Presentation for the French Political Science Association Conference, Grenoble, 2009

1. Are changes taking place in
Basque ethnolinguistic
mobilisation? The case of
Korrika?
Adriano Cirulli
University of Rome “La Sapienza”
Are changes taking
place in the Basque
ethnolinguistic
mobilisation? The
case of Korrika
Dr Adriano Cirulli
University of Rome “La Sapienza”

2. Since the second half of the 1950s, in
the context of the Francoist regime,
Euskara, the Basque language, became
the core value of Basque nationalism
(Tejerina 1992 and 1996; Conversi
1997).
Language as a cultural marker of
Basque national identity

3. Research hypotheses
Basque Cultural activism is partially
(just partially) detaching itself from
political alignment. There is an
increasing ‘fuzzy’ relationship between
cultural and political activism in the
Basque case (Sanchez Carrión 1987;
Urla 1999 and 2003).

4. Theoretical framework (I)
• political and cultural nationalism are
autonomous, although interconnected,
moments of every nationalist mobilisation
(Hutchinson 1987)
• The grade of autonomy reached by
cultural nationalism vary depending on
social, cultural, or political factors
• Changes in cultural nationalism affect the
evolution of political nationalism

5. Theoretical framework (II)
• Political Opportunities Structure (POS):
the formal, as well as informal variables,
such as the existence of a decentralised
or federal state structure, electoral
realignment, intra-leadership conflicts,
availability of new alliances, that facilitate,
or obstruct, the political participation of
groups and movements, (Kriesi 1995;
Tarrow 1994; McAdam 1996).

6. Presentation Structure
• The situation of Euskara: data,
actors, conflicts
• Insights from my ‘participant
observation’ during the last
Korrika (Spring 2009)
• Final remarks

7. 30,00%
41,08%
0,00%
5,00%
10,00%
15,00%
20,00%
25,00%
30,00%
35,00%
40,00%
45,00%
1991 2006
Knowledge of Euskara in the Basque population aged 16 or
more (1991-2006)
Source: Government of BAC, Dept. of Culture http://www.euskadi.net

9. 32,60%
48,48%
0,00%
10,00%
20,00%
30,00%
40,00%
50,00%
60,00%
1991 2006
Knowledge of Euskara in the BAC population aged 16 or
more (1991-2006)
Source: Government of BAC, Dept. of Culture http://www.euskadi.net

10. 0,00%
10,00%
20,00%
30,00%
40,00%
50,00%
60,00%
70,00%
80,00%
90,00%
1983-84 1995-96 2007-08
Model A + X Model B Model D
Enrolments for linguistic model, students aged 3-18, BAC
(1983-2007)
Source: Basque Institute of Statistics (Eustat)

11. 14,13%
18,67%
0,00%
2,00%
4,00%
6,00%
8,00%
10,00%
12,00%
14,00%
16,00%
18,00%
20,00%
1991 2006
Knowledge of Euskara in Navarre Foral Community (NFC)
population aged 16 or more (1991-2006)
Source: Government of BAC, Dept. of Culture

12. 7,15%
19,98%
75,77%
52,11%
16,83%
25,58%
2,34%
0,00%
10,00%
20,00%
30,00%
40,00%
50,00%
60,00%
70,00%
80,00%
1990-91 2008-2009
Model A Model G Model D TIL
Students enrolment for linguistic model (aged 3-16), Navarre
(1990-2008)
Source: Government of Navarre, Dept. of Education

13. 40,15%
31,10%
0,00%
5,00%
10,00%
15,00%
20,00%
25,00%
30,00%
35,00%
40,00%
45,00%
1991 2006
Knowledge of Euskara in French Basque Country population
aged 16 or more (1991-2006)
Source: Government of BAC, Dept. of Culture

14. The situation of Euskara in Basque territories: diffusion,
actors, and conflicts
Territory Diffusion Main Actors Conflicts
BAC 48,48% (2006),
increasing trend
- Autonomous
Institutions (HABE)
- AEK (radical
nationalism)
- HABE Vs AEK
- Socialist (i. e. no
nationalist) regional
government (since
March 2009)
Navarre 18,67% (2006);
moderate
increasing trend
- Regional
Government
- AEK
AEK (and cultural
actors in general) Vs
UPN and regional
government
Iparralde 31,1% (2006),
General
decreasing trend
- Seaska,
- Ikastolak
- ICB
- AEK
- Quest for stronger
institutional action
- Cultural / political
nationalists

15. Korrika: what is
• Korrika is a colossal footrace run in relays of 1
kilometre, in which thousands of runners, men
and women of all ages, pass through the seven
Basque territories carrying a symbol identified as
the testigo, or ‘witness’. The race is organised
each two years since 1980 by AEK (The
Alfabetatze Euskalduntze Koordinakundea -
Coordination of Education and Literacy in the
Basque Language), an organisation close to the
radical abertzale nationalism.

16. Korrika: aims (Del Valle 1994)
• publicising the work that AEK carries out
in its task of developing and empowering
Euskara in Euskal Herria, maintaining as
its ultimate goal the implantation of
Euskara as the principal language
• encouraging the learning or perfecting of
Euskara, principally among adults
• acquire through economic contributions
the necessary support for continuing their
work

17. Korrika as case study: why?
• During Korrika many of the discontinuities,
conflicts and contradictions that exist in
Basque society, related mainly to the
language, the territory, and the
responsibility for the transmission of the
language, are represented and performed
in the symbolic and public field provided
by the event

18. Participant Observation during the last Korrika
When: 27-29 March 2009 (4 weeks
after the Basque regional elections)
Where: Pamplona/Iruna (Navarre),
and Donostia/San Sebastián (BAC)

21. The “presence of absence” (Del Valle 2004)
Korrika revives the memory of significant
people who were associated in life with
the Basque cultural or political cause.
Also incorporated is the presence of
those who for political motives are in
exile or in jail, or who are considered
‘disappeared’.

22. Pamplona

24. The presence of other political issues

25. Concluding Remarks
• Basque ethnolinguistic mobilisation as
catalyser of nationalism - cultural as well
political - (broader nationalist support; new
alliances in order to face the new POS)
• cultural and linguistic activism risks to
become more politicised
• Need to develop a research agenda on
the current relationship between cultural
and political nationalist mobilisations in the
Basque case