The group of research Etniker has celebrated its 50th anniversary. To commemorate it, the Chair of language and Basque Culture of the School of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Navarra has published the book "Etniker. Fifty years of ethnographic research in Vasconia". The work, which brings together the speeches that different experts were going to make in a commemorative workshop that had to be cancelled due to the health status , covers the history of Etniker and takes stock of the intellectual contribution of group to the knowledge of Basque ethnographic culture.

The Museum of Navarre was the venue chosen to present the publication. Naiara Ardanaz, coordinator of the work and deputy director of the Chair of language and Basque Culture; and María Amor Beguiristáin, member of Etniker-Navarra and co-author of the book together with 16 other experts, took part in the event, held yesterday, Wednesday 16. Also present was Ana Burusco, Director General of the University of the Government of Navarre, who highlighted the transfer work carried out by Chair.

In his exhibition, Beguiristáin gave an overview of the history of the Chair, highlighting its main milestones. As he explained, the work of the research Etniker groups is one of the main legacies of José Miguel de Barandiaran, the first director of the Chair of language and Basque Culture, who defended the importance of ethnography "because every old person who dies is a file who disappears". After Etniker Navarra was set up during the Sanfermines of 1969, the groups of Bizkaia, Alava, Gipuzkoa and Iparralde were created, with a common goal and methodology, but with autonomous functioning.

For his part, Ardanaz highlighted the work carried out in almost a hundred localities by the different Etniker groups, 27 in the case of Navarre. "It is time to take stock of the intellectual contribution to the knowledge of the ethnographic culture of the inhabitants of this land, which will serve to reflect on the future of a project that has been around for a long time but is also highly topical", he pointed out.

The partnership of the different Etniker groups, which have been meeting annually since 1976, led to the creation of the association Etniker Euskalerria Ethnographic Euskalerria in 1991. Their research has culminated in the publication of eight volumes of the Ethnographic Atlas of the Basque Country, a study of customs, ways of life, religiosity and popular beliefs in the Basque area, which is currently in the process of being digitised.

The work can be purchased at the following link.