Margaret Bullen
MARGARET BULLEN (Nedging, Suffolk, UK, 1964), feminist anthropologist, has lived in the Basque Country since 1991, where she has been a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of the Basque Country since 2005. She has a degree in Modern Languages (Spanish and French) from the University of Bristol (1987) and a PhD in Philosophy (Social Anthropology) from the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool (1991). She completed her thesis on cultural and socio-economic changes and Andean migration in the shanty towns of Arequipa, Peru.
Her interest in migrations, identities, language and change has remained a constant, and in the project New solidarities, reciprocities and alliances: the emergence of collaborative spaces of political participation and redefinition of citizenship, she researched Irungo Harrera Sarea Welcome Network for migrants.
In recent years, her work has focused on the conflicts arising over changes proposed in festive rituals in Gipuzkoa, especially the controversial participation of women in the Alardes of Hondarribia and Irun, but also the Alarde del Moro (Antzuola) or the Tamborrada (Donostia-San Sebastian). Representative of this work is Tristes espectáculos: las mujeres y los Alardes de Irun y Hondarribia (2003). She took part in AFIT’s project Continuities, conflicts and rupture in the face of inequality: gender relations and the practice of gender equality (2003), focusing on young people’s attitude to gender and change in the festival. Her latest study in this area, Strategies for the participation of women in local festivals in the Basque Autonomous Community was commissioned by Emakunde, presented to the Basque Parliament’s Commission for Human Rights, Equality and Justice (15/06/2022) and was the basis for the script of Julen Herrero’s documentary “Breaking Tradition”.
Bullen has a special interest in applied anthropology and has served as Vice-Dean of the Practicum and Cooperation for development (2017-2021). In 2002, she participated in the foundation of Farapi, the first Basque consultancy in applied anthropology. She is an active member of UKS (Unibertsitate Kritikoa Sarea), working to connect university, NGOs and social movements, and collaborates with entities such as Medicus Mundi Gipuzkoa (Reducing gender gaps and male violence in the southern Somali region, Ethiopia, 2023-2027) or KCD (Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Oficina del Historiador, Havana, 2022-2024),
Finally, Bullen maintains close ties with USAC (University Studies Abroad Consortium) and Basque Studies programmes in the United States. She published Basque Gender Studies in 2003 and, in 2018, was invited to be the Eloise Garmendia Bieter Chair at Boise State University, Idaho.