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Highlights Since the first Newsletter appeared, there have been the following developments on the Basque Studies Program: Professor Jon Bilbao joined the staff in January. During the spring semester Professor Bilbao taught Elementary Basque 150 under the auspices of the Department of Foreign Languages. Student enrollment surpassed all expectations since the class began the semester with forty-five students. In light of the strong student interest, the Department of Foreign Languages has scheduled the course again for the Fall semester and has added a continuation course (Elementary Basque 151) to be taught in the autumn as well. During the spring semester we received large donations (books and journals) from the Diputación of Vizcaya, the Diputación of Alava, and the Caja de Ahorros of Alava. We wish to express our sincere thanks to those who were responsible. In May Dr. Douglass, Program Coordinator, was asked by Air France to represent the Basque Program on the inaugural flight of a new airplane, christened “Le Pays Basque.” Dr. Douglass traveled to Europe as a guest of the airline. He was able to spend one week in the Basque Country which permitted him to conduct Program-related business. We wish to thank Air France for the consideration that they have shown to the Basque Studies Program. As part of our pilot study of Basques in the American West, Mr. Julio Bilbao has completed a census of the Basque community of Boise, Idaho. His work was of high quality and will be of great assistance to the Project. The Department of Anthropology of the Reno campus has scheduled a course in Old World Basque culture to be taught by Dr. Douglass during the fall semester. The course will be offered Tuesday evenings so that interested persons from the local community will have the opportunity to attend. During the summer months, Dr. Douglass, Professor Bilbao, Mr. Constancio de Castro Aguirre, and Mr. Richard Lane will be conducting research in Elko, Nevada. Dr. Douglass is studying the ethnic group boundary maintenance mechanisms which allow us to distinguish a Basque-American community. Professor Bilbao is studying the history of the movement of the Basques into Elko County. He is also studying the extent to which English loan words are employed in the spoken Basque of second generation Basque-Americans. Mr. Castro Aguirre is a psychometrician, presently engaged in post-graduate work at Stanford University. He is studying the nature of the Basque stereotype as viewed by both the Basque and non-Basque. Mr. Richard Lane is a graduate student in anthropology from Yale University. He is presently doing field work for his doctoral dissertation on the question of the ecology of sheep transhumance. The study will encompass an examination of the sheepherders’ way of life. |
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