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What is BIHAR?

BIHAR is an initiative that places narratives or discourses on language revitalization at the center. The process has three main phases:

Diagnosis

In 2025, we gathered discourses from communities around the world that are revitalizing their languages. Specifically, we analyzed narrative elements from around 70 languages communities, using intersectionality as the main framework. The result of this work is a diagnosis identifying international discourses on language revitalization.

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Socialization

The results of the diagnosis will be shared with the stakeholders in the Basque language movement as well as with other social movements in the Basque Country in spring 2026. In total, twenty working sessions will be held across the Basque Country, with more than 100 participants involved. A joint seminar will be held to conclude these sessions. The challenge of thos process is to connect language revitalization with other social demands.

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Congress

In September 2026, based on the diagnosis and the socialization process, the BIHAR International Congress will be held. Over four days, global experts, activists, and artists will gather between Bilbao, Irun, and Hendaye. The outcome of this process will be to position language revitalization discourses globally in a transformative way.

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Who are we?

The project is driven by four organizations related to the Basque language movement, and language cooperation: Garabide, Plazara collective, Soziolinguistika Klusterra, and Taupa movement. BIHAR is the result of the cooperation between these four organizations.

Garabide

A Non-Governmental Development Organization (NGDO) that works in the field of language cooperation, promoting the revitalization of minoritised languages, especially drawing on the experience of the Basque language.

Plazara kolektiboa

Plazara is a young, interdisciplinary, creative, and inspiring collective. It seeks to make Basque more visible, more heard, and more widely used in public spaces across the Basque Country.

Soziolinguistika Klusterra

A research center and working network focused on the socialization and revitalization of the Basque language, where sociolinguistic knowledge is created, managed, and applied in relation to language measures and policies.

Taupa mugimendua

A social movement in support of the Basque language that works to promote its use and foster pro-Basque activism, as well as to organize and connect Basque language supporters throughout the Basque Country.

Additional partners and supporters have joined the initiative.

Sponsors:

Collaborators