Oiarzabal, from Bilbao, co-authored a book in 2005 with his brother, Agustin M. Oiarzabal, on La Identidad Vasca en el Mundo. He also created two websites related to his research, Euskalidentity and Euskaldiaspora.
Zorionak, Dr. Oiarzabal! | |
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Center Director visits University of Deusto Center Director Gloria Totoricagüena visited the University of Deusto (Bilbao) Institute of Basque Studies and its Director, Dr. Santiago Larrazábal Basáñez, in July 2006. They discussed possibilities for collaboration on future research projects for professors and for students. The Institute of Basque Studies at Deusto has a history of many decades, numerous courses, archives, and an excellent library collection. Drs. Larrazabal and Totoricagüena are eager to facilitate each other’s students, and an exchange of online courses is likely to begin with the 2007–2008 academic year. | |
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CBS faculty attend Seville conference Drs. Xabier Irujo and Gloria Totoricagüena traveled to Seville, Spain to present their research at the 52nd Congress of Americanists in July 2006. The five-day conference included nearly 4,000 social science specialists from around the world. Dr. Totoricagüena served as a session Co-Chair with Drs. Oscar Alvarez and David Río, both from the University of the Basque Country (Vitoria-Gasteiz campus), which focused on the Basque experience in Latin America. It was the first time that an entire session dedicated to Basques had ever been accepted at this prestigious Congress. Other participants included, Monika Madinabeitia, Alberto Angulo, Marek Peda, Matteo Manfredi, Marcelo Iriani, and Xabier Lamikiz. Totoricagüena presented a paper on comparative diaspora populations and international relations theory, and Irujo presented a paper on the mythification and de-mythification of the history of Basque politics. | |
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Basque scholarships awarded The Scholarship Selection Committee chose the recipients for 2006/2007, for the two Basque scholarships that we administer. Amy E. Sullivan of Reno was selected to receive the Peter Echeverria Scholarship. Amy grew up in Battle Mountain, Nevada where she was a member of their Oberanak Basque Club and a member/instructor of their dance group. At UNR, she is studying business management and also taking pre-optometry courses. For the Dolores Saval Trigero Scholarship, the committee was able to select two recipients this year. One awardee is Hillary L. Uriarte from Elko, Nevada, where she has been an Arinak Basque dancer for thirteen years. She was an honors student at Elko High School, and at UNR plans to major in history with a minor in Basque Studies. The second recipient is honors student Jillian Gooch of Gerlach, Nevada. While there is no Basque club in Gerlach, Jillian became a member of the Reno club and participated in as many activities as possible. She hopes to major in English and eventually become a teacher for deaf students.
We thank the Echeverria and Trigero families for
their generosity in designating funds for the benefit of Basque-American
students attending the University of Nevada, Reno. | |
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Gregorio Monreal completes year as Douglass Visiting Scholar Professor Gregorio Monreal Zia completed his year as the Center for Basque Studies’ first William A. Douglass Visiting Distinguished Scholar in June 2006, and has returned home to Arlegi, Nafarroa where he will resume his work as a professor of the history and philosophy of law. The faculty, staff, librarians, and students of the Center and of the University of Nevada, Reno wish to thank him for his collaboration in research projects, seminars, conferences, presentations, publications, Advisory Board meetings, and many CBS dinners and celebrations. He has been a wonderful addition to the Center and its many activities during this year, serving as an expert and advisor to many, meeting with academic scholars and visitors from other universities, and with professors from other UNR departments. Professor Monreal has been preparing his manuscript on the history of Basque law, which will be translated and published by the Center for Basque Studies in 2007. He was recently interviewed for Euskonews & Media for an online article.
We wish to thank him for an extraordinary year and
wish him well in his future endeavors. Please come back soon to Reno! | |
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Two new publications in Basque Literature Series A new title has just been released (June 2006) in our Basque Literature Series, Rossetti’s Obsession by Ramon Saizarbitoria, and translated from Basque by Madalen Saizarbitoria. This humorous novel involves an insecure writer’s efforts to retrieve a note he once sent to a woman, which caused her to fall in love with him. He hopes that the note will have the same effect on his new romantic interest. “Rossetti’s Obsession . . . accurately combines the most fragile, irritating, yet touching traits of a man in search of the right role to play in relation to women. Told in the first person, the most challenging voice for writers, this excellent novella unravels a particular kind of contemporary literary character . . . one who is fearful of failing at love, weak and calculating, and doubtful and puerile in his understanding of the mechanisms of seduction.” (J. Ernesto Ayala-Dip, El País. Babelia, 03/23/2002). (Basque Literature Series, 3. Series eds. Mari Jose Olaziregi and Linda White. (192 pages; paper, $19.95. Originally published in Basque as Rossetti-ren Obsesioa (Erein, 2000)). This book is available only in a paperback edition. The second publication in the Literature Series, published earlier this spring, is And the Serpent Said to the Woman by M.L. Oñederra, translated from Basque by Kristin Addis. In 2000, the Basque version of this title won the Euskadi Prize for Literature in Basque. The jurors commented that: “This book not only won the Critics Award, but also captivated many readers in its courageous and risky account of the confessions of a married woman. Revolving around the feelings and experiences written in a diary and divided into the four seasons, a woman in her mid-thirties examines every detail of her life.” (Basque Literature Series, 2. Series eds. Mari Jose Olaziregi and Linda White. 136 pages. Hardcover, $24.95; paper, $19.95. Originally published in Basque as Eta sugeak emakumeari esan zion (Erein, 1999)). Center for Basque Studies publications are distributed by the University of Nevada Press. To order, please call the Press’ toll-free line at 877.NVBOOKS (877.682.6657), or you may order online at http://www.nvbooks.nevada.edu.
