Mari Jose Olaziregi’s career awarded and honoured on International Women’s Day

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On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the UPV/EHU will award and pay tribute to Mari Jose Olaziregi Alustiza, who in addition to being the principal investigator (PI) of our research group, is also a doctor in Basque Philology and professor of literature at the same university. The event will be broadcast via streaming and you can find more information about it at the following link.

Also, on 4 April, at 10:00, Jakiunde (the Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters) will hold a plenary session at the Faculty of Arts of the UPV/EHU, during which Olaziregi will be appointed as a member (see here).

Congratulations!

Her work and academic career, developed both individually and in group work, has been and still is crucial for the scientific progress, mainly in gender studies and cultural studies in the context of Basque literature.

Firstly, it is worth noting that Olaziregi, being a woman and a professor, has reached the highest level in an environment where men have traditionally predominated. Moreover, she has been a pioneer in applying a feminist vision to many areas of Basque literature. Proof of this are, among others, publications such as Intimismoaz haraindi: emakumezkoek idatzitako euskal literatura (1999) -which delimits the history of Basque feminist criticism and delves, for the first time, in depth into the works of Arantxa Urretabizkaia and Mariasun Landa-; or the article ‘Bizenta Mogel (1782-1854), edo euskal tradizio literario androzentrikoa pitzatu zenekoa’ -which denounces the notoriously minority and marginal presence of women writers in the historiography of Basque literature. A gender vision can also be seen with regard to research into the “Basque conflict” and its varied literary representations: such as ‘Maternidades contestadas en la narrativa de las escritoras Arantxa Urretabizkaia y Lourdes Oñederra’ (2003); ‘El conflicto de la escritura y la rescritura de la identidad: análisis de la narrativa de escritoras vascas que abordan el conflicto vasco’ (2016); or ‘A vueltas con la madre patria’ (2018), among other publications.

Secondly, it is important to mention the relevance of the place of gender studies in the 15 doctoral theses she has supervised so far. The first two theses she has supervised, both of which are widely known, are worth mentioning: Pertsonaia protagonista femeninoen ezaugarriak eta bilakaera euskal narratiba garaikidean by Gema Lasarte and Genero eta nazio identitateak Katalina Eleizegiren antzezlanetan by Amaia Alvarez Uria, both saw the light in 2011; also noteworthy is the thesis by Ane Arrastoa, directed by Olaziregi recently, in 2025, entitled Poetitika feministak Afektuaren Ikasketen argitan. Euskal poesia garaikidearen irakurketa proposamen bat (1971-2020).

Thirdly, and beyond all the merits mentioned so far, it should be stressed that Olaziregi has directed, in total, eight research projects, all of them of great recognition, thanks to her academic and human excellence. In short, and remembering Mari Jose Olaziregi’s career in academia –and above all her tireless work in the dissemination of Basque literature and gender studies –it is not surprising that she will be one of the people to be honoured on 8 March 2025. Congratulations!