Center for Basque Studies Newsletter ISSN: 1537-2464 The William A. Douglass Center for Basque Studies NEWSLETTER CJ Fall 2020 NUMBER 87 The CBS and the CBS Mission and History Basque Library in The Center for Basque Studies’ mission is to further Basque-related study by conducting, facilitating, and dissemi- nating original Basque-related research Times of Covid-19 in the humanities and social sciences, in cooperation with appropriate academic departments at UNR, as well as at oth- er American and foreign universities, by the creation of undergraduate and graduate curricula at the University of Nevada, Reno (including the creation of distance education courses) and by col- laboration with the University Studies Abroad Consortium to provide a qual- ity educational experience for students desirous of studying and living in the Basque Country of Europe. In 1967 a small Basque Studies pro- The Center for Basque Studies and the graduate students are struggling with at- gram was established within the social Jon Bilbao Library have gone quiet. Their tending classes at odd hours. All of them sciences division of the Desert Research ever-lively hallways and busy bookshelf miss direct intellectual rapport with their Institute. Originally established to study aisles have given away to silence, face peers and advisors. the Basques as an integral part of the coverings, and social distancing. In-person sheep industry that had so influenced Basque culture and language classes are now We are sad and looking forward to spend- the development of the Intermountain delivered through Hy-flex mode—a word ing quality time in the company of each West, over time (and since incorpo- we all had trouble deciphering when it was other. This sadness is our human reaction rated officially into the University of first used and have become experts at. The to an inhumanly complicated time. After all, Nevada, Reno), the Center for Basque premises are disinfected several times a day public communal life is at the very core of Studies has become the leading research (thank you Evan, Jacq, Inaki!), books must Basque social habits and cultural practices. and educational institute of its kind out- be quarantined before a library technician When the pandemic broke out and we were side the European Basque homeland. can hand them on to you, meetings are con- forced into lockdown, all of us were look- ducted through Zoom (alas!), and students ing forward to the Conference on Bertso have gotten used to not seeing their peers’ Schools we had so carefully prepared. We whims and professors‘ encouraging smiles had envisioned music, dance, improvisa- behind their masks. Our talented graduate tional singing in the company of the best ~ students are also going through their own contemporary bertsolaris, and fun times. ordeals. Many have seen their research So much for that. An annual publication of the come to a halt, their scholarly travelling Center for Basque Studies University of Nevada, Reno has been restricted, and the conferences Some of the students and scholars that Reno, NV 89557-2322 they had prepared for suspended. Other were visiting us from the Basque Country 1 Center for Basque Studies Newsletter at the time decided to leave and hurry home, Everyone involved would agree that the others stayed and made the best of the situa- hustle of students, visiting researchers and tion. Everyone has done their share to keep scholars are the best part of the CBS and the up with the strange times and stay active: Basque Library. Interacting with each other, The digital archives of the CBS Press were exchanging ideas, attending our monthly updated, the deadlines for articles were met, seminars, and learning from each other are books were edited and published, online the best parts of our job. However, these Comprehensive Exams were carried out are trying times in which we need to be (congrats Callie, Eneko, Nerea!), research reminded of our enormous privilege: we do needs of faculty and students were accom- what we like, and we get to share our work modated through digital resources. The with our friends and community here and members of the CBS and the Basque Library abroad. What a lucky lot we are. have continued to be productive through these difficult times. Thank you. Stay safe. We look forward to meeting you all again very soon. A new home on campus for the Nugget’s Statue of the Basque Shepherd The Falxa family sheep wagon from The statue of the Basque shepherd looks the Buffalo Basque festival. The first Basque child born in Wyoming! absolutely beautiful in its new campus set- ting just south of the Mathewson-IGT Buy Basque Books Knowledge Center. Surrounded with trees and rocks so characteristic of Nevada’s high And help support the work we desert and mountains, the statue pays poi- do at the gnant homage to the longstanding, close Center for Basque Studies connections between the William A. Dou- glass Center for Basque