Begoña was an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. Begoña Aretxaga's innovative publications on nationalism, gender and sexuality, and political violence have won international acclaim.
Background
Begoña Aretxaga was born on the 24 February 1960. She was born in Donostia-san Sebastián, Pais Vasco, Spain. Begoña Aretxaga was the oldest of four children. She was surrounded by her family: her mother, Mercedes Arechaga-Santos, her brother, Koldo Arechaga-Santos, and two sisters, Arantxa and Amaia Arechaga-Santos, at the time of her death.
Education
Begoña Aretxaga studied at the University of Basque Country with a master's degree in philosophy and psychology in 1983. She received her doctorate in anthropology at Princeton University in 1992. From 1992 to 1993 Begoña Aretxaga studied at Princeton University. Aretxaga earned a Doctor of Philosophy.
Career
In 1997 Begoña Aretxaga became an assistant professor of anthropology at Harvard University. From 1997 to 1999 she was an assistant professor of social sciences. From 1999 Begoña was a professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
She was an author of "Los Funerales in the Nacionalismo Radical Vasco. Ensayo antropológico" (1989), "Shattering Silence: Women, Nationalism, and Political Subjectivity in Northern Ireland" (1997), "Empire & Terror: Nationalism/Postnationalism In The New Millennium"(2004), "States of Terror Essays" (2005). Begoña Aretxaga was also a co-author of "Mujer Vasca. Imagen y Realidad" (1985).
Views
Aretxaga's research topics included nationalism, political violence, gender research, and sexuality, often related to the political situation of the Basque Country.
The work explores the resistance groups formed in the 1970s by Catholic nationalist women in Belfast who protested against the government of Northern Ireland and Britain. “In Aretxaga’s own words, it is about ‘the gender structure of politics and the political structuring of gender.’” “This is not armchair cultural studies,” commented Spurgeon Thompson in the Irish Literary Supplement, “but rather, ‘thick’ with description and a privileging of experience that make it one of the most thorough and illuminating contributions to Irish Cultural Studies that has yet been produced - even if it was likely intended as no such thing.”
Begoña Aretxaga tried to show the resistance groups formed in the 1970s by Catholic nationalist women in Belfast who protested against the government of Northern Ireland and Britain in her works. “In Aretxaga’s own words, it is about ‘the gender structure of politics and the political structuring of gender.’” “This is not armchair cultural studies,” commented Spurgeon Thompson in the Irish Literary Supplement, “but rather, ‘thick’ with description and a privileging of experience that make it one of the most thorough and illuminating contributions to Irish Cultural Studies that has yet been produced - even if it was likely intended as no such thing.”
Begoña Aretxaga's "Shattering Silence: Women, Nationalism, and Political Subjectivity in Northern Ireland" is an “ethnographic account of nationalist working-class women in Catholic West Belfast.
Personality
Begoña Aretxaga has a wide circle of friends, colleagues, and students throughout the world who will fondly remember her brilliant mind, passion for life, infectious good humor, and gift for friendship.