The Historiograpical and Methodological Scope of Basque
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2013 Instituto de Estudios Internacionales y Europeos Francisco de Vitoria THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL SCOPE OF BASQUE AND NAVARRE EMIGRATION TO AMERICA LA ACCIÓN EXTERIOR DE LA UE EN MATERIA DE DERECHOS HUMANOS JOSÉ MANUEL AZCONA ANA MANERO SALVADOR (Coordinadora ) Carolina Reyes Kahansky COLECCION ELECTRÓNICA [Escribir el nombre de la compañía] [Seleccionar fecha] INSTITUTO DE ESTUDIOS INTERNACIONALES Y EUROPEOS FRANCISCO DE VITORIA Nº 6 1 Año 2015 COLECCION ELECTRÓNICA Dirección de la colección: Carlos R. Fernández Liesa Montserrat Huguet Santos ISBN: 978-84-606-5531-2 Depósito legal: M-4465-2015 Instituto Universitario de Estudios Internacionales y Europeos “Francisco de Vitoria” c. Madrid, 126. Edificio Luis Vives 28903 Getafe. Madrid. España Despachos 11.1.19/11.1.18/11.1.23 Tel.: +34 91 624 98 43 Fax: +34 91 624 97 99 [email protected] 2 THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL SCOPE OF BASQUE AND NAVARRE EMIGRATION TO AMERICA José Manuel Azcona Pastor Professor of Contemporary History Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid The publishing of this book has been evaluated and reviewed by experts in the field. Translated by Eugenio García Pérez 3 PRESENTATION…………………………………………………………………..5 PURPOSE AND PRELIMINARIES..………………………………………..8 THE LACK OF A SPECIFIC AND UNIVERSAL METHOD ..……….12 HISTORIOGRAPHICAL ASSESSMENTS…………………..…………..20 THE EARLY PUBLISHERS AND THE NINETEENTH CENTURY …………………………………………………………….……………35 FROM 1900 TO 1975……………………………………………………………40 THE ILLUMINATING TRAIL OF AMERIKANUAK …………….. …. 46 GOING TO AMERICA. DESTINATION MONTEVIDEO………..…..53 FROM THE II WORLD BASQUE CONGRESS TO 1992………………………………..……………….............55 THE FIFTH CENTENARY OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA AND ITS IMPACT…………………………………………..59 THE BASQUE CONTRIBUTION TO THE CREATION OF THE AMERICAS…………………………………………………….………64 TRADITIONS, FAMILY LINEAGES AND ASSOCIATIONISM …..71 LAST MONOGRAPHIC TEXTS……..……………………………………...95 EXILE AND CULTURAL SCENE..…………………………………..……102 CLERICAL EMIGRATION……………………………………………………………….....104 WHO WE ARE, WHERE WE HAVE COME FROM, WHERE WE ARE GOING …………………………………………………….111 4 PRESENTATION It is very rewarding to write the foreword to this work by the historian José Manuel Azcona, an expert on the question of the Basque emigration to America and its presence there. He is a professor of Contemporary History at the Rey Juan Carlos University, and he already includes among his achievements considerable works on the Basque Diaspora to the Americas, beginning in 1988 with the book chapter Causas de la emigración vasca a Iberoamérica and continuing with the book, now a classic, Los paraísos posibles. Historia de la emigración vasca a Argentina y Uruguay en el siglo XIX, published in 1992. He was also responsible for the team that received a research grant from the Amerika eta Euskaldunak (the Basque Government) Commission as part of the 5th Centenary of the Discovery of America program. As a result of this research and data collection, the book Emigración vasca a Argentina en el siglo XX was published by the Basque Government Department of Culture in 1992, Professor Azcona being the main author. URUGUAY AND THE UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Four years later, the General Archive of the Nation and the Republic of Uruguay Ministry of Education and Culture published La historia de la emigración vasca al Uruguay en el siglo XX, which he co-wrote with Fernando Muru and Inés García-Albi. In 2004, the prestigious University of Nevada published Basque Migration to Latin America (s. XVI-XX), with a foreword by William Douglass. José Manuel Azcona is an outstanding author in the field and has a highly valued and creditable background. Therefore, the book I now have the honor of presenting has the prescriptive guarantees of a genuine scientific work from the academic world, so often undervalued in our society despite its great contribution. SIGNIFICANT DOCUMENTATION After stating the reflexive and preliminary aims, the author addresses the general methodological framework, referring to the lack of a universally accepted valid model for the study of migration in general, which, in his opinion, makes the work of any specialist difficult. The content of this section is very useful to understand the various schools and trends that have existed and still exist in relation to research on the Diaspora. At a later stage, he guides us towards the existing historiographical assessments of what has been published, what has been dreamt and what has really happened with respect to Basque emigration to the Americas. Here the author reveals his firm conviction that important events such as the Fifth Centenary of the Discovery of America were quite useful