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Abstract

This article was adapted from a talk presented at the Mugaz Gaindi Basque Studies Conference in New York City at Columbia University, as part of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the New York Basque Club. It provides a historical overview of the three phases of Basque emigration during the colonial, modern and post-modern eras generally, and within the context of the United States specifically. The article contrasts the immigrant experience of the Basques of the rural American West with the urban, cosmopolitan experience of the New York Basques, as it probes the recent transformation or cultural watershed of the immigrant experience: from an earlier era of profound separation to one of almost constant connection via the Internet.

About the Author

William A. Douglass, world-renowned scholar of Basque studies and the founder of the Basque Studies Program (now Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno). A pioneer in Basque Studies his publications are in the hundreds with articles, conference presentations, edited volumes and monographs starting with his doctoral research in the Basque Country that yielded Death in Murelaga: Funerary ritual in a Spanish Basque Village (1969). Retiring as coordinator of the program after 33 years, he nevertheless continued researching and writing, producing Global Vasconia in 2004. Recipient of numerous awards, including “Leading Researcher” and “Best Professor” at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the prestigious “Lagun Onari” by the Basque Government, he has most recently lent his sizable expertise to help launch this BOGA Basque Studies Consortium Journal. He is the inaugural feature of our Basque Scholars section.

Education: Ph.D. Social Anthropology, University of Chicago

DOI

https://doi.org/10.18122/B2D13T

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