Oñati's youth facing the armed conflict

Abstract

This paper analyses the discursive reconstruction of the Basque armed conflict in the oral narratives of the first post-conflict generation among Oñati’s inhabitants, in order to observe how collective memory is being built and transmitted to the younger generations after the end of ETA’s attacks. Using a discursive-historical approach and based on both in-depth and collective interviews, it focuses on three main aspects: how these adolescents categorise and evaluate events and actors of the violent past, the level of identification towards the events narrated, and the main canals through which both knowledge and attitudes are being transmitted. It concludes that adolescents perceive the conflict rather in its immaterial forms such as feelings and prejudices, and that they rely mostly on educational and familiar discourses when rebuilding the past. Some of the main voids identified are also signalised in this paper. Este artículo estudia la reconstrucción discursiva del conflicto armado vasco en la narrativa oral de la primera generación posconflicto de Oñati, con el objeto de observar cómo se está construyendo y transmitiendo a las generaciones jóvenes la memoria colectiva después del fin de los ataques de ETA. Utilizando un enfoque discursivo-histórico y con base en entrevistas en profundidad y colectivas, el artículo se centra en tres aspectos principales: cómo los adolescentes categorizan y evalúan hechos y actores del pasado violento, el nivel de identificación con los hechos narrados y los canales principales a través de los cuales se transmiten el conocimiento y las actitudes. La conclusión es que los adolescentes perciben el conflicto más en sus formas inmateriales, como sentimientos y prejuicios, y que se apoyan sobre todo en discursos educativos y familiares a la hora de reconstruir el pasado. También se señalan algunos de los huecos principales que se han identificado.

Legacy and Rupture: The Political Learning of Young Left-wing Basque Nationalists in the Post-ETA Period

“…The most important of these is to achieve a saturation or repetition of units of meaning sufficient to facilitate a satisfactory identification of themes and their dimensions. Finally, research using small qualitative samples has also been established as a valid methodology in existing research specifically addressing youth political participation (Ferret, 2014; Manning, 2014; Velte, 2018).…”

“…In these circumstances, the persistence of beliefs, attitudes and practices held at an early age linked to family political socialization constitute a threat to political stability. Thus, socialization emerges as a key process relevant to conflict over both the preservation and elimination of intergenerational intergroup divisions (McKeown et al, 2020; Reidy et al, 2015; Taylor et al, 2018; Taylor & McKeown, 2019) and controversy over the construction of narratives around conflict (Velte, 2018).…”

Euskal gatazka armatuaren historia hezkuntzako edukietan: azterketa diskurtsibo bat

“…Gaiari buruzko testuinguru diskurtsibo konplexuan hazten ari dira gazteok. Alde batetik, gatazkaren beraren izaera auzitan jartzen duten gatazka diskurtsibo ugari presente daude oraindik hedabideetan eta esparru politikoan; Hego Euskal Herrian bederen, badago oraindik gaiari buruzko tabu sentsazioa gazteen artean (Velte, 2018): diskurtso ofizial askotan ere, gatazkaren irudikapen polarizatu bat eraikitzen da oraindik (Velte, 2016).…”

“…Testuinguru horretan, hezkuntza arautua izan daiteke trauma edo ezintasun pertsonaletatik eta interes politikoetatik aparteko transmisio kanal nagusietako bat. Testuliburuak egia ukigarriak eskaintzen dizkiete eskolaesparrutik kanpo informazio zatikatua, inkoherentea edo liskartsua baino eduki ez dezaketen ikasleei (Velte, 2018). Alabaina, gaur-gaurkoz ez da sortu gaiari zuzenean heltzen dion material didaktikorik.…”