Barát, Erzsébet

University of Szeged

Crossing the Border: From ‘Autochthonous Hungarian’ to ‘Migrant Hungarian’

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In my talk I shall explore the ideological underpinnings of the meaning production of the categories of autochthonous and migrant Hungarians in various media representations at the time of the 2005 referendum on citizenship in Hungary against my ethnographic findings based on semi-structured interviews carried out with Hungarian migrants who came to live in Szeged from Serbia or Romania in the past twenty years. My major theoretical concern is to explore and demonstrate the equally exclusionary logic of apparently oppositional stereotypical (prejudiced thinking) of liberal and nationalistic positions. It is the ‘same’ ideological assumption they share, though attributed only to their opponents to discredit each other and thereby eventually keeping each other at bay – and in power in the eyes of their followers. This ideological meaning of “Hungarian migrants’/autochthonous Hungarian” distinction draws upon the conflation of linguistic and cultural dimensions of identity formation (Blommaert and Verschueren, 2007). The former, liberal position, falsely, ends up depoliticizing the negotiation over conditions and meanings of belonging and foreignness, as a result of a discourse strategy of multiculturalism that is “too-ready to accept that culture matters [in a way that] helps to nourish cultural stereotypes” (Anne Phillips 2007:21). The latter, the conservative discourse of nationalism ends up treating language as an origin of cultural “being”, paradoxically, leading to situations where those immigrating to Hungary, speaking the officially (and linguistically) non-acknowledged regional dialect of their country of citizenship (Romania or Serbia) comes to be inflected with the meaning of ‘foreign’ and will inevitably bring about new, cultural and economic kind of difficulties to negotiate. This is an equally oppressive move, one that pushes the migrants in the direction of “integration” on the terms of the “locals”, the ‘more original’ Hungarians.


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Barta, Róbert

University of Debrecen

A Hungarian in the Shadow of High Politics: Emery Reves and the Modern World Press Propaganda

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
This paper proposes to survey Emery Reves (Révész Imre)’s political, personal and business career from the early 1920’s until his last active decade (1960’s). Révész Imre was a Hungarian-born (1904-Bácsföldvár-1981-Montreux) journalist, businessman and literary agent and later on he became famous as literary agent of W.S. Churchill. Reves and his company (Cooperation Press Service) was the main European and overseas distributor of Churchill’s articles on current world events until the death of the great British statesman. From 1941 Reves worked in the USA where he successfully managed to publish the war memoirs of Churchill. After WWII he appeared as one of the most important business and personal intimate of the former British premier. So began their profitable business relationship that grew over time into personal friendship.
The career, activity and works of Reves are almost unknown in Hungary, although we have some personal letters and other sources published in English (Winston Churchill and Emery Reves. Correspondence.1937-1964.Ed. by Martin Gilbert University of Texas Press, Austin, 1997., The Wendy and Emery Reves Collection. Ed. By Robert V. Rozelle. Dallas Museum of Art, 1985.). In this sense my paper (partially based on my own archival and historical research in England and Hungary) focusing on the personal career, ideas, works and business activities of Reves, and I try to put these aspects in the framework of international contacts. Reves wrote two books on a would-be new world order and these works became credo of world federalists (A Democratic Manifesto /1942/, The Anatomy of Peace/1945/). Reves could manage to place about two dozens Churchill articles in Hungarian daily newspapers (Az Újság, Pester Lloyd, Pesti Hírlap) in 1938-39 and distributed articles of pro-western Hungarian intellectuals and politicians (Kánya Kálmán, Hantos Elemér, etc.) in European newspapers.
So, my presentation emphasizes how a world citizen of Hungarian origin (Reves) has tried to build a bridge between world politics and Hungarian issues during his own activity and on his efforts to place Churchill’s pro-democracy articles in newspapers around the world.



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Bartfay, Arthur

Independent scholar

The 2010 American Kossuth Legacies – five villages, two townships, and one Kossuth County

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In December 1851, an American ship took Kossuth to the USA for an eight month triumphant tour. Young America was in its infancy & had only 23 million people. Kossuth addressed Congress in English & traveled to 16 states speaking to enthusiastic crowds. Over 150 years later, the legacy of Kossuth's visit includes streets, statues, at least five remaining Kossuth villages in NY, PA, OH, IN, & MS, two Kossuth townships in ME & WS, and one Kossuth County in Iowa.


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Bergmann, Peter

University of Florida, Gainesville

American Reception of Displaced Persons, 1949-1955

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The paper will look at the immediate postwar emigration to America. It will follow the process of displacement with replacement, that is, Americanizing the DP. The paper will discuss the American interest in the DP in the early 50s. This will include authors like Kurt Vonnegut and Flannery O’Connor, and television programs like “This is Your Life.” It will place Hungarian DPs in a broader DP population.


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Bock, Julia

Long Island University, NY

Major Contributions of Hungarian Jewish Doctors to Medicine during the Twenties Century

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The presenter focuses her attention on the subject of the life of Jewish physicians in the shadow of the Holocaust. While she is about to create a three generational collective biography, she examines the effect of emigration left on professional development, and the achievements among those who stayed to rebuild the new health system in Hungary.


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Bodó Barna

Sapientia – EMTE, Kolozsvár

Nemzethatár és magyar nemzetstratégia a Kárpát-medencében (Románia)

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Ebben - a szervez? intézmény társadalmi hátterére való tekintettel - röviden értelmezem a szórvány és a diaszpóra kett?sséget, az eltér? kapcsolódást és funkciót a nemzetépítésben, utána a kárpát-medencei folyamatokat (szórványosodás-nyelvhatár vándorlása), majd végül a mai helyzetet mutatom be.


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Bodó, Béla

Missouri State University

Admiral Miklόs Horthy and the White Terror: Paramilitary and State Violence in Hungary, 1919-1921

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
This presentation examines the special relationship between Admiral Miklos Horthy, the Minister of War and later the Regent of Hungary, and the paramilitary groups responsible for the White Terror: a series of pogroms and atrocities committed against poor peasants and workers after the collapse of the Communist regime in Hungary in the summer of 1919. The lecture addresses such important historical questions as the failure of democracy in Central Europe and the emergence of fascism after the First World War. Beside such important historical questions, the presentation deals with, and is meant to provoke a debate on, highly relevant political questions, such as the nature of political decision-making in modern states, war crimes and the political and military leaders' responsibility for the atrocities committed by their subordinates.


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Bognár, Judit Király

Washington University in St. Louis

Exhibit: Modern Artwork Honoring Hungarian Traditions

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
I recognize the disappearing yet rich heritage of Hungarian folk craftsmanship.
In a world swept-up in homogenization of culture and economy, I believe Hungarian folk art reflects positive aspects of traditional human societies the modern world often seems too busy to notice.

I turn to the old in order to create modern works which respect the deep values of regional cultures in historical and modern Hungary. I use mixed media, traditional printmaking and modern printmaking to share my love of these crafts. I hope to open the minds of those not familiar with Hungarian art and society through the large scope of some of my works. As well, I seek to re-energize Hungarians of all ages who I hope will notice the detail in my pieces.



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Bognár, Phillip

Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri

Hungarian Efforts at Autonomy in Romania

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Lingering issues of language and culture for ethnic Hungarians remain stumbling blocks for stability, security and long-lasting democracy in Romania and the region. I discuss Hungarian measures calling for territorial and cultural autonomy in Romania (particularly Transylvania). Autonomy's historical place in the region and its complementary nature in EU doctrine are established, and examples of successful modern autonomy in Europe are compared to the current proposals. I deem autonomy feasible (though no panacea). A carefully-implemented measure of freedom for Hungarians in Romania will help create solid institutions and local regulations, originated by the very people who will live with them and encourage the unique culture of the region to survive and prosper in modern Europe.


