Mother's Table, Father's Chair: Cultural Narratives of Basque American Women

by Jacqueline S. Thursby

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0874212642
• ISBN13: 9780874212648
• Release Date: April 1999
• Publisher: Utah State University Press
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Basking in Basque Folklore

Prior to reading this book, I did not realize that Basques have been such an important ethnic group in America's West. Thursby's book provides a fine overview of Basque settlement in the United States, and she uses this historical context to provide understanding of important forms of folklore in present day Basque cultural expressions. The major portion of the book is an overview of genres and forms of folk culture from areas with large populations of Basques. She provides special attention to the importance of women's contributions to the preservation and adaptation of this ethnic group's folklore, and she concludes her study with a thought-provoking and well presented analysis of the group's traditional culture. Many of her insights are useful for comparing and contrasting Basque traditional culture with the folklore of other ethnic groups in other regions, and Thursby's writing style is accessible and interesting.

A wonderful examination of American Basque women's culture

Basque Americans are one of the least known ethnic groups in the United States despite a long residence in the western part of the country. _Mother's Table, Father's Chair_ is one of the first studies to discuss Basque American women and their cultural roles within the American Basque culture. Basque sheepherders and others found ethnic communion and support in Basque boarding houses and hotels that were usually run by women. These Basque men who stayed in America often brought over their families, or married women from the old country who then migrated. Many Basque women migrated on their own. As new generations of native Basque Americans were born, women often became the principle carriers and preservers of cultural traditions, as well as primary agents of Americanization, as they sought and encouraged their children to seek the educational and material benefits of the United States. Jacqueline Thursby interviewed Basque American women across the West, observed and participated in cultural activities and events, and did supplemental research in the Basque country of Spain and France in preparation for this seminal overview of the culture of Basque American woemn. Thursby admirably clarifies the role of women in the transformation of Basques into Basque Americans. _Mother's Table, Father's Chair_ will be of immense interest to students of ethnography, basque culture, women's studies, and Western American studies.