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Iruña-Pamplona. The Chair of Basque Language and Culture at the University of Navarre has organized a cycle of talks on Basque emigration to America in collaboration with the “Boarders and Culture” project of the Institute of Culture and Society (ICS).  This project consists of a course on law and emigration taught by Professor Caridad Velarde.  “As part of the course we have invited two historians who are experts on emigration to provide the historical context,” explained Maria del Mar Larraza, director of the Chair to EuskalKultura.com.

The conferences will begin today, thanks to historian, Oscar Alvarez Gila, professor at the University of the Basque Country.  His talk will begin at 16:00 in Seminario 16 in the Friends building.  Alvarez Gila will talk about “The Legal Framework of Overseas Emigration: Rethinking Basque Migration.”  The cycle of talks will conclude on February 6 with a talk by historian and emigration expert Jose Manuel Azcona.

50 years of history

The Chair that is part of the College of Philosophy and Literature was founded in 1963 and this year marks its fiftieth anniversary with a special program of activities.  The institution renewed its Board of Directors last year “with the goal of supporting joint activities with other centers, colleges and to facilitate student access to a very important part of the Basque cultural and linguistic heritage.”

During this half century of activity the Chair has enjoyed the participation of leaders in Basque culture like ethnologist Jose Miguel Barandiaran who taught the course, “Monographic Course on Basque Ethnology,” in 1964, a course that lasted for 18 years until 1978-79.  The Chair was also witness to the birth of the Etniker Group that provided the opportunity to convert itself “not only into a teacher Forum but also into a core of research.”