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Bozzay, Zina

Independent scholar

Capturing an Oral Tradition on the Page: Notations of Ornamentation, Variation, and Individuality in Hungarian Folk Singing

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Creating transcriptions of source recordings is both a science and an art - and the detailed transcriptions of Hungarian folk songs created by Hungarian ethnomusicologists provide invaluable material for historical understanding, theoretical analysis, and vocal study of these songs. What other styles of notation could serve different functions: capture new elements of the songs, demonstrate the variation and improvisation, or provide a more visually representative or easier-to-follow guide for today’s many folk singing students? With complex but stylistic ornamentation, rubato and ‘uneven’ timing, differing vocal timbres, and other fluctuating and flexible elements specific to regions and song types, this diverse oral tradition can be represented on the page in many ways. I will present a few examples of notational strategies developed through experience with folk singers’ rehearsal techniques without sheet music or with limited music-reading skills, contemporary composers’ use of modern notation and graphic scoring, and Hungarian folk music scholars’ knowledge of transcription methods appropriate to this music. As folk singers often must know to embellish skeletal notations or are daunted by transcriptions that are unnecessarily complicated and counterintuitive (and in fact create their own alternatives), these tools may aid in practical daily ways. But as I bring out important elements intrinsic to Hungarian folk singing they may also shed light on conceptual changes in our approach to folk music and its notation. As it bonds Hungarians and folk music enthusiasts around the world, how we conceptualize, visualize, and notate this music is a pressing issue in the ongoing continuation and development of this special heritage.


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Cain, Jonathan

University of Arizona

Instrumental Technique in Béla Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1: Reconciling the Composer, Modern Performance, and Field Recordings

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
As an American cellist seeking to perform Béla Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1, I found that Hungarian folk music was not an extensive part of my musical vocabulary. There is an inherent difficulty in assimilating three seemingly autonomous sources with the intent of performance: The published composition that was crafted by Bartók, the recordings of modern artists like Bartók, Szigeti, and Starker, and the field recordings of Hungarian, Rumanian, and Gypsy folk music. It is the intent of this string-performer’s guide to explicate performance of four techniques through these sources: bow articulation, rubato, vibrato, and glissandi.
Beginning with a discussion of Bartók’s written word (essays, letters, etc.), I consider his view of the bowed strings with respect to folk instruments, Western art instruments, the voice, and performance. I then analyze his compositional processes for incorporating six folk melodies into Rhapsody No. 1 and offer a map of folkloric techniques such as pizzicato and imitation of bagpipes, placing special emphasis on the four techniques mentioned above. After analyzing the published composition, I discuss the major keystone recordings spanning 75 years and apply the methodology of László Somfai to decipher the discrepancies between notation and sound. Also presented within this section is an examination of the field recordings of the six incorporated folk melodies. Next, I discuss how the sound of the folk instrumentalist influenced performance by modern artists. I conclude by offering the violoncellist a technical “how-to” for performing Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 1 with the character and zest of a native Hungarian.



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Cash, John

Indiana University

Tourism and Libraries in the Reannexed Terrotories, 1939-1944

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Hungarian cultural policy after Trianon sought to foster national culture where it existed, and as a result of the Vienna Awards of 1939 and 1940, these policies were extended to re-annexed territories in southern Slovakia, the Banat, and Transylvania. Policies promoting tourism, on the one hand, and reestablishing teacher education programs and libraries, on the other, were two manifestations of rebuilding bridges between Hungarians within and outside of these territories. Relying on recent work by Ablonczy (on tourism) and Sipos (on teacher education and libraries), I will outline these policies, examine points where they intersect, discuss their progress, and review the effect and fate of these policies after 1944.


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Cox, John K.

North dakota State University

The Hungarian Home of Danilo Kiš

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
My project focuses on the role played by Hungary and Hungarian literature in the life and writings of Serbian writer Danilo Kiš (1935-1989). Kiš, born in Subotica/Szabadka when it was part of Royal (interwar) Yugoslavia, had a Hungarian-speaking Jewish father, Eduard, and a Serbian-speaking Orthodox Christian mother from Montenegro, Milica Dragi?evi?. Kiš spent the years of World War II in Hungary, and his father was deported to Auschwitz from there and killed by the Nazis. For the rest of his life Kiš maintained an active engagement with Hungarian literature by writing essays about it (he especially admired Endre Ady) and publishing a large number of his own Serbian translations of Hungarian poetry. Wartime Hungary also figures prominently in his autobiographical novels, in some of his short stories, and in his play Night and Fog (an English translation of which I have just published in the journal Absinthe: New European Writing).
Not only do I analyze the image of Hungary in Kiš's fiction and non-fiction, but I also examine his essays in particular in order to home in on the regional identities that are of such great concern to cultural and intellectual historians. For instance, it can be argued that Kiš takes the "sting" out of the term Balkan by shifting discourse away from the traditional arrangement "Balkans--Central Europe--Eastern Europe--Europe" that has informed so much nationalism, state-building, and scholarship in the region. Kiš stresses global or pan-European cultural identity, and his refurbished vocabulary of regional associations focuses on "Mediterranean" and "Pannonian" characteristics. Kiš's overturning of invidious distinctions between sub-mentalities in Europe is a refutation of many fixed, registered, ascribed identities---even, to some extent, the venerable material of Central Europeanness, his commonalities with Konrád, Kundera, and Mi?osz notwithstanding. This emphasis on integration and commonality also predisposes him to keep the "big picture" in mind with regard to totalitarianism, a term he uses with equal readiness for both Stalinism and fascism.



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Csillag, András

University of Szeged

The Vasváry Collection: a Hungarian--American Resource Center in Szeged

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Az amerikai magyar múlt emlékei –
Válogatás a Vasváry-gy?jtemény könyveib?l és dokumentumaiból

Kiállítással egybekötött gy?jtemény-bemutató az AHEA–konferencia résztvev?i számára

2010. június 3. (csütörtök) 17.00-18.00 és június 4. (péntek) 17.30-18.30

Helyszín: Somogyi-könyvtár, Vasváry-gy?jtemény
Kurátor: Kórász Mária
6720 Szeged, Dóm tér 1-4. (3. emelet)

Tel.: (06-62) 425-525


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Csörgits József

Eszéki Magyar Képes Újság Kiadóház

“Vízbe vesz? nyomokon” (Horvátország)

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Fél órás el?adásomhoz Baranyai Júliától vettem kölcsön a címet: “Vízbe vesz? nyomokon.” Bevezetésként, rövid kultúrtörténeti visszatekintésben ismertetem a mai Horvátországhoz tartozó területen él? magyarok hagyományait. Ezt követ?en a jelen kor oktató-nevel?i, kiadói, tájékoztatói, m?vel?dési és társadalmi-politikai jellemz?i függvényében megtartott magyar nyelv és kultúra mostani helyzetér?l beszélek, különös tekintettel a fogyasztói társadalmak és a magyar-magyar kapcsolatok feltételrendszerére.


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Deák, Nóra; Kovács, Ilona

ELTE, Budapest

Building Bridges between Hungarian Archival Resources and Modern Technology with Fulbright Support

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
1. Kovács Ilona. Közös történelmünk forrása, a Bethlen gy?jtemény korszer?, modell érték? feldolgozása az Amerikai Magyar Alapítvány könyvtárában A Bethlen gy?jtemény az amerikai magyarság, s egyben a magyarországi történeti kutatás egyik legjelent?sebb forrása. Feltárása és hozzáférhet?vé tétele önismeretünk és múltunk kölcsönös megértésének nélkülözhetetlen eszköze. A közös történeti források széleskör? hozzáférésének biztosítása érdekében a magyar Fulbright Bizottság az Amerikai Magyar Alapítvány anyagi, az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár szakmai támogatásával 1997-ben ösztöndíjat alapított. Az ösztöndíjas id?szak számos területen rendkívüli lehet?ség a két ország szakmai és kulturális kapcsolatainak építésében, új kutatási eredmények felmutatásában és a résztvev?k szakmai és emberi fejl?désében. Az el?adás a gy?jtemény kutatási jelent?ségének, tartalmi értékeinek és szerkezeti felépítésének bemutatása mellett ismerteti a Society of American Archivist által javasolt, a digitális technikát el?készít? és az amerikai könyvtárak körében széles körben használt feldolgozási módszer (EAD, DTD) alkalmazását a Bethlen Gy?jtemény feldolgozására. Ez a példa modell érték? módszerré válhat mind az amerikai magyar, mind a magyarországi archivális gy?jtemények feldolgozása számára.

2. Deák Nóra: A kontinenseket összeköt? digitális technológia alkalmazása a Bethlen gy?jtemény internet hozzáférésében 2007/2008-ban a Fulbright Bizottság által támogatott projekt segítségével egy közel tízéves folyamat fontos állomása valósulhatott meg: a gy?jtemény fizikai elhelyezése és a fondjegyzék elkészítése után számítógépes adatbázis létrehozása. Erre a célra az Alapítvány rendelkezésére álló és már bevezetett nyílt forráskódú Archivists’ Toolkit információarchiváló szoftver szolgált. Ennek segítségével megtörtént az amerikai magyarság történetére és kultúrájára vonatkozó jelent?s els?dleges források feldolgozása és hozzáférhet?vé tétele.



