Bullen provides an overview of gender theory, then focuses on Basque women as agents of cultural transmission in the context of the nationalist movement, and in the diaspora. The myths surrounding Basque matriarchy and the extent of women's rule fixed in a mythical past are questioned. While the powerful mother figure has a vital role in handing down Basque language and culture, contemporary women are also breaking old stereotypes and carving out new niches for themselves, at times coming into conflict with the force of tradition. Distributed for the Center for Basque Studies.

"Collection of articles on academic feminism, gender relations and history in the Basque Country"--Provided by publisher.

Drawing on a unique body of oral history interviews, archival material and published sources, this book shows how women’s participation in radical Basque nationalism has changed from the founding of ETA in 1959 to the present. It analyses several aspects of women’s nationalist activism: collaboration and direct activism in ETA, cultural movements, motherhood, prison and feminism. By focusing on gender politics Women and ETA offers new perspectives on the history of ETA, including recruitment, the militarization of radical Basque nationalism, and the role of the media in shaping popular understandings of ‘terrorism’. These arguments are directly relevant to the study of women in other insurgence and terrorist movements. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of history, Hispanic studies, gender studies, anthropology and politics, as well as to journalists and readers interested in women’s participation in contemporary conflicts and terrorist movements.

A passionate and enlightened defense of noka, the second person familiar pronoun for a female addressee in the Basque language ("Euskera"), this book provides unique insights into Basque culture, language, and gender. These insights may otherwise be lost forever, as noka is disappearing from speech. Echeverria shows how noka became marginalized, and illustrates the vibrant sociolinguistic life noka has led over 500 hundred years of Basque history. By uncovering this rich legacy for the first time in one monograph, and contributing original lyrics using noka of her own, Echeverria hopes to increase awareness of noka and the surprising stories it tells--and perhaps revitalize noka use. In addition to specialists in Basque studies and endangered languages, this book's broad scope and unique methodological approach should interest readers in gender studies, folklore, folksong, linguistics, and anthropology.

Marching against Gender Practice: Political Imaginings in the Basqueland begins with the question: why is it so problematic for the majority of people in the Basque town of Hondarribia to accept the broader participation of women in their annual military march known as the Alarde? To explain this dispute, this study examines local history as well as the history of this unique parade, but most importantly considers how gender practices were and are organized. The controversy to extend female involvement in the Alarde resulted in two positions between betikoak traditionalists, (Betiko Alardearen Aldekoak, “Always the Town’s Alarde”), and local “feminists” (emakumealdekoak or Emakumeak JuanaMugarrietakoa, the Women of Mugarrietakoa, WJM), the former group wishing to preserve the ritual and the latter wanting to change it. These are not simply dichotomous stances but represent multiple levels of local identity through differing concepts of gender, history, and social experience. It will be shown throughout the Alarde’s long history (1639-present)that it represents several periods of militarism from the town’s defense in 1638 against French forces, Napoleonic resistance (1808-1813) to the Carlist Wars (1833-1840 and 1872-1876). The Alarde began as a religious procession and gradually incorporated more and more secular elements. In essence, by the end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century, the Alarde became one of many “Basque celebrations” (Euskal jaiak), tying it to Basque nationalism. Marching against Gender Practice centers on gender analyses of two opposing gender worldviews between the betikoak traditionalists and WJM feminists, but it aims at being applicable to gender theories in general, especially how gender may be cognized and what cognitive processes and cognitive systems may be included in the cognition of gender. By implication, it is asserted that collective imagination is not an immutable or static concept but may represent locality, regionalism, and nationalism as well as imbue concepts of communality, individuality, gender, harmony, historical narration, memory, social organization, and tradition. Commemorative, historical or re-enactment rituals like the Alarde of Hondarribia explain the duration of local identity, its transformation over time, and newer expressions of identity, which are continually being contested and reaffirmed through collective imagination.

This volume of 14 essays covers such varied topics as: the origin theories of the Basque language and its viability in the contemporary world; literature; gender studies; rock music and the bertsolari or troubadour; cinema; sports; and Bilbao and the Guggenheim museum.