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Highlights The Basque Studies Program, with partial funding from the North American Basque Organizations, Inc., is preparing two sound-on-slide presentations (one dealing with Old World Basque culture and the other with the Basque sheepherder) and a library exhibit module. These materials will be made available on a request basis to schools, church groups, service clubs, and small county libraries throughout the American West. They are designed to meet the growing numbers of requests that we receive for information on the nature of the Basques. During the week of June 23-27, staff members of the Basque Studies Program conducted a course entitled “The Basques.” This was one of the UNR Summer Session special programs for senior citizens. The five lectures on Old and New World Basques, prehistory, the Basque language, and Basque gastronomy were accompanied by slides, films, folk dancing, and demonstrations. Professor Juan Magunagoicoechea of the UNR Foreign Languages and Literatures Department, and consultant to the Basque Studies Program, received his Ph.D. in Spanish Literature from Columbia University this May. His dissertation was on “The Genesis of the Theme of Suffering in Pío Baroja.” In September, the Basque Studies Program staff prepared a display on Basque-Americans for the Center of Religion and Life in Reno for the initiation of its American Issues Forum. The first program in the series was entitled “Nevada’s Basques and Chicanos.” One of the participants was Professor Richard Etulain of the history department of Idaho State University. Professor Etulain spent the 1973-74 academic year with the Program as an NEH Fellow. This fall, Professor William H. Jacobsen, Jr. of the English department is teaching Basque at UNR. Professor Jacobsen is linguistic coordinator for the Basque Studies Program. Basque was approved last year as one of the languages which can now be used to satisfy the university’s Art and Sciences language requirement. Both Basque 150 and 151 are now four-credit courses, and a second year of instruction Foreign Languages 295, is now available. The Basque Studies Program acknowledges with gratitude the donation of the motion picture Arçaina by Mr. Ben Cardinal, its producer. This film is a 22-minute color documentary of the Basque sheepherder in the American West, and was produced by Cinemar Productions of Gig Harbor, Washington. Dr. Rudolf de Rijk, who taught courses in Basque linguistics in the 1972 and 1975 Basque Studies Summer Sessions Abroad, began the teaching of an elementary Basque course at the University of Leiden this October. This will be the first time in many years that such a course has been offered in Holland. On October 9th, the French Basque pelota champions visited the Basque Studies Program. We were pleased to see their interest in our collection and activities. |
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