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Dombi, Judit

University of Pécs

The Construction of Intercultural Communication in Scholarly Writing

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Effective communication is vital, and the need for it has never been more emphasized than these days when people from different national, cultural and linguistic backgrounds interact in the course of their daily lives. After Hungary’s admission to the EU it is evident that the country needs to find its place in the integrated Europe and this can only be achieved by cooperation and successful communication with other cultures. The amplified interest in more flourishing communication across cultures has led to the mushrooming of programs across the country that offer theoretical and practical knowledge on Intercultural Communication. The field has rapidly entered academia as well and has become a center of attention. Due to the relatively novice nature of this concept it is rather difficult to define what actually is taking shape under this umbrella term.
This paper presents the findings of an empirical study that attempts to get an insight into how intercultural communication as a discipline is being established. By providing a qualitative analysis of the abstracts of examples of scholarly writing, the study attempts to get a holistic view on what subfields Intercultural Communication encompasses and how relevant theories of these subfields contribute to the development of this academic discipline. Findings imply that though the phenomenon under study is rather multi-faced and extended, Intercultural Communication is definitely of use for Hungarians trying to bridge the gap not only between them and the Others, but within their own culture as well.



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Dupka György

Kárpátaljai Magyar M?vel?dési Intézet

A magyar nyelv és kultúra jogi helyzete Ukrajnában

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A XXI. század els? tíz évében fordulat állt be Ukrajna korábban pozitívnak ítélt kisebbségpolitikájában. Eleinte fokozatosan, illetve elmosódottan, újabban pedig - a nemzetiesked? ukrán hatalmi intézmények kiépülésének és meger?södésének függvényében - mind konkrétabb formát öltve jelennek meg a nemzetiségek jogainak korlátozására irányuló, f?ként központi intézkedések. Az el?adás altémái: Nyelvkutatóinkról és nyelvvéd?inkr?l. A magyar politikai érdekképviseletr?l. Az anyanyelv használatának joga a társadalmi élet minden területén. A Kisebbségi és Regionális Nyelvek Európai Chartájáról. A kétnyelv? feliratok ügye. A nemzeti szimbólumok ügye. Jogérvényesítési problémák. Emlékm? és nyelvháború az ukrán radikális nacionalistákkal. Van-e kiut a kiuttalanságból?


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Fábián, Gyöngyi

Pannon University, Veszprém

National Identity through Foreign Language Teaching?

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The Hungarian educational scene is dominated by the efforts to improve the foreign language competencies of the people in the country. Adults of all ages, students at all levels of formal education and even families with young children are attempting to acquire foreign language skills, the foreign language mainly being English.
The presenter, a TEFL teacher trainer and a teacher herself, attempts to approach foreign language teacher role and language teaching practices in Hungary from the perspective of the threats to and potentials of developing and strengthening national identity among Hungarian learners. Through a critical approach questions concerning the profession will be raised in order to highlight the major challenges of the current situation, as well as to raise interest in further research into the area of foreign language teaching.



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Felföldi, László

Hungarian Academy of Scieces

Traditional Dance as Local Knowledge, Everyday Practice and Cultural Heritage

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
I would like to speak about how the collected dances for villages and those in archives - according to the footprints of the local knowledge of the time - become an integral part and building block to a varied cultural heritage for communities who keep them alive. I will demonstrate this with films of old collections and recent archival footage.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
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Feny?, Mario

Bowie State University, Maryland

Paprika, East and West

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In 1937 the Nobel prize for “Physiology or Medicine” was awarded to Albert Szent-Györgyi, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Szeged in Hungary. For the first time, he and some colleagues, including the American Joseph Svirbely from the University of Pittsburgh, were able to isolate Vitamin C, ascorbic acid. Notwithstanding Linus Pauling (another Nobel prize laureate) and Szent-Györgyi himself, vitamin C may not cure or prevent the common cold, but it certainly cures the vitamin deficiency known as scurvy or scorbutus (hence “ascorbic” acid) which plagued English (and other) sailors of yore deprived of fresh fruit and vegetables during their long voyages. Vitamin C is also a major anti-oxydant.
It took Szent-Györgyi a while to find the most economical raw material for his experiments and for producing the vitamin, until he hit upon the idea of using the product, or produce, for which the Szeged region of southern Hungary is so famous, namely paprika, or red pepper.
Paprika (capsicum annuum), our topic, can be approached from various angles. In Korea the spicy paste prepared from red pepper is called gochugaru (고추가루), often added to bibimbap (비빔밥). Paprika or chili is also the key ingredient in kimchi, which in turn is a key dish in the Korean diet. Instead of a trip to Japan or Hongkong, taken by most of my comrades in the military, I remember spending my R and R (Rest and Recuperation) on a beach on the Eastern coast of the Korean peninsula. Our hotel room was a cabin with an outhouse, and our meals consisted of rice for breakfast, rice for lunch and rice for dinner. The same was true about the diet of most Koreans in those days, preceding the boom of the South Korean economy. What made the fare palatable, balanced and nutritious, what relieved the monotony of white rice, was precisely kimchi-- in other words, paprika.


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Fodor, Mónika

University of Pécs

“Hungary 101”—Meanings and Uses of History in Narrative Ethno-Cultural Identity Construction among Hungarian-Americans

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In this paper I discuss approaches to personal narratives elicited in 28 qualitative interviews with ten second- and third-generation Hungarian-Americans regarding the meanings of history in their ethnicity. The stories that interviewees told about Hungarian and in some cases world history illustrate how the historical elements and icons of the individual’s culture create a unique ethno-cultural identity and community. Besides personal history most immigrants cherish, tell and attempt to hand down the wider historical circumstances and events that influenced them in their decision to relocate. Narratives shift the focus of history from texts to interpreters and historical culture thus becomes a story created by participants rather than something read or viewed by them. Stories about historical events create and maintain communities as well as ethno-cultural identities in specific ways that allow several interpretations and recontextualizations.
In the interviews, two major events of twentieth-century-history occurred in a most articulated form. World War II and the 1956 Revolution in Hungary seem to be the historical story frame for interviewees to explain their ethnic affiliations. The paper explores the narratives about these two major historical events to unfold the double narrative structure that support ethno-cultural identity construction.



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Freifeld, Alice

University of Florida, Gainesville

Hungarian Identity Between War and Cold War

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Hungary was a transit point-for people fleeing the East and Communism; for goods crossing the Russian-held borders of Hungary and Austria. Hungarians too were in limbo, with its soldiers often in POW camps in the Soviet Union, and survivors returning from Nazi camps. Hungary was also politically facile-with a coalition government that presumed a hopeful reconstruction. The paper will be based on archival and secondary sources. The archival sources include materials recently microfilmed for the US Holocaust Museum and border patrol records at the Hungarian National Archives. I would arrive in advance of the conference to use the Szeged archives, which hopefully would add a local element to the paper.


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Glant, Tibor

University of Debrecen

The Representation of Native Americans in 19th–century Hungarian Travel Writing

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Although Hungarians followed with great interest the “discovery” and mapping of the Americas, travel writing on North America (especially the US) began in earnest only during the 19th century. The three major concerns for Hungarian travelers of the age included American democracy, progress, and the Native Americans. In my paper I will explain how three of the most important Hungarian travelers (János Xántus, Pál Rosti, and József Szabó) represented (or misrepresented) the Native Americans in their travel writing and scholary articles. I will also illustrate how their accounts reflect 19th century American attempts to explain the origins, customs, and inferiority of American Indians.


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Glanz, Susan

St. John’s University, NY

“American Letters” – Imre Széchenyi’s 1881 Trip to America

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In 1881, Imre Széchenyi, together with four young Austrian and Hungarian aristocrats, and accompanied by a German economist/politician/journalist, visited the US. This was a study trip; the group was to study the agriculture and government administration in the US. Imre Széchenyi spent about eight months in the US, from March to October 1881, and his travels took him throughout the country. He published a book about his experiences, Somogyvári I. “Amerikai levelek” egy hosszabb zárszóval (Somogyvár I., American Letters with a Longer Postscript). The book has three parts; the first includes the letters that he sent to Hungarian newspapers while in the USA, the second, a briefer part of the book, is a collection of his drawings and explanations of the workings of new American agricultural machinery. The third section, his postscript, enumerates the European and American advantages in agriculture, and offers solutions for changes to be made in order that Hungarian agriculture could increase its competitiveness. This paper will evaluate the solutions proposed.