for promoting historiographical works. WILLIAM A. DOUGLASS AND JON BILBAO 5 He also expresses his respect and admiration for the academic work of the now deceased Jon Bilbao and Professor William A. Douglass. We would like to support this recognition. Regarding the initial publications in this field, from the 19th century, the author delves into the first works dealing with emigration from the French Basque Country, where the French authors insisted on proving that the emigration of their fellow citizens was detrimental. He then analyzes what was written between 1900 and 1975, stressing the heroic and epic nature of the publications edited prior to the appearance of Amerikanuak by William Douglass and Jon Bilbao (1975). THE IMAGINARY WORLD OF THE BASQUES I have certainly heard bizarre stories of great deeds attributed to our ancestors in the New World. While it is certain that many of the facts that were narrated in a heroic fashion and with pompous language reflected reality, while others did not. Nonetheless, the way these stories were told and their exaggeration have created an imaginary universe of the Basques in the Modern Age (16th to the 18th centuries) that interferes with the objectivity required to conduct an analysis. Unfortunately, this image persists on many occasions, confusing both inexperienced readers and experts in the field. The Jesuit priest Pierre Lhande and José Queue y Goiti are two scholars who wrote, each in their own way, texts that should be given some consideration, since they deal with the causes leading to emigration and the antagonism arising from this and the circumstances surrounding said emigration. FOREIGN POLICY OF THE BASQUE GOVERNMENT What has been written on the American continent also appears in this book, as well as the topic of religious emigration, which has its own section. Likewise, publications that review traditions, family lineages, associations and culture are included, together with the latest contributions to the study of the Basque presence in America. The publishing efforts of institutions such as the Foreign Action General Secretary and the Basque Government/Eusko Jaurlaritza Department of Culture have been praiseworthy. We are convinced that through our knowledge of the past, we will be able to improve the present, without overlooking the exceptional undertakings that Basque collectivities abroad have carried out to advance and develop the societies where they settled. CONSIDERATIONS OF THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE This book, in short, offers a compendium of what has been written about the Basques in America, with valuable reflections on the past, the present and the future. The author’s courage should be highlighted with regard to some specific conclusions or assertions, even though they do not follow the same lines as the officially accepted position in Euskadi over the last three decades, so often accepted as dogma. 6 Therefore, we must welcome this new book that triggers academic reflection as well as the consideration of all those interested in the Basque presence in America. We congratulate the author and the Basque Government for this new resource, in printed format, which has been made available to us. Vitoria-Gasteiz, September 29, 2010 Julian Celaya Director for the Citizens and Basque Collectivities Abroad Basque Government-Eusko Jaurlaritza 7 PURPOSE AND PRELIMINARIES Over the last years we have seen a considerable decrease in the research, reliable or not, especially in the number of published books or journal articles, as compared to the number of publications since the second half of the 1980s, regarding Basque emigration towards America. From my professional perspective, I have currently broadened the field of my research on the Spanish emigration to America to a bigger spatial scope, than the one I have normally worked with: The Basque Country (Spanish and French) and Navarre. Therefore, and thanks to obtaining the URJC- Banco Santander (Santander Universities- Universia Programme) Research Chair, I have begun a phase in which I wish to proceed with the study of the Spanish migratory processes to Latin America from the last decade of the 20th century and later periods. The methodology of these publications, which will appear in the shape of collective essays written by specialists, will have a very different construction, at least in absolute terms, to the ones I have done up to the moment. Indeed, from 1990 until 2010, neither the points of departure have sufficient scope as in other eras already enclosed and deeply analysed in the Contemporary Age, in this case, nor are the reasons or the grounds for such departures similar to the ones of the groups I now intend to analyse at this point. Nor, of course, are other characteristic elements similar, although, certainly, I am not trying to deal with this issue in this publication. However,