GEN-HISPANIC-L Archives

From: Laurence Dang <>
Subject: Re: Deceased Hispanic artist snubbed by major city arts organization
Date: Tue, 09 Jul 1996 15:37:04 -0700
References: <4pddv1$fhf@news03.deltanet.com> <31bafe16.3158462@news.mindlink.net> <Pine.A32.3.93.960610075834.41150E-100000@hopi.gate.net> <31BC4B73.218A@frontiernet.net> <4pje4r$n0h@lyra.csx.cam.ac.uk> <31CA3650.2DD3@concentric.net> <Pine.A32.3.93.960623084924.35312I-100000@hopi.gate.net> <31D35148.4CEB@concentric.net>

[:7} wrote:
>
> Oscar Ugarriza wrote:
> >
> > It is true that a last name doesn't necessarily indicate your ancestry
> > since it could have been given to you by a "master" as in the case of the
> > black slaves in the new world. It is also true that after 500 years a
> > Basque in the New World may have lost some of his claims to Basqueness.
> > And in the end it is how you see yourself. I have no qualms considering
> > myself a Basque from Cuba (both sides of the family) who lived in the US
> > long enough (58 out of 72 yrs) to consider myself an American, and who
> > having had family in Cuba and been born there, I also have a special
> > attachment to that country.
> > In any event, Jorda is a Catalan surname whether or not he is in fact a
> > Catalan. Since I attended the concerts of the SF Symphony while he
> > conducted and read all the Bills, he was referred as both a Spaniard and a
> > Catalan with the media pronouncing his name either Horda, Jorda with the
> > stress in the first syllable or in the proper Catalan way Jorda as an
> > English J with the stress in the last syllable.
> > I am not an expert in surnames but I have studied the history of the
> > Basque language, learnt a lot about the language itself, and believe me, I
> > am pretty sure a Basque can recognize a Basque surname in an instant.
> > Whether that person is a "true" Basque or not is something else....
> >
> > Oscar Ugarriza
> >
> >
> > "KISS THE FROG, BABY!"
>
> As Forest Gump would say, "Basque is as Basque does." I agree with you that
> if you feel Basque and have claim to Basque ancestry you should be able to
> call yourself a Basque. I disagree with you that if one has a Basque name
> one would be able to "pick out" or "spot" a Basque name anywhere. This is
> not true of any other group and I certainly doubt that Basques are any better
> at detecting names than anyone else. Say, for example, that a Basque went to
> Cuba and his family stayed there for 4 generations, then they emigrated to
> the USA where one of its members married an American girl of "Heinz 52"
> ancestry, adopted the US as his second country, had two children who spoke
> neither Spanish nor Basque and, because they lived in Alaska, (or any of a
> large number of isolated spots in the USA.)had very little or no contact with
> their extended family. These children could conceivably be so immersed in
> the American culture that they neither feel Basque nor could they recognize
> another Basque name, or for that matter word, if one hit them in the face.
> I have seen this scenario many times and in many places.
>
>

Well, it depends of course how far back one's Basque ancestry goes, of course...
I was born and raised in France, so you could probably say that I am first
generation French (can you tell by my last name? :-) ) I am pretty good at
recognizing "French" names although most Americans with French names may not
be aware that their name is French. To complicate matters many French names
are actually of Italian, Spanish, or German origin. Only names with a definitve
meaning in the French language can be said to surely be a French name (although you
could argue it is more Canadian, or Swiss, or Belgian...:-) )
This does not mean of course that the bearer of other names are no less French.

The same is true of, say Irish names. An exception can be made for Basque
last names because the Basque language and ancestry is so distinctive in the
European ethnic landscape. The Basque language and ethnicity cannot really be traced to
any particular root and is unique. It is therefore very possible to recognize
a specific name as Basque.

Of couse, if the descendants are uninformed about it (or do not care)
the info may be lost to them but not to other Basques...

> As for Masters, that was over a long time ago, one should try to live in the
> present and leave the past to the dead and the historians.

I disagree completely: if one does not know and understand the past, one cannot
understand the present. A society which ignoring the past may repeat the errors of the past
and will never really evolve and improve. It is good however to be able to forgive
past wrongs if they were properly atoned for...

I do not know what was the original point of this thread, but here's my 2 cents.

Laurence
PS No, my last name is not French...

------------------------------

This thread:

• Re: Deceased Hispanic artist snubbed by major city arts organization by Laurence Dang <>