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Hantz, Lám Irén

Independent scholar

An Updated Torockό: Village Tourism and Protection of Local Interests - A megújult Torockó. Faluturizmus és érdekvédelem.

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A torockόi völgyben néhány négyzetkilométer területen s?r?södik Erdély minden szápsége, érdekessége. Sziklafalak, XIII.századbόl valό vár, régi vasbányák, érdekes építkezés, különleges népviselet. Ebben a völgyben ket magyarajkú település találhatό, Torockό és Torockόszentgyörgy. Lakόi ragaszkodnak hagyományaikhoz, nemzetiségükhöz, unitárius vallásukhoz. A 70-es és 80-as évek Romániájában halálraítélték ezeket a falvakat. Tilos volt túristacsoportok látogatása, hagyományos ünnepeik megtartása.
Az 1989-es fordulat után els?rend? feladat lett Torockό újraélesztése, egyrészt a vendégfogadás megszervezésével, másrészt a népi kultúra értékeinek felkutatásával és meg?rzésével. Ezeket a célokat szolgálta Dr.Tobiás Károly, magyar származású, amerikai egyetemi tanár, adománya. A Brassais Véndiák Alapítvány (Kolozsvár) kezdeményezésére létrejött a Tobiás Ház Ifjúsági Szabadid?központ; régi fényképek és dokumentumok gy?jtésével és kiállításával a Múzeum felújítása, valamint utikalauz kiadása. El?adásom a megvalόsítás nehézségeir?l, a munka szépségér?l és az összefogás erejér?l szόl.



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Huncik Péter

MD - General Practice

Magyar-szlovák kapcsolatok lehet?ségei az idei választások vetületében

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A konferencián a magyar-magyar kapcsolatokról szeretnék beszélni, különös tekintettel arra, hogy Magyarországon áprilisban új kormány kerül hatalomra. Szlovákiában júniusban lesznek parlamenti választások, amelyeken a "tiszta" magyar MKP mellett egy másik "magyar" párt is indul, a Híd, amely magyar-szlovák összefogással akar bekerülni a parlamentbe. Kérdés, ha ez sikerül nekik, milyen lesz a jöv?ben a kisebbségi politizálás a Kárpát-medencében? Lesz-e esélyük a "tisztán" etnikai pártoknak, vagy a "vegyes" magyar-román, magyar-szlovák, etc. pártoké a jöv?? Milyen lesz Budapest magatartása az ilyen pártokkal szemben?


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Juhász, Katalin

Hungarian Academy of Scieces

„I went on board the ship in Fiume…” The Songs of Hungarian Emigrants and Temporary Workers in America

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Gyula Ortutay and Imre Katona called the songs of travelling tradesmen and crafstmen among the genres of Hungarian folk-poetry wandering songs. There are a few groups of Hungarian folksongs which are closely related to the wandering songs and also connected with different travellers as refugees, exiles, soldiers, highwaymen, outlaws, herdsmen, shipmen, navvies, seasonal workers, etc. Several themes and motifs appear in all groups of these songs.
The „American” songs (songs of Hungarian emigrants and Hungarian returned from America after long stay there) are a characteristic patch of colour in Hungarian folk-poetry. They are production of the great wawes of emigration in the turn of the 19-20 th century. The „American” songs also closely related to above-mentioned groups of songs. There are very limited publications of „American” songs in Hungary. The author will present some collections of these songs keeped in archives. She will examine which typical motifs and topics of wandering songs appear in „American” songs.

„Amerika hegyes-völgyes határa…” AZ AMERIKÁS DALOK A MAGYAR FOLKLÓRBAN
A magyar népdalok legfiatalabb tematikus csoportjai közé tartoznak az ún. amerikás dalok, amelyek az 1880-as évekt?l az els? világháborúig terjed? id?szakban keletkeztek az Amerikába ideiglenesen, vagy véglegesen kivándorlók körében. A nagyrészt paraszti származású emigránsok többsége a bányászatban, illetve a nehéziparban helyezkedett el. A lakóhely- és életmódváltás sokkhatás-szer?en érte a magyar kivándorlókat, akik korábban még a szül?falujuk határát sem lépték túl, s az angol nyelvet sem értették. A csak ideiglenes munkára érkez?k (többségükben férfiak) zsúfolt tömegszállásokon laktak. Idejük nagy részét nehéz és veszélyes munkával töltötték. Körülményeik részben a katonaságra, részben a rabságra, részben a magyar történelemb?l jól ismert bujdosásra, a szül?földt?l történ? kényszer? elszakadásra emlékeztettek. Nem csoda, hogy az általuk énekelt dalok egyrészt a többszázéves katonadalok, rabénekek, bujdosóénekek és panaszdalok közeli rokonai, illetve aktualizált változatai, másrészt a vándorló céhes mesterlegények dalai nyomán, azok kisebb-nagyobb átalakításával születtek.
El?adásomban az amerikai lejegyzett, vagy publikált szövegek, valamint a hazatért amerikásoktól Magyarországon gy?jtött dalok f? tematikus csoportjait mutatom be, illetve konkrét példákon szemléltetem a keletkezés – alkotás és változatképz?dés folyamatát.

Juhász Katalin© és Pál Lajos m?sorában szerepl? amerikás dalok szövegei
SZEGED 2010

Sötét felh?k, sötét felh?k vándorolnak az égen,
Maradásom, maradásom nincs ezen a vidéken,
Az van írva a vándorló felh?kre:
Isten veled, Magyarország örökre.
***
Ha elmegyek, ha elmegyek nagy Németország felé
Visszanézek, visszanézek szép Magyar hazám felé.
Látom a nagy hegyeket, rajta a sok szüzeket
Arccal vannak elborulva, úgy siratnak engemet

Te kismadár, barna holló, tedd meg azt a jót velem:
Édesanyám karjaiba vidd el az én levelem!
Hogyha látod búsulni, gyöngykönnyeket hullatni,
E szavakat mondjad néki, fel fogom ?t keresni.
(Bakonyoszlop, 1952, Deák Jánosné Cseri Anna (75 éves)
***
Magyarországon bajos a legénynek,
Amerikába köll menni szegénynek.
Amerikába terem az angol lány,
Fáj a szívem, ha ölelni akarnám.

Azér nem jó Amerikába lenni,
Éjjel-nappal a vasgyárba dolgozni
Inkább ülnék kisangyalom ölébe,
Kacsingatnék világoskék szemébe.

Nincs édesebb a pápai dinnyénél,
Nincs kedvesebb az els? szeret?mnél.
Göndör haját kétfelé fújja a szél,
Meghalok én az els? szeret?mér.
***

Emerika hegyes völgyes mezeje,
Itt sínyl?dünk sok magyarok ezrede.
Kigyöttünk a hiteget?k szavára,
A családunk árván hagytuk magára.

Munkát kaptam az átkozott Koriba,
Küvet raktunk az átkozott kárékra
Meg-megállunk, mérgel?dünk a plézen,
Mér nem ette a fene azt már régen?

Összenézünk, mint a cigány bandája,
Mint akinek nem jól megy a nótája.
De a bászunk odakiált: hariapp!
Hát a ménk? mire való, ha megcsap?

Kori, Kori elbúcsúzom tetülled,
De sok küvet kiforkútam belülled.
Itt marad a viski, a sör, a bánat,
Téged Kori suflizzon csak a bászat.



Hétf? reggel virradóra
Jön a pitbósz az ajtóra
Keljetek fel, hat az óra:
Eldudált már a bojlerba.

Nincs szebb élet a miénknél,
A bányászi mesterségnél,
Mert mi adót nem fizetünk,
Meddig tetszik, addig fekszünk.

Hétf?n reggel virradóra
Jön a pitbósz az ajtómra:
Föl bányászok, hat az óra,
Eldudált már a bojlerba.

Miszter pitbósz, nem dolgozunk,
Mind egy szálig besztrájkolunk.
Besztrájkolunk, megmutatjuk,
Hogy a szenet nem ládoljuk!

Én palér úr, nem dolgozom,
Inkább a kufferom fogom.
Kufferszíjam a kezembe,
Úgy megyek el más pelézre.

Más plézi bosz van-e dzsobod?
Van-e kökényszem? lányod!
Dzsobom is van, lányom is van,
Hogyha köll, hát viszkim is van.

Minden plézit az én hazám,
Minden miszisz édesanyám,
Mindegyik lány feleségem,
Kivel világomat élem.

Mégis szép élet a miénk,
Az urakkal nem cserélnénk.
Mert mink a h?vösön járunk,
A halállal parolázunk.

