Description
THE HOUSE ON FIRE
Book summary
An ethnography that sets fire to theoretical abstractions regarding the Basque house in order to return it to the daily lives of its inhabitants. Through the Araotz Valley, in Oñati (Gipuzkoa), Ion Fernández de las Heras analyzes the encounters, decisions, and events that shape various farmhouses (caseríos), while critically reviewing more than a century of studies on the baserri. A work that revitalizes classic Basque anthropology and places it within contemporary debates on the decolonization of thought.
What is it about?
The book proposes a double movement: on one hand, a detailed ethnography of several farmhouses in the Araotz Valley, where the lives, decisions, and events of their protagonists are narrated; on the other, a critical review of the authors who, for over a hundred years, have turned the baserri and its inhabitants into a central pillar of the Basque imaginary. Fernández de las Heras questions how these classic studies omitted the ideological context and the civilizing project (national, in this case) implicit in any research. The work thus connects the lived experience of the inhabitants with the need to decolonize anthropological thought, following the line of authors such as Eduardo Viveiros de Castro.
Main themes
- Ethnography of the contemporary Basque farmhouse in the Araotz Valley.
- Critique of theoretical abstractions that separate the house from the lives of its inhabitants.
- Historical review of studies on the baserri in Basque anthropology.
- Decolonization of anthropological thought and analysis of the ideological context of research.
- Relationship between the house as a material space and the social, vital, and symbolic dynamics of its inhabitants.
Who is it recommended for?
For researchers, students, and professionals in anthropology, architecture, and ethnography interested in studies on the house and inhabited space. Also for Basque readers or those interested in Basque culture who are looking for a critical and updated view of the traditional farmhouse, far from myths and essentialisms. Especially indicated for those who value an approach that combines fieldwork with epistemological reflection.
What this book contributes
- A vivid and situated ethnography that shows how the Basque house is built and inhabited from the concrete experiences of its protagonists.
- A critical and necessary review of more than a century of anthropological studies on the baserri, situating them within their ideological context.
- A bridge between classic Basque anthropology and contemporary debates on the decolonization of thought.
- Tools to rethink the relationship between space, identity, and power in rural areas.
Technical data
- Author: FERNANDEZ DE LAS HERAS, ION
- Publisher: SANS SOLEIL EDICIONES
- Language: Spanish
- Subject: ARCHITECTURE, ARCHITECTURAL THEORY, ANTHROPOLOGY, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOGRAPHY
- Collection: ALAVA MEDIEVAL
- Publication date: July 2023
- Number of pages: 396
- Weight: 883 g
Editorial assessment
A rigorous and ambitious work that achieves what few studies manage to do: renew a classic field of Basque anthropology without giving up ethnographic depth or contemporary theoretical debate. The proposal to "raze the abstractions" to return to the concrete lives of the inhabitants of the Araotz Valley is especially valuable at a time when the social sciences are seeking to detach themselves from their own biases. Recommended for readers looking for a work that combines the detail of fieldwork with an honest and necessary epistemological reflection.