At present, universities have 190 knowledge or areas of knowledge, but it aims to reduce the proposals for royal decree of the Government of Spain. “The areas that are cut are mainly artistic and humanitarian, because the law goes back to the university in the service of companies,” he denounced ARGIA Miren Larrión, professor at the UPV.

Larrión considers that the disappearance of Basque philology (and Catalan and Galician) as an area of knowledge is a political decision: it places these philologies within the fields of knowledge “Modern languages and their literatures” and “Hispanic, dynamic and world philologies”, so “it weakens them”. In practice, we talk about the profile of teachers. For example, knowing that any university professor/researcher is attached to an area of knowledge, we can see a professor who has studied some of these broader areas of knowledge in the teaching of Basque Studies (for example, the Basque who has studied German philology), Larrión tells us instead of having specifically Basque studies.

Will it affect anyone who wants to study Basque Studies? Larrión believes it can influence: if instead of the Basque Department of Philology there is a larger department, those who decide in the future on content, directions, etc. do not have to be specialised in Basque philology (the profile of teachers will be wider). “Reducing the areas of knowledge facilitates the disappearance of these studies.”

For the professor of the Basque Department of Philology, Eneko Zuloaga, the loss of the specificity of philology can mean that “there is not so much space left for the specialization of teachers, the restructuring of teaching/department… In the case of Basque Philology any change can be really vulnerable, since, in general, few universities can today learn”.

Allegation by the Basque Studies Department of the UPV/EHU

Therefore, the Department of Linguistics and Basque Studies of the UPV/EHU presents an allegation to the Decree defending the autonomy of the areas of General Basque Philology and Linguistics. From the point of view of Basque Philology, we have demonstrated its natural and traditional autonomy as an area of research, and we have called for the need for such independence so that the area we call Basque Philology has its place and can adequately respond to the specific needs of the field (research, teaching, education of students and teachers...),” explains Zuloaga.

Catalan government: “It is a historic setback”

To the extent that the Decree also affects Catalan philology, the Government of Catalonia has advanced that it will present allegations, understanding that the decision is a “historical setback” and “unacceptable”. The Exponent of the Universities has manifested its strong influence in the studies of Catalan philology. For his part, Junts will take the issue to the Senate, as the decree makes philology “invisible”.