University of Leipzig readership program: a host of activities

The month of June is full of activities for the Basque Studies readership at the University of Leipzig, Germany, where reader Unai Lauzirika teaches Basque language and culture. This is one of the universities around the world where the Etxepare Institute has a readership, or a Basque Studies teaching program. In the summer semester six experts will participate in presentations including linguistics, Basque teaching, literature, political conflict, history and linguistic policies.

The month of June is full of activities for the Basque Studies readership at the University of Leipzig, Germany, where reader Unai Lauzirika teaches Basque language and culture. This is one of the universities around the world where the Etxepare Institute has a readership, or a Basque Studies teaching program. In the summer semester six experts will participate in presentations including linguistics, Basque teaching, literature, political conflict, history and linguistic policies.

The first presentation was on 26 April, led by David Lindemann. The June sessions will be opened by Karlos Cid Abasolo, professor at Madrid’s Universidad Complutense. Abasolo will give three presentations, the first, a Basque language class for advanced level students, introducing them to the Basque immersion program. His other two are entitled "The Spanish of the Basque Country" and "Euskara, a non-isolated language".

On 12 June a workshop to create and edit Wikipedia articles will be organized by Alexander Jührich, member of Wikimedia Germany. This year, students are working on translating more than 100 articles into Basque, with the aim of making Basque articles more visible in Germany. This workshop has been organized with the collaboration of ´Euskal wikilarien elkartea´, the Wikipedia-promoters association of the Basque Country.

On 19 June, UPV-EHU history professor Ludger Mees will give an online presentation on the Basque conflict "Konflikt im Baskenland: Kultur, Politik und Gewalt". On the 25th, Esther Gimeno, from Boston College and Technische Universität Chemnitz will talk about Iberian studies including Catalan, Galician and Basque.

The annual program will come to a close with three talks on June 27 and 28 by Juan Carlos Moreno Cabrera, linguistics professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid. The main session will be on the 27th: "Conceptual and terminological foundations of linguistic imperialism". On the 28th, he will talk about ‘phonosymbolism’ and ‘morphosymbolism’ in the Basque language and will offer a talk entitled "Basque: a fascinating European Language". Moreno Cabrera has stood out in recent decades for his criticism of linguistic imperialism.

This wraps up this year’s program at the University of Leipzig. Next year, they look forward to six experts and writers who will talk to students about Basque poetry, linguistic typology, language policies, media, history and literature.