Basque Studies

BASQUE STUDIES CONSORTIUM:
AUZO LAN (ow-so-lan)
“Neighborhood Work” Proposal

Boise State University proposes to establish a network that will share resources to create an international consortium of Basque Studies. Building upon a tradition of auzo lan (literally, neighborhood work and similar to the American rural practice of barn raising), the consortium puts in place a collective to complete what no individual party can accomplish on its own. With initial interest from five institutions of higher education across four states and in conjunction with other individuals and active Basque-American community organizations, Boise State hopes to capitalize on the especially successful investment of the previous Title VI A – International Programs grant. The foci of the grant will be upon internationalization, interdisciplinary exchanges and language development. To ensure the optimum success and to warrant reception of a second grant, the consortium members propose an ambitious yet achievable list of goals to be accomplished in this grant cycle.

1. Consortium Campus Representatives. Initiatives such as these necessitate committed individuals to ensure its success: students, faculty and administrators. Each participating campus will identify students interested in Basque studies and have a faculty member and an administrator to advocate for the development of Basque studies on their campus. Every attempt will be made to integrate the experience and expertise of returning faculty and students from international study programs in the Basque region.

2. Basque language program. Basque group definition derives from the language: Basques call themselves Euskaldunak, literally those who have the Basque language. A successful language program remains crucial to this work. Patterned after other distance language learning programs (such as Montana State’s Arabic program), the consortium will ensure the teaching of this less commonly taught language across multiple campuses via video conferencing or other appropriate technologically mediated formats. Furthermore, Boise State will coordinate the language program with efforts of NABO (the North American Basque Organization) and the Basque Government to ensure collaboration and a menu of language learning options.

3. Certificate program / Workshops / Speaker’s Bureau / Shared Cultural Tours. Each university will establish a minimum of a certificate program. (Two currently have minors). To facilitate credit offerings, the faculty from participating universities will offer one-unit workshops that could be selected as course offerings on their campuses by consortium universities. Besides these faculty members traveling to teach these workshops, the consortium will create a list of Basque scholars, artists and performers available to make presentations.

4. Basque Studies Professional Association. Currently, there exists no formal professional association of Basque Studies. Therefore, besides charter consortium members, we will also offer association membership to other scholars working in Basque Studies and Basque community organizations. While scholars often work within there own disciplines, this will provide a venue for scholars across disciplines to discuss interests and projects.

5. Basque Studies Journal. The consortium will establish a peer-reviewed scholarly journal of Basque Studies with an annual edition of articles and article abstracts in English, Basque, Spanish and French. This interdisciplinary journal will allow a much broader audience to enjoy the fruits of current research being conducted in the field. Moreover, the multi-lingual and international nature will allow for a more global readership.

6. Faculty Professional Development. The Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno has offered their extensive collection of resources and forty year history in the field, to establish faculty training seminars for those who have an interest in teaching in Basque studies but have had limited exposure. This will signify augment consortium course offerings.

7. Basque Country conference. In order to gain familiarity with the region, meet with individuals of the Basque government and make connections with area universities, consortium representatives from each of the campuses will travel to the Basque Country. Specific outcome objectives will include: agreements of direct exchanges between universities in areas of faculty exchanges, research collaboration, pedagogical exchanges and opportunities for Basque University students to study on consortium campuses.

8. Basque Studies Conference / Jaialdi International Basque Festival 2010. Every five years, Boise, Idaho hosts an international Basque festival that attracts over 30,000 people from around the world. This event represents the ideal time to sponsor a second international Basque Studies conference and educate people about Basque studies offerings in their area. The first such conference held in 2007 and funded by the Title VI grant was well attended and this promises an even larger audience.

9. Global Network of Basques Studies. Currently, the Basque Government is in the process of establishing the Etxepare Institute. Patterned along the lines of the Cervantes and the Goethe Institutes, this entity will help to coordinate the more than seventeen universities throughout the world that are developing Basque Studies programs. As our previous Title VI grant ended with an international conference that set the stage for the consortium, so will this grant culminate with an international meeting of Basque Studies representatives in Buenos Aires, Argentina to more fully integrate this internationalized network. Specifically, the initiatives of this grant will be explicitly coordinated to ensure successful longevity beyond the grant cycle: an international list of campus coordinators and contacts in Basque Studies; coordinated efforts with the Basque government on their language program, particularly BOGA the online distance language program; exchanges of curriculum, workshop options and guest lecturers and performers; exhibition of and solicitation for the Basque Studies journal; networking for the Basque Studies association; a schedule of regularly hosted international conferences; further opportunities for faculty development in the Basque Country and around the world, and direct university exchanges between students, faculty and administrators.

Most significantly this grant will assist in a new global auzoa (neighborhood). Similar to earlier rural communal efforts to accomplish individually overwhelming tasks, the creation of this international consortium provides an infrastructure for growth, needed professional opportunities and results in true internationalization.

Basque Studies Consortium Budget*
Budget estimates assume an equal in-kind contribution for each university.

TOTALS
2008-09: $136,500
2009-10: $132,500
2010-11:: $143,500
Total: $412,500

Campus Representatives. ½ pos @ Boise State + $7,500 per member (4) . Budgeting for campus representatives will include a half time position at Boise State and a $7,500 stipend for each of the other four participating institutions.
2008-09: $62,500
2009-10: $65,000
2010-11:: $67,500
Total: $195,000

Program infrastructure. Program infrastructure includes: $3,000 administrative assistance, $2,000 per school for library materials and $1,000 for translation services.
2008-09: $14,000
2009-10: $15,000
2010-11: $16,000
Total: $45,000

Language. Implementation of a language program requires some initial technological investment and continuing charges to ensure a quality delivery of a distance language program.
2008-09: $15,000
2009-10: $15,000
2010-11: $15,000
Total: $45,000

Workshops and Presentations. Each participating university will qualify for $2,500 to develop the weekend workshops and guest lecturers/performers offerings.
Workshops and Presentations
2008-09: $12,500
2009-10: $12,500
2010-11: $12,500
Total: $37,500

Professional Association. The professional association will not ask for any grant funds but will be included as part of the in-kind contribution.
2008-09:
2009-10:
2010-11:
Total: zero

Journal. An annual allotment from the grant will be dedicated to the journal to ensure a quality production of these initial issues.
2008-09: $7,500
2009-10: $7,500
2010-11: $7,500
Total: $22,500

Faculty Professional Development. Faculty professional development remains essential to the ongoing growth and development of these programs. Each university will be allotted $2,500 for faculty stipends to attend these workshops.
2008-09: $10,000
2009-10: $10,000
2010-11: $10,000
Total: $30,000

Basque Country Conference. The Basque Country conference will be a one-time expense to initiate and orientate campus representatives and design university exchanges.
2008-09: $15,000
2009-10:
2010-11:
Total: $15,000

Jaialdi 2010 International Basque Studies. Jaialdi International Basque Festival will be a one-time conference expense.
2008-09:
2009-10: $7,500
2010-11:
Total: $7,500

Global Network. The conference in Buenos Aires will be another one time expense and set up the apparatus to ensure a global network of Basque studies.
2008-09:
2009-10:
2010-11: $15,000
Total: $15,000