De jó is bányásznak lenni,
A halállal incselkedni,
Szénport a tüd?re szívni,
Aztán koporsóba menni.

Így döngetjük életünket,
Míg egykor majdan végünk lesz.
Azt mondjuk a pajtásunknak,
Családommal ne is tudasd.

Hogyha pedig megtudatod,
Írjad, hogy csak beteg vagyok,
Mert ha holt híremet hallják,
Hová lesznek szegény árvák.



***

A bányába keresik az aranyat,
Nem az ágyon, se nem a paplany alatt,
Mer ha(j)azt a paplany alatt keresnék,
Én már többet bányászlegény nem lennék,
Mer a bánya olyan, mint a temet?,
Nincsen abba, csak a fáradt leveg?.

Trejberosok tik is szépen mehettek
Mert dolgozni úgyse nagyon szerettek
Lihajparton van egy h?vös zöld liget,
Sétálhattok a tavaszig ölöget.

Mindennap gyün g?zer?re a hajó,
Húzza eztet két fekete muli ló
F?mutatod a császulló levelet,
Ha lesz pénzed, Ókontriba elmehetsz!
(Bakonybél, 1954. Szelthoffer István, 81 éves)
***
Nevijorki kiköt?be áll egy hadihajó
Közepibe, közepibe nemzeti lobogó
Fújja a szél fújja, hazafelé fújja,
Kilenc éves öreg amerikás megy az Ókontriba
***


Ha bemegyek Nevijorkba az ágentofiszra
Kiváltom a hajójegyem, megyek ókontriba.
Hajójegyem csak egy, ötven dollár lesz az ára,
Ha megunom, visszagyüvök Nord Amerikába (ISM)
***

Ammerikai tenger vize veri a hullámot
Az én kedves kisangyalom szedi a virágot.
Szedjed kedves kisangyalom, szedjed a virágot,
Hogyha tudtad, hogy engem szeretsz, mért adtad a szíved másnok?

Ammerikai kiköt?ben áll egy hadihajó,
Közepibe, négy sarkába nemzeti lobogó.
Közepibe, négy sarkába rezesbanda játszik,
Az én kedves kisangyalom más ölibe játszik.
***


Szombat este megmondom a gazdámnak,
Másik kocsist keressen már magának,
Ingem gatyám bekötöm a batyuba,
Jön a bilét, vár rám nagy Amerika.

Visz a vonat, megérkeztünk Serburba,
Százhúsz magyar van együtt egy csoportba’,
Itt a hajó, indulunk a nagy útra,
Isten veled már örökre Európa.

Fiuméban ültem fel a hajóra,
Visszanéztem széles Magyarországra.
Áldott legyen Magyarország örökre,
A sok magyar boldog lehessen benne.

Mikor kezdtem a tengeren utazni,
Kezdett velem a hajó hánykolódni.
Én meg csak úgy sóhajtoztam magamba
A jó Isten most segítsen át rajta!

Aki meghal, a tengeren leteszik,
A hóttestit a nagy halak megeszik.
A csontjait a hullám hajtogatja,
Odahaza a sok árva siratja.

Amerika nekem nem szül?hazám,
Nincsen benne se víg napom, sem órám
Búval élem, búval töltöm világom
Senki se látja szomorúságom.

Holnapután ülök fel a gályára,
Visszanézek Észak Amerikára.
Átkozott légy Amerika örökre,
De sok magyar boldogtalan lett benne.
***




Házunk el?tt bólingat az akácfa
De vorizva búsan hull a (szegény) virága
Fáj a hártom édesanyám, éjjel-nappal tinkolok a babámra
Fár-avéj a Nyír-Egyházi kaszárnya.

Rájtottam a galambomnak levelet,
Megrájtottam, hogy ne várjon engemet,
Kámbek haza nemsokára, ne várja, hogy én valkoljak utána
Fár-avéj a Nyír-Egyházi kaszárnya.
(Juhász Katalinnak Dodi Gödölley 2009)


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Kádár-Lynn, Katalin

Independent scholar

The Making of a Conservative: Tibor Eckhardt’s Formative Years

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Any Hungarian who experienced World War I, the dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the trauma of the Trianon peace treaty was deeply affected by these seminal events. Hungarian politics during the subsequent inter-war period was dominated by politicians who lived through these turbulent and unsettling times, which had a profound and lasting influence on them as individuals and on their political views.

In Tibor Eckhardt, one of the co-founders of the Smallholders Party and the head of the opposition in Hungarian parliament during the interwar period, we have just such a politician. Born in 1888, he came of age and was educated in Hungary and abroad during the fin de siècle period when the Hungarian economy and culture were in flower under the Dual Monarchy. This paper will explore how his background in a family rooted in the Hungarian gentry and the events of World War I and its immediate aftermath shaped his political views and influenced his actions during the interwar period and throughout his life.



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Kálmán, Gábor

Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA

“There was once”

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“There was once” is a feature-length documentary film in progress. Mrs. Gyöngyi Mago is a high school teacher in Kalocsa, Hungary. While looking for a subject for her dissertation she discovered a forgotten part of local history, the Jewish community that once thrived but is now non-existent in her city.
Engaging her students in her research, Mrs. Mago, who is not Jewish, teaches tolerance and fights prejudice in her classroom. Her quest is set against a background of renewed racial tensions, growing intolerance and the recurrence of neo Nazism in Hungary today. She has managed to persuade the City leadership to commemorate this extinct community on the 65th anniversary of the liquidation of the local ghetto and deportation of the Jews to Auschwitz and other camps. The memorial was attended by a few survivors, many members of the second and third generations, students and current inhabitants of Kalocsa. The Mayor and the Archbishop also participated. In the middle of the service at the newly restored Jewish cemetery a young girl visiting from New York was injured by a missile from a sling shot. At the same time a neo-Nazi demonstration was taking place a few blocks away.



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Kertész Wilkinson, Irén

Independent scholar

The Role of Singing and Dancing in the Creation of Roma Men and Women in two Hungarian Roma groups

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A number of Roma/Gypsy/Sinti and Traveller groups seem to distinguish themselves from the non-Gypsy population through a complex set of moral rules which collectively add up to what they refer to as the "Gypsy way of being,", who enact their specific femininity and masculinity with sensitivity for age and locality. Having the non-Gypsies as a counterexample, the Gypsies focus on creating and performing their present inter-subjectivity, which they perpetually remake and reinterpret in different situations. In this paper, I shall make use of the above ideas, as put forward by Paloma Gay y Blasco (1999), and illustrate how musical expressions are one of the best ways to generate distinct Roma selves, male and female, who see their superiority not so much in a strict adherence to, or passive acceptance and reproduction of, already set moral ideals but in their active creation and performance of always alternating and affecting selves. I shall draw on my research among two different Hungarian Roma groups, the Vlach Gypsies and the Romungro, and refer to my own research/performance experience when appropriate.


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Kiss, Eniko; Vetró, Ágnes and Kovács, Mária

University of Szeged and University of Pittsburgh

The Implementation and Results of a Hungarian-American Research Project on Childhood-Onset Depression

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The authors summarize their experiences about a joint research project supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, USA),which was implemented and carried out in Hungary. Scientific cooperation was started in 1999, aiming to find genetic and psychosocial risk factors of childhood-onset depression. The joint work included American, Canadian and Hungarian scientists. The collected sample included N=723 children with major depressive disorder and their families recruited from 23 clinical sites across Hungary. Examinations included detailed psychiatric history, developmental and life events of the child, self and parent-rated questionnaires. At peak intensity the study involved about 30 professionals (child psychiatrists and psychologists), had 3 centers and 23 research sites. There has not been such a scientific cooperation in Hungarian child psychiatry before. Beside the implementation of the American research standards in Hungary, child psychiatry professionals received training in several important areas (semi-structured interviewing, psychiatric diagnostic evaluation, scientific publication). Three Hungarian researchers received scientific training at Pittsburgh University. Scientific results of the study were published in leading international and Hungarian journals (17 publications in genetic research and 15 in psychosocial aspects of childhood-onset depression, as of today). The above described research project shows how bridges between Hungarians can lead to high quality scientific work and benefit all participants.


