Historian Ignacio Olábarri, Full Professor emeritus of the University of Navarra, passed away.
Pioneer in Spain of the theory and history of historiography, he was the youngest person to obtain the Chair in Contemporary History.
Yesterday, December 4, Ignacio Olábarri Gortázar, Full Professor emeritus of Contemporary History at the University of Navarra, passed away in Pamplona at the age of 74.
Born in Bilbao (Vizcaya) in 1950, he graduated in History in 1972 and in Law in 1973 from the University of Navarra. He received his PhD in History in 1976, with his thesis "Relaciones laborales en Vizcaya, 1890-1936". Valentín Vázquez de Prada, whose disciple he was, was a member of the panel together with professors Ángel Martín Duque, Carlos Seco, Miguel Artola and Vicente Cacho.
Full Professor of Contemporary History since 1978 -the youngest in Spain to obtain it-, he taught teaching at the University of Navarra for 34 years, until his retirement in 2012. At the academic center he was Associate Dean of the School of Philosophy and Letters (1985-88) and director of the Publications Service (1981-86). He was also Full Professor of Contemporary History at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), from 1982 to 1983, and Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Murcia (1978-79).
During his academic and research career, Professor Olábarri focused his work on labor relations in Biscay during the Restoration, as well as in Spain and in the Basque-Navarre area at the end of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century. He also wrote numerous texts on the theory and history of historiography. His works include "Relaciones laborales en Vizcaya, 1890-1936"; "Tendencias historiográficas. From antiquity to the nineteenth century"; or "The vicissitudes of Clio (XVIII-XXI centuries). Historiographical essays". He was also publisher of several collective works, such as "Historiography in the West since 1945. Actitudes, tendencias y problemas metodológicos", together with Valentín Vázquez de Prada and Alfredo Floristán; or "Balance de la historiografía sobre Iberoamérica (1945-1988)", together with Professor Vázquez de Prada.
Francisco Javier Caspistegui, Full Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Navarra and disciple of Professor Olábarri, recalls that since his arrival in Pamplona, "he sought to encourage his students and disciples to take a new look at the past in his classes and conversations, which always sought to motivate and question clichés and commonplaces. A supporter of seminars and discussion, he brought to all of them the thematic and methodological novelties in which his teacher Valentín Vázquez de Prada initiated him and which he increased from his numerous international contacts". He also emphasized the interest that Professor Olábarri always maintained for the discipline to which he dedicated his academic and research life: "He was a pioneer in Spain of the theory and history of historiography, which did not make him forget the need for local and regional history. He promoted numerous investigations on the contemporary history of Navarre and the Basque Country. An indefatigable reader, there was no book or text that had passed through his hands in which he did not note comments or correct typos, always aware of the substance and form, always ready to lend a hand".
