An Overview of Basque Studies in the United States

The goal of this paper is to offer an overview of Basque studies in the context of U.S. universities, with a focus on the twenty-first century. To that end, it offers, firstly, a brief historical introduction to Basque emigration to the United States; secondly, a contextualization of the presence of Euskera (the Basque language) and the study of the language and Basque cultural topics in non- university contexts; thirdly, a discussion of the origins of Basque studies programs in U.S. universities, the contributions of academic societies and journals, the efforts made by the Etxepare Basque Institute to promote Basque studies internationally, and an overview of lectureships and chairs; and lastly, conclusions. The data that served as the basis for this study was drawn from various sources: prior research on the Basque diaspora in the United States and information provided by Etxepare.