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Kissné, Novák Éva

University of Szeged

A People Live Through Their Language - Nyelvében él a nemzet

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A magyar tudományos nyelv kezdeteit Apáczai Cseri János tevékenységében lelhetjük fel. A Magyar Enciklopédia nemcsak a kor tudományos ismereteinek egyfajta summája, de a magyar filozófiai nyelv megteremtése irányába tett els? lépés.
A következ? jelent?s állomást Kibédi Péterfi Károly: Alapfilozófia cím? munkája jelenti, amely 1842-ben jelent meg, és számtalan eredeti fogalmat alkotott.
A magyar filozófia egyik legjelent?sebb alakja, és természetesen a filozófiai nyelv kreatív tovább fejleszt?je Böhm Károly a XIX-XX század fordulóján.
El?adásomban e három kiváló tudós munká ssága alapján szeretném a magyar filozófiai nyelv kialakulását bemutatni.



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Kolláth Anna

Maribori Egyetem, Szlovénia

A magyar nyelv helyzete a szlovéniai Muravidéken

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A magyar nyelv történetében Trianonnal véget ért az a korszak, amikor a magyar nyelvet a magyarországi magyar nyelvvel lehetett azonosítani. Azzal, hogy az „új” határok embereket, közösségeket léptek át, új szakasz kezd?dött a nyelv fejl?désében: a Kárpát-medencében a magyar anyanyelv nyolc országban nyolcféleképpen él, alakul, változik. A magyar nyelv egysége csak úgy tartható fenn, ha tudomásul vesszük, hogy magyarul beszélni többféleképpen is lehet.
A muravidéki kétnyelv? közösség nyelvi helyzetének bemutatásában két szegmensre teszem a hangsúlyt. Els?ként a kétnyelv? közösségek életében a kontaktushatás következményének tekinthet?, természetes folyamatként létez? szókölcsönzésr?l szólok, bemutatva a Termini Kutatóhálózat szóhatártalanítási munkálatait, valamint a muravidéki kölcsönszók gyakorisági vizsgálatának héhány eredményét, a kölcsönszók létezésének tendenciáit. Jól látható a kérd?íves gy?ktés eredményezte korpuszban, hogy – legalábbis a nyelvismeret szintjén – el?hívhatók a közmagyar standard vagy akár szubstandard szinonimák a kétnyelv? beszél? mentális lexikonából. A vizsgálattal nemcsak a kölcsönszavak gyakorisága mérhet?, hanem a beszél?k is gazdagodhatnak általa: szinonimák rögzülhetnek a tudatokban, egyszer?en megtanulhatók olyan szavak vagy szerkezetek, amelyekre a beszél?nek szüksége van, csökkentve ezzel a nyelvcserét el?idéz? nyelvi hiányt. A határtalanítás nyelvalakító tevékenységeiben fokozott figyelmet kell szentelnünk annak, hogy a kölcsönzés tényét a közösség maga is elfogadja, szükségszer? nyelvi ténynek tartsa, hogy feloldódjanak az „így beszélünk, sajnos” kijelentéssel fémjelezhet? görcsök, hogy otthonos legyen az „hazaias”, és ne szégyen.

Az el?adás második felében a kétnyelv? oktatási modell és az anyanyelvi megmaradás összefüggései kerülnek középpontba. A muravidéki egyéni és közösségi kétnyelv?ség arculatát, a közösség nyelveinek jöv?jét, rendszerét ugyanis nagymértékben befolyásolja az oktatási modell. A kétnyelv? terület többletértéke a közös kultúra, amelynek csak a két nyelv együttesen lehet hiteles hordozója. Mivel a kisebbségi kétnyelv? oktatásban a kisebbségi nyelv szinte mindig alacsonyabb presztízs?, ezért veszélyeztetett helyzet?, az oktatásban nagyobb támogatásra van szüksége a kívánt nyelvi egyensúly fenntartásához, az anyanyelvi megmaradáshoz.



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Kovalcsik, Katalin

Hungarian Academy of Scieces

Urban Popular Musical Culture in a Transdanubian Village

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There has always been a connection between the rural and urban musical culture. The verbunkos music of the 19th century, as an amalgam of urban and rural traditions can nowadays be collected from Transdanubian rural bands as pieces of an archaic folk repertory. The urban Hungarian song (magyar nóta) started to spread from popular theatre pieces, later through the elementary school education, and for the first half of the 20th century in several Hungarian villages it has became the dominant part of the song repertory of the peasants. In a village in Tolna country where I do my fieldwork, the generation over sixty years of age lives in the culture of the magyar nótas and to smaller extent in the new style folk songs. This material has an organic connection to the world of the melodious Hungarian hits (slágers). The big shift has been ensued by the rock music’s rising that had started to change the active singing to mere listening of the music since the 1960s. The rural youth went to the towns to study in secondary schools, where they encountered the new and fashionable musical styles. The generation over forty years of age, as teenagers came under the spell of the rock music, because among others they could find valid messages for themselves in the texts of the rock songs. The 1970’s Hungarian rock has been serving them as an etalon and they try to transmit it to their children with the help of music listening, just like their parents did it with the folkloristic songs for them. They accept the interest of the young generation in the contemporary popular music, but they react to them with a similar lack of comprehension like their parents did to the rock music that meant a big change of musical styles. In my paper on the basis of participant observations and interviews I examine in what categories local people think of music, music listening, the music of the different contexts and the harmonic coexistence of the different genres.


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Kraft, Wayne

Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA

The Status of Small Farming and Village Development in Kalotaszentkirály

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
In the Transylvanian villages, state farms and collective farms were disbanded after the fall of Ceausescu. Village lands were returned to their original owners. As recently as 2004, small farming appeared to be viable, but villagers were worried that the rules of the European Union would complicate their lives and be harmful to their prospects. Would Transylvanians, by heavy investment of labor and low investment of other inputs, be able to grow locally, market locally and eat locally?
On the example of Kalotaszentkirály in the Hungarian folk cultural region called Kalotaszeg, the answer appears to be ‘no’. The European Union’s rules for the dairy industry do not allow for the collecting of the milk from individual households at a central point. Nor can the meat from livestock be marketed. Slaughter facilities have closed down. Nor can animals be sold freely from one farmer to another. Small farming has collapsed. In May 2010, I shall visit the village once more to investigate how local people are adjusting to the new economic realities.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
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Laki, Peter

Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

The Art of the Epistle: Sándor Veress to János Demény from the City of Bears

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The composer Sándor Veress, Kodály`s successor as Professor of Composition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, left Hungary in 1949 and settled in Bern, Switzerland, where he was active for the next 40 years as a highly influential teacher and a successful composer. His closest friend in Hungary was musicologist János Demény, who was responsible for collecting and publishing Bartók`s letters. The
correspondence between these two musicians covers many subjects from travels to family matters but it mainly revolves, not surprisingly, around music. The paper will illustrate how Veress sought to communicate the new insights and experiences gained in the West to his friend in Hungary. At the same time, it will pay tribute to letter-writing as a literary genre; Veress and Demény clearly enjoyed practicing this dying art-form.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):





Lévai, Csaba

University of Debrecen

Was Ágoston Haraszthy the "Father of Viticulture in California"? His Activities in Light of the Latest Literature.

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Ágoston Haraszthy played a very important role in Hungarian-American relations in the middle of the 19th century. He published the second travelogue about the United States in Hungary, and his activities in Wisconsin and California contributed to a great extent to the early development of these states. Despite his active role, and despite the fact that several works has been published about his life, some aspects of his career are still unclear and the object of heated scholarly discussion. Haraszthy was a charismatic, flamboyant person who was also the master of self-propaganda. All this and the unclear particularities of his life contributed to the development of some myths and legends regarding his career. Some authors simply accepted some of these myths and mythologies inherited from Haraszthy, his family members or earlier writers, and they did not make real efforts to clarify them. There are several websites for example, on which we can still find as facts false or unproven information (e.g. he was the member or the royal body guard in Hungary, he was the member of the Hungarian Diet and the friend of Lajos Kossuth, he was a count and colonel etc.) about his career and life. But definitely the most influential, popular and widspread legend about Haraszthy is that he was the "founder of viticulture in California", or the "father of California wine industry". No doubt that he largely contributed to the development of vine growing and wine making in California, but according to the latest "revisionist" literature on the topic his role has been exaggerated to a great extent by some former writers. After the strict investigation of archival sources in Hungary and California, such authors as Thomas Pinney, Brian McGinty, and Charles Lewis Sullivan came to the conclusion that
- he was definitely not the first person who started to grow and make wine in California;
- he was not the first person who started to grow vine on a large scale in California;
- his importation of European grape varieties did not play such an important role in the devlopment of Californian wine industry as it was argued by his son and by some former authors;
- he was not the person who first imported the famous zinfandel grape into North America and California.
The aim of the author is not to destroy or to deny the role of Haraszthy as an important pioneer of wine making in California. He simply wants to contribute to the establishment of a balanced view about the career of this very important figure of Hungarian-American relations based on the results of the latest American literature on his activities in California..



