Ethnicity and Identity in a Basque Borderland, Rioja Alavesa, Spain
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ETHNICITY AND IDENTITY IN A BASQUE BORDERLAND: RIOJA ALAVESA, SPAIN By BARBARA ANN HENDRY A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1991 Copyright 1991 by Barbara Ann Hendry ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The help of numerous individuals in Spain and the United States enabled me to complete this dissertation— it is difficult to adequately acknowledge them all in these few short pages. To begin, without the generous hospitality, friendship, and assistance of many people in Rioja and Rioja Alavesa in 1985 and 1987, this research would not have been possible. For purposes of confidentiality, I will not list individual names, but, thank all of those in Albelda de Iregua, San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Brihas, Elciego, Laguardia, and, especially, Lapuebla de Labarca, who graciously let me share in their lives. Friends in the city of Logroho were also supportive, especially Charo Cabezon and Julio Valcazar. Stephanie Berdofe shared her home during my first weeks in the field, and buoyed my spirits and allayed my doubts throughout the fieldwork. Carmelo Lison Tolosana welcomed me to Spain and introduced me to several of his students. Maribel Fociles Rubio and Jose Lison Areal discussed their respective studies of identity in Rioja and Huesca, and helped me to formulate the interview schedule I used in Rioja Alavesa. They, and Jose's wife. Pilar, provided much warm hospitality during several brief trips to Madrid. iii The government administrators I interviewed in Rioja Alavesa and Vitoria were cooperative and candid. Mari Carmen Garmendia Lasa, Secretary of Linguistic Policy for the Basque Country, was especially helpful, and gave me several important sources about the Basque language. Gabriel Txintxetru, Director of the Casa del Vino, supplied information about the wine industry. The staff of the Office of Statistics of the Basque Country provided guidance and materials. In Logroho, the staff of the Institute of Rioj an Studies were always extremely friendly and helpful. Historian and author Salvador Velilla furnished valuable insights and information. The original idea for this project was formulated in discussions with Dr. Anthony Oliver-Smith following our 1985 research in Rioja. As chair of the dissertation committee, he met with me regularly during the writing of the early drafts and always challenged me to creatively assert my own ideas. His critiques, encouragement, and enthusiasm have been essential to my perseverance. Dr. J. Anthony Paredes must bear the responsibility of greatly influencing my decision to pursue a Ph.D. He chaired my master ^s thesis committee, and my initial ideas about ethnic identity were honed during our discussions about my thesis. His continuing advice and encouragement as a member of the dissertation committee, and his critical iv editing, have helped me to realize some of the goals he inspired me to some time ago. My other committee members have also given important support. Dr. Allan Burns first invited me to assist him and Dr. Oliver-Smith with the Rioj an research during the summer of 1985. He cautioned me not to lose sight of the minutiae of daily life, and his ideas on the linguistic issues were very useful. Dr. Paul Doughty guided me to a more thorough consideration of the power relationships inherent in ethnic movements, and to the political dimensions of ethnicity. I owe a special thanks to the "outside” member of the committee. Dr. Geraldine Nichols. Her careful editing improved not only the grammar, but the overall coherence of the dissertation. She also helped with translations and historical facts, and provided comparative insights based on her work in Catalonia. Dr. Margaret Jean Gearing, although not on the committee, reviewed early drafts. Our discussions about ^oth organization and content greatly aided my rewrites. Jean's friendship and assistance have been invaluable. Dr. Otto von Mering hired me as his research assistant upon my return from Spain. This work supported me during most of the writing, and I am also grateful for Dr. von Mering 's encouragement and advice throughout my time at the University of Florida. V The following friends shared ideas, provided emotional support, and maintained confidence in my efforts when I doubted myself: Lois Randolph, Claudine Payne, Roberta Goldman, Gay Biery-Hamilton, Ron Harder, Kathy Gladden, Robert Shanafelt, Emine Incirlioglu, James Birdsall, Bunny Medeiros, Candy and Jack Butler, Jane Rogers, Suellen Maxwell, and Betty 0' Berry. My friends at the Gainesville Friends Meeting helped more than they know, and Barbara Moseley, Kate Reich and Rene Surop encouraged me through the final rewrites. Michael Montagne^s steadfast patience and support even during periods of dissertation obsession helped keep me sane. My family, Gloria Hendry, Gene Crxim, and Peter Hendry, always believed