The Etxepare Basque Institute and the Université Montaigne Bordeaux create the Jean Haritschelhar Chair

The Etxepare Basque Institute and the Université Bordeaux Montaigne just signed an agreement for the promotion of Basque studies at that university. As a result of the agreement signed by the president of the university, Hélène Velasco-Graciet and Mari Jose Olaziregi, director for the Promotion and Dissemination of the Basque Institute and responsible for the area of universities, the in 2017 the University of Bordeaux will create the " Jean Haritschelhar Chair".

 
This new chair aims to boost the areas of Basque studies were investigated by Jean Haritschelhar, especially literature and linguistics, in addition to the Iberian studies, and especially caring about international and cross-border relations, that were so relevant in the spirit of Haritschelhar. So, next year an open conference and an international seminar at the Ecole Doctorale will be organized, and, following the cross-border vocation, the teacher will also teach at the UPV / EHU  and at the IKER Research Center in Baiona .

The Etxepare Basque Institute and the Université Bordeaux Montaigne just signed an agreement for the promotion of Basque studies at that university. As a result of the agreement signed by the president of the university, Hélène Velasco-Graciet and Mari Jose Olaziregi, director for the Promotion and Dissemination of the Basque Institute and responsible for the area of universities, the in 2017 the University of Bordeaux will create the " Jean Haritschelhar Chair".

 
This new chair aims to boost the areas of Basque studies were investigated by Jean Haritschelhar, especially literature and linguistics, in addition to the Iberian studies, and especially caring about international and cross-border relations, that were so relevant in the spirit of Haritschelhar. So, next year an open conference and an international seminar at the Ecole Doctorale will be organized, and, following the cross-border vocation, the teacher will also teach at the UPV / EHU  and at the IKER Research Center in Baiona .

 
At the signing of the agreement, Mari Jose Olaziregi -who met Haritschelhar closely as they worked together as members of the Committee for Literary Research at the Basque Language Academy, Euskaltzaindia-, recalled the academic and diplomatic skills and the generosity of Haritschelhar. "For 38 years he held various management positions in Euskaltzaindia, and his list of publications, with more than 400 entries, includes various research works" said Olaziregi. "He was a tireless worker, and this chair will try to honor his legacy and to continue some of the ways he undertook." And all this in the first university Montaigne Bordeaux, the first one to crate a chair of Basque Studies in France.

 
After signing the agreement there was a meeting of the group of experts responsible for the academic program. This group is composed by: Frédérick Boutoulle, responsible for International Relations at the Université Bordeaux Montaigne, professors Jean Casenave and Aurelia Arcocha (UBM), the director of IKER, Ricardo Etxepare, and Mari Jose Mari Olaziregi (EEI / UPV). The group agreed that the agenda of the first chair, which will run on both sides of the border in the spring of 2017, will address the issue of multilingualism.

The Jean Haritschelhar Chair becomes the eighth that created the Basque Etxepare Institute; in particular, these are the chairs that has launched the Institute for 2011 onwards: Bernardo Atxaga Chair (CUNY, New York), Koldo Mitxelena Chair (University of Chicago), Eduardo Chillida Chair (Goethe Universität Frankfurt), Manuel Irujo Chair (University of Liverpool),  Jon Bilbao Chair (University of Nevada-Reno), Eloise Garmendia Bieter Chair (Boise State University) and William A. Douglass Chair (University of Massachusetts Amherst).

 
This network of chairs, which is giving remarkable results, aims that Basque researchers teach classes and conduct research work in postgraduate studies in prestigious universities, following the strategy of internationalization and implementation of the Basque Studies, designed at the Institute by Mari Jose Olaziregi. Research areas treated to date have been Basque Linguistics and Literature, Cultural Studies, Political Science, History and Theory of Art Studies, Basque Diaspora ...

 

Regarding the specific contents of the chairs in this academic year, in Autumn three programs will be developed; the first two will be present Mari Jose Olaziregi, as a guest.


On September 26 the William A. Douglass Chair will open at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Douglass itself will offer the Inaugural Lecture. They have aldo organized an international symposium, "William Douglass, Basque Studies and the Anthopology of Europe", with the participation of the experts-as-: Caroline Brettell, Susan Carol Rogers, Sharon Roseman and Joseba Zulaika.
 

The program Bernardo Atxaga Chair will be held from 5 to 7 September at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. The seminar this year is titled "Language Ideology and Political Practice in Basque Language Revival" and will be taught by professors Jacqueline Urla and Esti Gomez Amorrortu.

 
And from October 17 to February 10 the Goethe Universität Frankfurt will host the program of the Eduardo Chillida Chair. Dr. Nina Schallenberg has been commissioned to design the program this year, "Politics of Sculpture in Public Space", which will be taught by herself in the form of two courses and a workshop.