Reflections on the present and future of the Basque diaspora, a UPV course

This article was translated by John R. Bopp

Among the summer courses on offer at the University of the Basque Country (UBC), on the 12th and 13th of July at the Intsausti Palace in Azkoitia, the home of the Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country held a course that is of great interest to us: “Migration and Mobility in the Basque Community Abroad”, promoted by the Directorate for the Basque Community Abroad of the Basque Government.

In this course, the Basque Community abroad, what we typically call the “Basque Diaspora”, was analyzed, as well as the possible evolution of the relationship between these Basques and their homeland, at both a social and institutional level.

The summary on the course that we found on the Government’s Irekia website was really interesting, as the speakers focused the debate on the aspects which, from our point of view, are the basis of everything.  Among those essential aspects of that analysis, we’d like to highlight the following:

• The difference in the movements of people in the past and in the present, as explained by social researcher Catalina Uzcanga and the Vice Counselor of Employment Marcos Muro.
• The need to re-think the relationships between the “Basques abroad” and the “Basques at home”.  As explained by Óscar Álvarez Gila of the UBC and Xosé Manoel Núñez of the University of Santiago de Compostela, we live in a new reality that demands that these relationships be modified in order to continue being effective and, above all, to guarantee a mutual knowledge and the continuation of authentic networks that mantain the “Basqueness” of our communities around the world.
• The proposal put forth by Imanol Galdos that it is essential that we need to see “people” and not “data” when discussing the Basques abroad.  There is no one reality for this group, so therefore, there is no one formula.  We can’t have the same relationship with the Basques in the US and the Basques in Venezuela.

We’ll leave you with the Irekia press release and with two interviews, one on Onda Vasca radio with Professor Óscar Álvarez Gila, and another Mr. Gila and Xosé Manoel Núñez by the Summer Courses organization.

Irekia – 16/7/2018 – Euskadi

Las mentes frescas de la juventud vasca llevarán nuestra Diáspora al siglo XXI

La secretaria general de Acción Exterior del Gobierno Vasco, Marian Elorza, ha señalado que en el actual mundo globalizado, lleno de innovaciones y en constante cambio, son las mentes frescas de los jóvenes vascos que viven en el exterior las que llevarán la Diáspora Vasca al siglo XXI. Marian Elorza ha pronunciado esas palabras dentro de su discurso de clausura del Curso de Verano de la Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV / EHU) “Migración y Movilidad en la Comunidad Vasca en el exterior”, que se ha celebrado los días 12 y 13 de Julio en el Palacio Intsausti de Azkoitia, sede de la Real Sociedad Bascongada de los Amigos del País (RSBAP).

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Last Updated on Dec 20, 2020 by About Basque Country