in me, and their love and assistance have sustained me through my graduate school career. I am grateful to Maria Figueras for transcribing the taped interviews, and to Dorcas Moseley for formatting the tables and maps, and for laser printing the text (all voluntarily) . The Tinker foundation funded pre-dissertation field research in Rioja in 1985 and the Florida-Spain Alliance Program and Wenner Gren Foundation For Anthropological Research supported the 1987 field research. The responsibility for any errors in the following work is entirely my own. vi PREFACE Research involving human subjects requires ethical decisions about how findings will be presented. In this inquiry into Basque identity in a borderland context, I was concerned about guaranteeing the anonymity of my informants, and also about more subtle issues, such as whether to use Basque or Spanish place names, or English translations of them. As Urla noted in her study of the Basque language, it is impossible to find "a politically neutral language” when discussing issues of Basque identity (Urla 1987 :ii). I agree with her that it is best to acknowledge one's choices at the outset. To ensure confidentiality, I have changed the names of all of the informants quoted in this study. However, I did not change place names. Since a crucial part of the analysis is based on local history, and the relation of perceptions of local history and interpueblo stereotypes, it would have been artificial to change the place names. Even if I had invented names, anyone from the area would immediately distinguish the real locations based on the historical and other descriptions of them. Also, the people of the villages of Lapuebla de Labarca, Laguardia, and vii Elciego, the main research sites, were generally supportive of my research efforts, and made no requests for anonymity. Language is, and has been, politicized in Spain. The central state's repression of regional languages under Franco and in earlier periods fostered the perception of regional language as a symbol of resistance to both cultural and political domination. One of the first language planning activities of the post-Franco autonomous Basque government has been to replace monolingual Spanish signs and maps with bilingual and monolingual Basque signs and maps (Urla 1987 ;iv). For this study, however, mostly Spanish names and spellings are used because they are used by the majority of the monolingual Spanish-speaking population of Rioja Alavesa. The Basque language of Euskera had not been spoken in this southern border zone of the Basque province of Alava for several centuries, and school children have only been studying the language since the late 1970s. The words and spellings used in this text represent those used by the majority of my informants who refer to the Spanish Basque provinces by their Spanish rather than their Basque names: Guipiizcoa instead of Gipuzkoa, Vizcaya instead of Bizkaya, Alava instead of Araba, and Navarra instead of Naparroa. They also mostly use the Spanish names for the capital cities of the provinces, Bilbao instead of Bilbo, San Sebastian instead of Donostia, and Vitoria instead of viii Gasteiz. I did hear a few people refer to San Sebastian as Donostia, and school children who have been studying the Basque language are more likely to use Basque words and spellings. I have used the Basque word for the Basque language, Euskera . People in Rioja Alavesa used this term, or the Spanish word, Vasco , in referring to the Basque language. Vasco , translating to Basque, is also the Spanish word for a member of the Basque group. This was the term used by my informants, and I mostly use the English translation, "Basque” in the text. The Basque word for a member of the Basque group is Euskaldun . which means a Basque speaker. People in Rioja Alavesa sometimes employed this term to refer to native Basque speakers, but this is a category from which they are excluded. The Spanish term, Vasco, is a broader category in which language is not specified (Urla 1987 :iii) and was the common term used to refer to a Basque in Rioja Alavesa. Informants also mostly used the Spanish words Pais Vasco , which translates to the Basque Country in English, to refer to the Basque territories. I have used the English translation in the text. Some in Rioja Alavesa also used the Spanish term, Vasconaadas - roughly translating to the Basque provinces, and the Basque word, Euskadi - land of the Basque people. Few ever used the original Basque word for the Basque territory, Euskalherria (or Euskal Herria) , which ix means land of the Basque-speaking people. This word, like Euskaldun, excludes them from a Basque identity. The dissertation examines the impacts of Rioja Alavesa's 1979 incorporation into the autonomous Basque community on local and Basque identity in the zone. One recommendation for future research would be to find out if a trend towards use of Basque rather then Spanish place names evolves as the next generation is taught Euskera.