California State University, Bakersfield is hosting its first-ever Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence this semester.
Dr. Igor Calzada, a Basque expert and senior researcher at Cardiff University in Wales leading research on emerging digital citizenship regimes, has come to CSUB to give lectures and disseminate research among key stakeholders in Kern County and California.
Dr. Calzada will be formally welcomed by the university during a reception on Oct. 10 in the `Runner Café.
“We are very excited to be able to host Dr. Calzada and very proud to be selected for this program,” said Yuri Sakamaki, director of CSUB’s study abroad and Fulbright office. “Fulbright is always about making an impact that lasts a long time. I think we can do that with the connections we’re forming with Dr. Calzada. We’re looking forward to a long-term relationship with him.”
Dr. Calzada has only been at CSUB for about three weeks, but he said it’s been a great experience so far.
“I’m delighted to be here,” he said. “This is a huge opportunity for me to connect with the Basque community. I’m getting to know the social and economic context of Bakersfield.”
CSUB has hosted several Fulbright scholars over the past few years. Typically, the scholar must apply to and be accepted by the university.
With the Scholar-in-Residence (SIR) program, however, it works the other way around. CSUB had to identify a scholar they wanted to bring to the university and apply to Fulbright. The goal of the SIR program is to help higher education institutions enhance their internationalization efforts.
When the university began looking into applying for the program over a year ago, bringing in a Basque scholar was an immediate goal. The Basque Country is a region in the north of Spain and in the south of France that is ranked among the most entrepreneurial and innovative regions in the European Union.
“We wanted our proposal to stand out. We wanted to do something focusing on one of the minority groups in the community, and the local Basque community was the first thing that came to mind,” Sakamaki said. “At that time, we had just founded the Institute for Basque Studies and we wanted to push that movement.”
The institute was established with the goal of promoting scholarship and collaboration that examines social, cultural, historical, economic and political aspects of Basque communities.
When considering a Basque scholar for the Fulbright program, Dr. Iker Arranz Otaegui — one of the institute’s directors — suggested Dr. Calzada, who he was already familiar with and thought would be a good fit.
“With the trans-disciplinary background Dr. Calzada brings to CSUB, we are trying to rethink and reconfigure the Basque Studies discipline,” he said. “We want the Institute for Basque Studies at CSUB be the first brick in a transition mainly from humanities to social sciences in our discipline, including a research agenda, which also will modulate in a more diverse manner the relationship with the Basque diaspora in Kern County. Hopefully, by doing so, Kern County's Basque community will gain the visibility it deserves for the institutions back home.”
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