Basque language, identities and territory. Logics of action and collective mobilizations about schooling in Basque. ; Langue basque, identités et territoire. Logiques d'action et mobilisations collectives autour de la scolarisation en basque

In French Basque Country, the number of Basque speakers keeps decreasing. Yet, the last socio-linguistic surveys show that the number of speakers increases among the youngest generations. Such a growth is partly related to the growing enrolment of children in schools in Basque.Between the school years 2004 and 2016, the three main branches of schooling in Basque (the public one, the private one, and the immersive one in ikastola) show a dramatic increase of 68% of the number of pupils in French Basque Country, whereas the total number of pupils increases by 6% only. While globalisation strengthens international languages, the growing popularity for placing young children in schools in Basque in order to acquire a regional language is challenging.Thanks to a sociological intervention (which consisted in bringing together 5 groups of about 10 parents, and meeting them 5 times each, for 2 hours) we co-analysed the practices of parents who decided to place their children in schools in Basque. This way, we defined the social meaning of their choice, which, at first, could appear obvious and personal to them.The parents involved in the sociological intervention want to take part in the transmission of an identity-sensitive language. They want to take advantage of an exposure to a bilingual learning from an early age. But they also show a sort of activism by assuming universal principals (such as equality between languages, respect for cultures, preservation of the world’s heritage, etc.). Finally, the will to take an active part in a new social project can also be considered as a driver of the desire to place their children in schools in Basque.It appears that the choice to place children in schools in Basque is never driven by a single reason only. The motivation stems from a sociological experience that articulates the different logics previously mentioned. Here, we look for identifying and analysing the diversity of the reasons the parents give, and understanding the system that relates those reasons in a same ...