CONSTRUCTING BASQUENESS: STIMULUS, CONVIVIALITY AND LINGUISTIC LIMITS

Abstract

This article analyses practices of promoting the knowledge and use of euskera (Basque language) in Spanish Basque country. It aims to show the complex ways in which the local government, which seeks recognition as a state, defines the limits of, and access to, the euskaldun (Basque-speaking) and non euskaldun world. It describes interactions and disagreements between institutional policy seeking to generate linguistic adherences, and the local population's practices. Moreover, it also shows how linguistic practice is applied to the construction of conviviality - a category that brings other spheres, such as the school, migratory policies, and the Basque peace process, into question.

Keywords:
euskera; knowledge and use; spaces; coexistence; limits