Amale Artetxe Chair 2022: Aitzpea Leizaola

As part of the 2022 programme for the Amale Artetxe Chair, Aitzpea Leizaola will host a seminar, give a talk, and meet with local researchers. During her stay in Argentina, Leizaola will discuss memory, tradition, performance and rituals. The programme will take place from 28 November to 9 December.

The title of Leizaola’s seminar is ´Lugares de confrontación, espacios de negociación: fronteras, memorias y rituales en el País Vasco contemporáneo´ (loosely translated as ‘Places of confrontation, spaces for negotiation: borders, memories and rituals in modern-day Basque Country´. The class will meet on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 9:00 from 28 November to 9 December.  It is aimed at PhD students, and aims to provide an overview of some of the debates and realities that cross and shape contemporary Basque society. Based on approaches from political anthropology, the seminar addresses issues that cross other interdisciplinary fields of study, such as Border Studies and memory studies. 

She will also give a lecture aimed at the academic community and the Basque diaspora in Argentina. Entitled ´Entre tradición y performance: ejemplos del ciclo festivo de Euskal Herria´ (Between tradition and performance: examples of festival cycles in the Basque Country´) it will be held on 2 December, at 17:00,  in the Karakachoff building of the National University of La Plata.

On 5 December, Leizaola will meet with local researchers of REVA (Red de Estudios Vascos de Argentina - Basque Studies Network-Argentina) at 5 p.m. in the IMHICIHU - CONICET library in Buenos Aires.

Aitzpea Leizaola (Donostia, 1971) holds degrees in anthropology and linguistics from Paris Nanterre University (Paris X) and the Sorbonne. There she also completed postgraduate studies in both fields. Leizaola was awarded her PhD with distinction from the University of Paris Nanterre in 2010. She defended her thesis on the influence of the political border in the Basque Country, around identity and territoriality. She completed her postgraduate training at universities and research centres including the Freie Universität in Berlin, Queen´s University in Belfast and the Basque Studies Center at the University of Reno, Nevada. She was a visiting lecturer at St Antony´s College, Oxford University, for the 2000-2001 academic year.

Since 2001 Leizaola has been teaching anthropology at the University of the Basque Country. Her specialisation is in European anthropology and her main research interests are identity, nationality, political anthropology, memory and heritage. Her fieldwork was based in the Basque Country, Spain and Turkey. She has published several articles and book chapters in Basque, French, English and Spanish, including ‘The Journal for European Ethnology’ and ‘Ethnologie Française’.

The Amale Artetxe Chair was launched in March 2019 in partnership with the Argentine government agency CONICET (The National Scientific and Technical Research Council), with the aim of promoting Basque studies in the humanities through academic and research activities. In line with Amale Artetxe´s contribution to the Basque diaspora in Argentina, this chair analyses Basque language and culture from the field of the humanities, focusing on equality.