"Marmolezko Paretaren Atzean, Istorio Bat: Identity Development and Language Maintenance in the Basque Community of Boise"
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Date
2020-01-20
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Intercultural Communication
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Intercultural Communication
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This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/repro.php or contact Special Collections at speccoll(at)umbc.edu
This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/repro.php or contact Special Collections at speccoll(at)umbc.edu
Abstract
The present study expands the literature on identity development in the Basque diaspora by investigating how language attitudes towards euskera affect such evolution generation after generation, having the community of Boise, Idaho, as a case scenario. Furthermore, the study aims to highlight alternative ways in which members of the diaspora preserve Basqueness, most of the time anchored in folkloric aspects. As for methodology, and by means of different ethnographic approaches, qualitative data was gathered from three different sources: three media sites, a self-administered online survey and sixteen in-depth interviews conducted during my fieldwork in Boise in July 2019. Instances of autoethnography and reflections from fieldwork experiences as a Basque myself living far from home and visiting this diasporic community will also be present throughout the study. This way, the triangulation of data will allow the creation of a comparative analysis involving identity formation and attitudes towards euskera amongst different age groups and their representation on both the online and offline dimensions of the community. Hence, this exploration will hopefully contribute to this story of generations by delineating possible ways in which a bridge between homeland and diaspora could be-and is already being- solidified by means of media and educational resources, which could eventually foster the knowledge and use of euskera across borders. Keywords: Homeland, Diaspora, Basqueness, Identity Development, Language Preservation, Story of Generations.