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Libor, Zsuzsa

College of Szolnok

Teaching Foreign Students in English in Hungary

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In order to survive the restructuring of the Hungarian higher education system, the College of Szolnok decided to admit to degree programs tuition paying foreign students. The classes for these students are held in English; but are open to the regular students as well. The first groups of foreign students came from China. The popular perception is that foreign language teaching help bring a target culture to learners, but in this case, both the students and the faculty are using English as an intermediary teaching tool. Teaching in English doubly impacts classroom processes because it is a significant factor in how teachers and students perceive learning and how they evaluate each other’s roles and classroom performance. Our experience in Szolnok is similar to what the ESL literature shows, namely, that Chinese students resist pair and group work, and often refuse to answer questions posed in class. Introducing these students to Hungarian life and culture is an additional goal that the college faculty must meet. This paper will discuss the experiences of faculty at Szolnok in teaching college courses in English, at the same time trying to acclimatize these foreign students to Hungarian culture and the customs.


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Lieli, Pál

University of Debrecen

British and American Participation in the Summer School Of Debrecen University Before the Second World War

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
British and American participation in the Summer School between 1927 and 1943 - the last event organized during the war years - seems to have been quantitatively negligible (15 Britons and 19 Americans for the whole period), especially as compared to the figures representing Germans (382) and Italians (561). The reasons for this are obvious and the explanation is to be found in the official line of Hungarian foreign policy of the time. Still, British and American presence "could be sensed in the climate" of the Summer School throughout. Examining the history of the Summer School of Debrecen in general and the British-American presence in particular, the researcher has to: 1/ identify as many persons having visited the Summer School from the UK and the US as possible; 2/ trace the role and weight of the British/American oriented part of the programme of studies; 3/ document how the (management) of the Summer School advertized itself in the English-speaking countries; 4/ present and possibly evaluate any statements - from cursory hints to direct remarks - made on British/American-Hungarian relations by local or national government representatives, university and Summer School officials and foreign visitors.
Three facts are mentioned here to corroborate the foregoing points: 1/ A government official's speech at the closing ceremony in 1937, which speculated what might have occurred in Trianon, had a young American history teacher, a certain Woodrow Wilson turned up at one of the summer courses in Debrecen;
2/ The world-famous British historian C.A. Macartney's talk in English on the nationality problem in Central Europe in the programme of the 1939 Summer School; 3/ The 1942 lecture by professor Sándor Fest, founder and then head of the English Department in Debrecen, on English-Hungarian spiritual contacts.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):





Long, Beth

Independent scholar

From Madéfalva to Bukovina to Saskatchewan: Using Y-DNA Testing, Genealogy Software, and the Internet to Connect Bukovina Székely Families to their Canadian Cousins and their Transylvanian Roots

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
About fifteen years ago, a genealogy project was initiated to document all the inhabitants of the five Székely villages founded in Bukovina in the 1780s under the auspices of the Austrian government. These villages existed for more than 150 years until the inhabitants left in 1941 to be resettled first in Bácska,and ultimately in Tolna and Baranya counties after the end of World War Two.
This data has been entered into a searchable computer database, which now contains the data of more than 93,000 individuals, mainly extracted from the Bukovina church registers. Via the Internet connections have been made between Canadian and American descendants and their Hungarian extended families, which resulted in a 2005 trip by a group of 18 Canadians to visit Bukovina descendants in Tolna County and also to Bukovina itself. In many cases, family contacts were made in Tolna County, and, in addition, research has been done in the Romanian National Archives (Csíkszereda and Sepsiszentgyörgy), but with limited success. In any case, these written records go back only to about 1700, leaving open the question of whether Bukovina families of the same surname are genetically related to each other or not.
Just at that point, some new technology came along to definitively answer this question. Y-DNA testing (that is, testing of male-line DNA) became available to the general public for a reasonable price. Y-DNA does not recombine, but is rather handed down virtually unchanged from father to son over thousands of years, making it very valuable for genealogical testing. In the four years since the DNA project was begun, over 200 samples of Bukovina and Transylvania Székely DNA have been collected, with interesting results which give hints about the ancient origin of the Székely as well as making it possible to know which surname lines have the same ancestor and which do not.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):





Long, Beth

Independent scholar

From Madéfalva to Bukovina to Saskatchewan: Using Y-DNA Testing, Genealogy Software, and the Internet to Connect Bukovina Székely Families to their Canadian Cousins and their Transylvanian Roots

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
About fifteen years ago, a genealogy project was initiated to document all the inhabitants of the five Székely villages founded in Bukovina in the 1780s under the auspices of the Austrian government. These villages existed for more than 150 years until the inhabitants left in 1941 to be resettled first in Bácska,and ultimately in Tolna and Baranya counties after the end of World War Two.
This data has been entered into a searchable computer database, which now contains the data of more than 93,000 individuals, mainly extracted from the Bukovina church registers. Via the Internet connections have been made between Canadian and American descendants and their Hungarian extended families, which resulted in a 2005 trip by a group of 18 Canadians to visit Bukovina descendants in Tolna County and also to Bukovina itself. In many cases, family contacts were made in Tolna County, and, in addition, research has been done in the Romanian National Archives (Csíkszereda and Sepsiszentgyörgy), but with limited success. In any case, these written records go back only to about 1700, leaving open the question of whether Bukovina families of the same surname are genetically related to each other or not.
Just at that point, some new technology came along to definitively answer this question. Y-DNA testing (that is, testing of male-line DNA) became available to the general public for a reasonable price. Y-DNA does not recombine, but is rather handed down virtually unchanged from father to son over thousands of years, making it very valuable for genealogical testing. In the four years since the DNA project was begun, over 200 samples of Bukovina and Transylvania Székely DNA have been collected, with interesting results which give hints about the ancient origin of the Székely as well as making it possible to know which surname lines have the same ancestor and which do not.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
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Ludányi, Andrew

Ohio Northern University

American and Hungarian Perspectives on the Fate of Hungarian Minorities

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Often there is a complete disconnect between American (U.S.) and Hungarian perspectives on the fate of Hungarian minority communities throughout East-Central Europe. What is the reason, or what are the reasons, for this disconnect? At least three will be discussed in this brief analysis. The first is the different historical perspective on how minorities become minorities. The second is the philosophical difference between the concept of group rights and individual rights, while the third relates to the difference between state-nation and multi-ethnic state perspectives of citizenship and nationality rights. Why, in other words, can U.S. social scientists relate to Roma rights but not to Hungarian nationality rights? The answer to this question is not purely academic, but central to such practical concerns as lobbying success in Washington, DC for Human and Minority Rights.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
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Luiten, Anton D.

Independent scholar

The Bridge That Never Was: Székely and Bartók and the First Performance of his Last Quartet

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The lifelong friendship between the violinist Zoltán Székely and Béla Bartók began in the early 1920s when Székely was a student at the Academy of Music in Budapest and Bartok was a piano instructor there. In 1937, Székely joined the Hungarian String Quartet, and it seemed inevitable that the violinist and the composer would collaborate on a quartet together.
Even though the first performance of Bartok’s Fifth String Quartet was given by the Kolisch quartet in Washington (1935), it is the Hungarian String Quartet that have been attributed with the most authentic interpretation, as they had the privilege of rehearsing with the composer himself. In 1939, Bartok finished his last quartet and he had intended for the Hungarian Quartet to première the work. However, due to communication difficulties with Székely, the plan never materialized. It was the Kolisch quartet that once again premièred the work; this time in New York in 1941.
Although the Kolisch Quartet disbanded in the 1940s and a recording of the première does not exist, Bartok worked in America with this quartet prior to performance to ensure authenticity. However, many critics have stated the performance by the Hungarian Quartet most accurately captures the spirit of the work, not due to superior ensemble or technical capabilities, but simply by virtue of their ethnicity. This paper draws on the rehearsal notes taken in collaboration with the composer prior to the Kolisch première and compares them to the recording made in 1961 by the Hungarian Quartet in order to determine whether Bartok’s wishes were fully realized.



