Folklore and Basque Nationalism: Language,Myth, Reality

Abstract. This article establishes a precise relationship between folklore and ethno-nationalism. In particular, it argues that the discursive elements of folklore have been used, as political narrative, within the history of Basque nationalism. The Basque nationalist movement, throughout its history, has been especially adept at harnessing the rhetorical power of language, history, myth and memory in its articulation of a Basque, as opposed to a Spanish, identity. The article concentrates on the specific information selected for transmission by the ideology of Basque nationalism. It is this articulation which establishes links between past and present, myth and ideology, and the relationship between culture and identity in the human experience. These are the bonds which are perhaps most pertinent to the general cause of ethno-nationalism, and the Basque case in particular.