Contribution short abstract:

The text aims to reflect critically on the Basque research of Eugeniusz Frankowski (1884-1962), carried out in collaboration with a group of researchers from la Sociedad de Eusko-Folklore (especially Jose Miguel de Barandiaran y Telesforo Aranzadi).

Contribution long abstract:

The Basque landscape played a huge symbolic role in the creation of 19th-century Basque nationalism under the sign of Sabino Arana. These ideas turned specifically towards the countryside and emphasised the role of the Basque landscape as an integral part of local identity.

Developing in the 20th century, Basque ethnography met the perspective of a Polish researcher, the young archaeologist and ethnologist Eugeniusz Frankowski, who found himself in the Peninsula in 1914 and, due to the outbreak of the First World War, decided to stay there, in time linking up with Spanish and Basque research institutions.

The confluence of the two perspectives allows for an examination of the process of intermingling influences and an analysis of the collection of photographs of the Basque landscape taken by Frankowski during his field research.

The text intends to answer the following questions:

How do the relationships of ethnology, archaeology and history shaped the image of Basques in scientific texts?

To what extent did Basques become part of the landscape seen/photographed and studied?

What power relations are revealed in the perspective of the ‘scientific’ study of the Basque?