Studies and the Call or visit many Basques who came to Nevada and basquebooks.myshopify.com settled here. The statue also connects the Center to one of Reno’s most prominent 1998. Mr. Van Howd is well known world- The Center for Basque Studies and well-respected families, the Ascuagas. wide for his wildlife and western creations. Newsletter is published by: No stranger to UNR, he also sculpted the On May 27, 2020, devoted and deter- wolves at the entrance of Mackay Stadium. Center for Basque Studies / 2322 University of Nevada, Reno mined Advisory Board members Mi- For many years, the striking bronze figure Reno, NV 89557-2322 chonne Ascuaga, Jane Tors, and Steve of the Basque shepherd welcomed visitors Trounday gathered outside the Knowledge to the Nugget; but its most beautiful mes- e-mail us at: [email protected] Center with equally determined support- sage is encapsulated in the dedication on phone: 775.784.4854 ers of a longstanding effort to relocate the the plaque located below the shepherd: fax: 775.784.1355 statue of the Basque shepherd to our cam- pus. Those supporters included John As- “A tribute to our parents, who Please visit our web site at: cuaga, Roger Trounday, the sculptor Doug were among the many Basque im- www.basque.unr.edu Van Howd, Len Savage of Savage and Son, migrants whose courage helped to Dave Elizondo of Northern Nevada Con- shape the American West. Their crete, Norm Dianda of Q&D Construction, old world values of hard work and /If, and Jody Mason of Artistic Gardens. honesty set the standard and Amer- ica provided the opportunity. While the owner of the Nugget Casino John and Rose Ascuaga u ... in Sparks, John Ascuaga commissioned August 4, 1998” The University of Nevada, Reno is an Reno native Douglas Van Howd to sculpt Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action, the statue for the opening of the casino’s ADA institution. 11/2011, 7,900. Basque-themed restaurant, Orozko, in 2 Center for Basque Studies Newsletter The current owner of the Nugget, An- thony Marnell, generously donated the CBS Conference: (Texas A&M University-San Antonio) statue to the Center in 2017. The relo- explored the Nazi glorification of a hyper- cation and installation of the statue on “Nazi Germany masculine ideal embedded in intoxication, campus were supported by the donated and Occupied violence, and mass murder. Through a services of local contractors (Savage and combined Franco-German lens, Shannon Son, Northern Nevada Concrete, Q&D France” Fogg (Missouri University of Science & Construction), landscapers (Artistic Gar- Technology) focused on the effects of the dens) and structural engineers (Roger In early March, the Center hosted a German occupation on relief work un- Hyytinen). All of this, of course, was made small international conference, only days dertaken by the American Friends Service possible by Mr. Marnell’s donation and before the pandemic forced so much Committee in unoccupied France. In “Hu- change upon our world. Specialists on man Photography: Julia Pirotte’s Frames of Nazi Germany and Occupied France rarely Jewish Life in Occupied Marseille,” Abigail have an opportunity to collaborate intel- Lewis (University of Wisconsin-Madison) lectually at conferences; they tend to focus showed how a Jewish female photographer on either the German or the French “side” used her camera to process and document of the war. This conference addressed social and racial violence. In “Otto Dober- those gaps by bringing together histori- schtz: A Nazi Officer in Occupied France,” ans of both Nazi Germany and Occupied Sandra Ott (Center for Basque Studies, France. Bertram M. Gordon (Mills Col- UNR) explored Franco-German male so- lege) focused on Ernst Jnger, a cultured ciability by delving deeply into the “German German officer whose wartime Journals side” of one Nazi’s curious friendship with serve as a memoir of his idiosyncratic ex- a Basque double agent. Scott Soo (Univer- periences in occupied Paris. Julia Torrie sity of Southampton) brought new insights (St. Thomas University) provided new into a two-day, official Franco-German perspectives on the Germans in Occupied commemorative event in 1963 at the newly France by focusing on female Wehrmacht renovated cemetery of the former intern- auxiliaries whose roles as future mothers ment camp at Gurs in southwestern France. in the Reich’s “New Europe” did not rest The CBS Press plans to publish the revised, easily with their wartime duties in France. expanded version of these papers in a book, In “The ‘Wild East’ and the ‘Soft West’: forthcoming in 2021. Alcohol, Masculinity, and Geographies of Sexual Violence,” Edward Westermann Sandy Ott by the support of Mr. Ascuaga, his fam- ily and other donors to the Center. Unable to celebrate the relocation of the statue in A Warm Welcome to Two New September as planned, we all look forward to hosting a dedication event once it is safe Advisory Board Members to do so.