Abstract
This paper aims to picture the art of Basque poetic improvization - Bertsolaritza - as a specific social and cultural phenomenon and a possible field for the research on Basque language or cultural revitalization and nationalism. The Basque bertsolaritza is defined as art of specific form and rules, a brief note about its development in the twentieth century is made, meanwhile a short introduction in the context of Basque nationalism, cultural revitalization and ethnicity is carried out.
This oral tradition is understood as both the cultural and political issue. A short conclusion and a note about the author's plan for his thesis is also included.
The paper is a result of a preliminary field research that has been done in the period of July-August 2011 in the region of Gipuzkoa (Euskadi - Basque Country / Spain) and the analysis of literature related to the topic.