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There are so few Basques in an increasingly globalized world that "you can''t subtract people, you have to add people", Gloria Totoricagüena, a prominent researcher in the field of the Basque Diaspora, argues.

To Gloria, daughter of Basque immigrants and born and raised in the bosom of the Basque community in Boise, Basque culture, Basque identity is world heritage. "It is like saving a tree or saving an animal that is endangered. If it is an exotic species, it has to be protected by humanity. Like flowers and animals, culture and languages have to be protected", she says in an exclusive interview for eitb.com in Boise.

For this reason, Gloria thinks that the relationship between the Basque Country and the Diaspora is improving and that the definition of who is Basque is widening.

"In the past, the definition of who is Basque was very exclusive. You had to be nationalist, you had to be ''abertzale'', you had to have Basque surnames, you had to speak Euskera. I think that in the homeland, they are understanding more and more than in the Diaspora more people want to be involved and we can help, we can promote Euskera, we can promote Basque culture", Gloria explains.

Gloria points out that her whole identity has always been a mix inseparable of being American and being Basque. "They are very much still together and I don''t think that I am any less Basque for being American and I am not any less American for being Basque. It is adding identities, it is having different combinations of identities," she adds.

"Even my mother is American. She won''t say so. But she has lived in this country for fifty years. And so, she has characteristics of many American women", Gloria goes on saying. "And when she goes to Gernika, they call her the ''Amerikanoa'', and when she is here, she is the ''Basque lady''. It drives her crazy. She thinks she is less Basque for being the ''Amerikanoa'' and here she is less American for being the ''Basque lady''. And I say : ''no mama, it is the opposite, you are more. You are twice as intelligent, you have three languages, you know two complete different cultures, two different worlds''".

Dreamers and doers

Gloria, author of "Boise Basques: Dreamers and Doers", praises Josu Legarreta, the head of the Basque Communities'' Relations Abroad, when talking about her book for having the vision and getting the funding for a series of books on the Basque communities outside the Basque Country.

The book, a true encyclopedia about the history of the Basques who migrated to Boise in the early 1900''s, is now in all the high schools of the state of Idaho and is used for many research projects. "It was a wonderful project, I am very proud of it," the author says.

She does not think the Basque community in Boise has changed much since she finished writing the book six years ago. "The last chapter of the book discussed what the possibilities are for the future. And this community has so much potential. For example, now, there is a huge project to build a new Basque center. Some people think they are crazy. No! That is what they thought about the metro in Bilbao, that is what they thought about the Guggenheim. And fifty years ago that is what they thought about building this euskal etxea," Gloria recounts.

"It is easy to be negative and it is easy to see the faults. It is very difficult to imagine and design the possibilities," she adds.

However, she thinks that the future of the Basque community in Boise is not about a building, about fancy architecture or beautiful tables. " It is about the people who are part of it and the social network, (…) a space where people will make friends, where people will speak Euskera, where people come not just to eat," Gloria explains.

Although she sees a very positive future for the Basques in Boise, she thinks that the Basque community needs to be rebuilt and it is time for the next generation to make a commitment, "not only in money but in time, a personal commitment. Maintaining the success is more difficult", she warns.