Eneko Bidegain will study how the diaspora gathers information about the Basque people

Eneko Bidegain has been selected for this year´s edition of the Jon Bilbao Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Nevada, Reno, home to the Center for Basque Studies. Bidegain will conduct his research in 2021 during a one-month stay between August and December.

The research project Bidegain presented was called "From paper letters and magazines to the digital era: a vision of Basque territoriality: information sought out and followed by members of the Basque diaspora in the United States from the original homeland and about Euskal Herria ". His project was selected based on a variety of criteria, such as having a proposal adapted to the theme of the Basque diaspora, quality and interest, incorporating the gender perspective and having innovative aspects.

This work will analyse how Basques from Euskal Herria and residents in the diaspora obtain information about the Basque Country; above all, what media or channels they use and how they have evolved over time, from letters to video calls.

Created in 2014, the Jon Bilbao Chair aims to further international research and collaboration on the Basque Diaspora and Basque culture. It stands out from the other 8 chairs promoted by the Etxepare Basque Institute in that it focuses on research rather than teaching a particular subject and is the only one that offers a research residency to a visiting professor. The annual or biannual research grant, called the Jon Bilbao Visiting Research Fellow, is carried out at the University of Nevada, Reno, Center for Basque Studies (CBS), the largest teaching and research institution on the Basque diaspora in the United States.