euskalkultura.eus

Santa Barbara, California. Since leaving the front lines of politics, Lehendakari Ibarretxe has dedicated himself to teaching workshops and giving talks at universities as well as other forums around the world, links many times to the Agirre Lehendakaria Center, working on themes like the articulation of Euskadi and its place in Europe, and sustainable development.  In this contest, he visited UCSB and gave a talk on April 2^nd, invited by the Basque Language and Culture Lectureship there with the support of the Etxepare Basque Institute entitled, “When Europe Challenges Europe, or How to articulate Minority/Peripheral Regions without a Sate in the European Union”

During his talk, he mentioned a new model and opportunity to rethink regional power and the realities and very notion of nation-state.  In an international context that includes the 2017 Catalan referendum as well as the proliferation in Europe and the US of far-right nationalist ideologies, Ibarretxe described the successful reality of Euskadi and its high level of autonomy.  He explained that its high GDP and quality of life are largely the product of their status as a small autonomous region, highlighting in particular their confidence in the cooperative business model, according to the local daily the Santa Barbara Independent.

The Dean of the College of Social Sciences at UCSB, Charles R. Hale, introduced the event that also included a showing of “La Pelota Vasca: La piel contra la piedra,” by Julio Medem with discussion following.  It is worth mentioning that prior to the creation of these lectureships, the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno was the only Basque academic reality in the country offering Basque studies.  In 1993 the University of California Santa Barbara included Euskera and Basque studies in its program with the inauguration of the Jose Miguel Barandiaran Chair with Juan Bautista Avalle-Arce whose activity was part of the Spanish and Portuguese Department.  This has now evolved today with Iker Arranz serving those last years as Basque language and culture lecturer.