[Reposted from: https://www.instagram.com/p/CnC8AYqIdsD/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== ]
Yesterday was a day to think about officiality. As every year, my Basque-speaking friends from college and I did a Christmas reunion to catch up. This time, it happened in Tutera, Nafarroa.
Nafarroa is the only historical territory of the Southern Basque Country that does not recognize full officiality to Basque. It is 'zoned', meaning that it is only co-official in the north and partly in the center, depending on the number of speakers each area has. Tutera is in the very south of the Basque nation. It is the resistance, where the last ikastola (Basque school) is located, despite the lack of resources and institutional support of its surroundings. Considering that in all the Rivera only 4.5% know or speak Basque (2018), one can only imagine all the responsibility and honor that must be to be both a student or teacher at Argia Ikastola.
We chose this location because it it the hometown of one of us, @maitedelalamo . She has always been involved in the ikastola, as a child and educator. Her area lost its historical variety around the 11th century, and now they speak a localized standard Basque, with Nafarroan or Gipuzkoan features. Her area is often invisibilized due to that fact, which made her presence during our BA in Basque Studies very relevant for us, since most of us tend(ed) to ignore that Basque is not official everywhere.
During our visit, she took us to a tavern (@gaiterotaberna) where the waiter understood the order in Basque, which was pretty awesome! Her super cute aunt (@aldanondootamendi) also gave us a tour in the Bardenak, and tried out her Basque words with us.
I recommend this beautiful place, but also, I encourage us all to reflect on what it means to be a minority+minorized language speaker in a place like Tutera. If they are not the revolution, I do not know who it is.
Gora Tutera euskaldun!
[Go Basque-speaking Tutera!]
What do you consider revolutionary in your local community?
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