We appreciate funding for our publications provided by the Government of the
Basque Autonomous Community. | |
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Oiarzabal review published Basque Ph.D. candidate Pedro Oiarzabal published a review (in Spanish) of Identity, Culture, and Politics in the Basque Diaspora by Gloria Totoricagüena. The review appears in Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos, journal of the Buenos Aires-based Centro de Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos. | |
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National Basque Festival in Elko, Nevada features Western Folklife Center events Presented by the Elko Euzkaldunak Club, the annual National Basque Festival is held this year from Friday, June 30 through Sunday, July 2 (2006). Events include Basque dance and game exhibitions, food, and vendors, the Kantari Eguna (Basque Songfest) on Saturday, and a Sunday mass and barbeque. Also this year the Western Folklife Center of Elko features a Making West Home program to celebrate favorite foods and stories. The schedule presents an exhibit of sheepherding photography by Michael Mathers; Making West Home: An Evening of Food & Stories with photographer Linda Dufurrena and writer Carolyn Dufurrena; and Making West Home: A Cooking & Story Workshop with chef Auriane Ugalde (requires pre-registration). The Center also plans to record stories at the Deep West Story Camp. The Western Folklife Center is at 501 Railroad Street in Elko.
For a complete schedule of the festival and related events, please see their
web site. | |
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CBS staff attend Bakersfield festivities Basques from California and Nevada traveled to Bakersfield to enjoy an academic symposium at California State University Bakersfield on May 26, 2006, and also participated in the Memorial Day weekend festival at the Kern County Basque Club, fronton and picnic grounds. Director Gloria Totoricagüena gave a presentation at the university symposium in which she compared USA East Coast and West Coast Basques and the differences in their political interests and involvement. She also participated in meetings with the Chairs of several university departments and Dr. Steve Gamboia of CSUB, with intentions to assist the university in preparing Basque Studies courses and possibly a minor studies program. Ph.D. student Argitxu Camus and Dr. Totoricagüena also conducted interviews with Francois and Mary Pedeflous in Fresno, concerning their leadership roles in North American Basque Organizations, Inc. (NABO). Ms. Camus is preparing a book manuscript about the history of NABO which will be published by the Basque Government next year.
Also enjoying the Bakersfield Basque festival from the Center were Zuriñe
Velez de Mendizabal, Basque Librarian Imanol Irizar and his wife Eskarne
Zubero, and the William Douglass Visiting Distinguished Scholar
Professor Gregorio Monreal. | |
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Book on diaspora Basques reviewed The book La Identidad Vasca en el Mundo, authored by Basque Studies Ph.D. student Pedro Oiarzabal and his brother, Basque sociologist Agustin Oiarzabal, has been reviewed by the following journals: Hermes 19 (2006): 62–63; the Basque-language daily Berria (February 21, 2006); and the Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia (April 1, 2006). In addition, interviews with the authors have appeared in the Basque-language magazine Argia (April 30, 2006), with a Spanish-language summary on Euskalkultura.com; and in Euskal Etxeak 72, a quarterly magazine for the Basque diaspora. | |
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Bernardo Atxaga online class offered The aim of this course for fall 2006 is to study Basque literature, with a focus on Bernardo Atxaga’s work. Readers throughout the world have been entranced by Atxaga’s books—this course will offer you the opportunity to read the best literature written in Basque (in English translation). As a surprise, Bernardo Atxaga himself will be a guest in the course. We will follow the evolution of Basque literature, identify its most distinctive features, and discuss contemporary trends. We will then analyze the works of our most international Basque author. Our goal is to investigate what defines this minority literature. We will also explore the enthusiastic global reception of Atxaga’s fiction—in particular, Obabakoak, which has been translated into twenty-six languages.
Instructor: Mari Jose Olaziregi, Ph.D., from the University of the Basque
Country. Enroll by August 18! For more information, please contact UNR’s Independent
Learning Office at 1-800-233-8928, ext. 4652 or istudy@unr.edu. | |
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