Tongues of Settlement: Where the World Becomes Basque

Known for their cultural traditions, celebrated cuisine, and distinct language, Basque peoples originated in a small area in the Pyrenees Mountains called Euskal Herria, or the Basque Country. Over the centuries, large numbers of Basques have left their homeland to settle throughout Spain, France, North America, Latin America, and South Africa, accompanied by their unique language and literature.

Tongues of Settlement traces how Basque emigrants and their descendants have adapted to the Americas by interacting with the land and people, while inscribing their presence and producing a body of literature distinct from the literature of Euskal Herria. Blake Allmendinger explores the evolving relationship between language and place, analyzing forms of remembrance used to signify the Basque presence in numerous countries, especially in the western United States, where most immigrants settled and where their descendants currently reside.

Tongues of Settlement considers what eventually happens as assimilated Basques relinquish their native language yet maintain a connection to place. It includes works by Basque authors, translated into English, recounting their experiences in the American West; books by Basque American writers whose narratives are set (at least in part) in the Basque Country; popular genres published by Basque American authors; and recurrent themes in Basque American literature. In this first comprehensive study, Allmendinger traces the evolution of Basque American literature from its origins in medieval oral culture to the creation of a literary renaissance in the twenty-first century American West.

Blake Allmendinger is a professor of English at the University of California-Los Angeles. He is the author of several books, including Geographic Personas: Self-Transformation and Performance in the American West (Nebraska, 2021), The Melon Capital of the World (Nebraska, 2015), Imagining the African American West (Nebraska, 2008), and The Cowboy: Representations of Labor in an American Work Culture.