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MacDonald, Vashegyi Ágnes

University of British Columbia

The Legacy of Nyugat in Hungarian and World Literature Today

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
My paper examines how the Nyugat review played an essential role in the development of literary and cultural modernism in early twentieth-century Hungary, with special attention paid to three of its writers – Margit Kaffka, Dezs? Kosztolányi and Antal Szerb. Their influence is part of the most important cultural legacies of modernism within and outside Hungary. By telling the story of the Nyugat writers in English I consider my study a call for reworking models of literary and cultural history and for strengthening bridges of Hungarian studies overseas.


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Marsovszky, Magdalena

Independent scholar

Antisemitism in Hungary. How an Ideology Threatens to Become Violent

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Ever since “modern antisemitism” emerged during the nineteenth century, this phenomenon has become a regular fixture in Hungary too. It always intensifies during times of sociopolitical crisis, most strongly in the decades following World War I and the subsequent Paris Peace Treaties, and clearly again since the collapse of real communism. Could troubling structural parallels once again lead to an escalation of violence? This lecture seeks to answer this question. Beginning with a snapshot of the current state of fear in Hungarian society and the overly narrow conception of anti-semitism in Hungary, a second section goes on to describe the emergence and development of ethnic-völkisch thought as the most important mobilizing factor behind exclusionary tendencies. A third section, on the construction of “the Jew”, draws on theory to describe the manifestations of antisemitism in Hungary, and a fourth section corroborates this theory using empirical examples of antisemitic mobilization. How this mobilization has already resulting in violence, and how the widening schism within society, the sacralization of the nation, and the nationalist victim narrative are all exacerbating the spiral of violence, is shown in the final section.


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Márta Nyikos, Kata Nyikos

Indiana University

Left Behind: Formation and Evolution of Heritage Language and Cultural Identity in Isolation

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Growing up Hungarian in another country, with virtually no contact to other Hungarians until adulthood impacts how one’s identity is formed and evolves. This study explores, through interviews, how heritage language speakers views of themselves as Hungarians have evolved during their lifetimes.
Participants were asked to describe their initial and evolving conceptualizations of their ethnicity. They reported that challenges to their original conceptualizations of their own ethnicity came mainly through interactions with native and expatriate Hungarians, educational opportunities, and travel to Hungary. Encounters with unfamiliar social, educational, and political situations, views and institutions were some of the categories that emerged in the interviews. Coping strategies for dealing with feelings of alienation and confusion caused by the clash of expatriate cultural norms and expectations compared with reality will be explored and analyzed.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):





Mathey, Éva

University of Debrecen

Popular Revisionist Expectations Toward the United States in Post-Trianon Hungary

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The dismemberment of the Kingdom of Hungary after the First World War and the subsequent Treaty of Trianon came as a shock for the Hungarians. The treaty, which the Allies dictated and not negotiated with Hungary, was considered unjust and its revision became a number-one concern for interwar Hungarian society, regardless of class and status of individuals.
Mainly defined by a set of traditional images of America as the land of freedom, democracy and fair play and the image of the United States as arbiter mundi, and at the same time based on significant political, historical and ideological tenets (i.e. the question of dismemberment, Wilson and the Fourteen Points, US boundary proposals for Hungary at the Paris Peace conference, American refusal to sign the Treaty of Trianon) Hungarians fed high expectations toward the United States relative to the revision of the Treaty of Trianon.
Beyond semi-official campaigns directed toward the United States, there were many examples of popular (or private) contributions to the revisionist cause. In the abundant Trianon literature one can find many pamphlets, open letters, brochures, newspaper articles and even book-length accounts by members of the Hungarian or the Hungarian-American intelligentsia, with most tenuous connections to Hungarian governmental circles or influential political groups. These popular utterances addressed either the American people in general, or one particular segment of the American public and political life in particular, such as, for example, American educators, the US Congress and its members, or even the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The proposed paper intends to analyze these forms of popular revisionism toward the US and illuminate the desperation of contemporary Hungary to win any and all support for the revision of the Treaty of Trianon.



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Mentsik, Szilvia

Hungarian School, Vienna

Instruction in Hungarian Language and Culture and Language Maintenance in Vienna - A magyar nyelv meg?rzése, magyartanítás, honismereti oktatás Bécsben

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Utak és lehet?ségek a magyar identitás meg?rzésében, a Bécsi Magyar Iskola modellje
A bécsi magyar népcsoport lehet?ségei az anyanyelv gyakorlására, a kultúra meg?rzésére
-egyesületek, szervezetek Bécsben a magyar kultúra szolgálatában
- kisebbségi törvény adta lehet?ségek, hiányosságok
A Bécsi Magyar Iskola, mint modell - út a tudatos ausztriai magyar identitás meg?rzésére
-az iskola rövid története, a bécsi magyarság tükrében
-BMI felépítése, m?ködése, fejl?dése, az iskola ma, projektek
-tanulói létszám ugrás szer? emlekedése, ennek okai
-valódi kétnyelv?ség, tipeg?kt?l a magyar érettségiig
-tapasztalatok, célok
Europa-Büro: EdTWIN projekt - CentroLING
Jöv?kép



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
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Molnár, Erzsébet

University of Miskolc

Samuel Brassai’s Linguistic Work

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Brassai’s most permanent achievement falls in the field of linguistics, which is the area in which he received the most acknowledgement. Modern syntactic literature begins with Brassai’s idea of the central position of the verb. His main work on syntax, in which he gives his detailed views about his theory of the sentence is A magyar mondat (The Hungarian Sentence). He placed the Hungarian sentence at the centre of his investigation, which was something of a novelty at that time, when, in the context of historical comparison and description, the unit of linguistic studies was the word. Brassai was the first to describe the actual structure of the communicative sentence; the first who had the idea that a sentence can be broken into a topic and a comment. He created the first and up to now the only sentence model that was capable of generating and describing endless numbers of Hungarian sentences. Researching the universal features of the sentence he concludes that the Hungarian sentence is not based on the dualism of the subject-predicate.
Brassai made intense studies of the problems of sentence and word order, examined the principles of stress and accent and carefully safeguarded the purity and correctness of the Hungarian language with regard to translations.



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Munteán, László

Pázmány Péter Catholic University

‘Image Architecture’ to Camouflage: Lajos Kassák and György Kepes

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Lajos Kassák’s contribution to the various Avant-Garde movements of the 1920s and ‘30s has received a wide scholarly attention. As a poet, writer, painter, and typographer Kassák’s name has been closely related to movements such as Dada, Constructivism, and the Bauhaus – just to mention a few. In this paper I would like to use Lajos Kassák’s concept of “image architecture” as a vantage point and trace out his influence on György Kepes’s investigations into human perception and, in an indirect way, on his innovations in urban camouflage during World War II.

Unlike Malevich and Tatlin, whose strength-lines, forms, and colors correlate with notions, Kassák used notions as platforms for his image-architecture so that they would serve as visual mappings to his poetic experiments, demonstrated by his his 1925 book entitled Tisztaság Könyve (Book of Cleanliness).

György Kepes participated in Kassák’s workshop (Munka-kör) in the late 1920s which would later inform his earlier carrier in the New Bauhaus in Chicago. World War II was already in full swing when he directed the Camouflage Program between 1941-1942 under the auspices of the National Defense Program. The Camouflage Program, which ensued from the Light and Color Workshop, involved all static and mobile aspects of vision in a holistic method, in line with Bauhaus principles. In 1944, when the first air raids against industrial targets in Budapest took place Kepes’s emblematic book, The Language of Vision was published, which incorporates his findings in the field of perception and camouflage.

Beyond highlighting Kassák’s influence on Kepes’s early work, my goal is to identify interrelations between Kepes’s breakthrough investigation into the dynamics of human perception (architectural space, light, shadow, color) and Kassák’s image architecture (textual space, typography). Through this comparative approach I hope to offer new a new context in which to discuss Kepes’s notions of perception and camouflage



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
László Munteán is a doctoral student in the American Studies Ph.D. program at Eötvös Loránd University, writing his dissertation on 9/11 in literature and the fine arts. Since 2004 he has been assistant professor at the Department of English at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. He teaches 20th Century American Literature and American Civilization, and Visual Culture. He also teaches Hungarian Architectural History to American students. His fields of interests include urban space and memorials, interrelations of text and image, modern and postmodern American literature, as well as architectural history and theory. Email: muntean@btk.ppke.hu




Niessen, James

Rutgers University

Károly Szabó's Union Catalog, "Old Hungarian Library", and the Bibliographic Construction of Greater Hungary

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
As librarian of the Transylvanian Museum Society in Cluj/Kolozsvár for the first thirty years of its existence, Károly Szabó (1824-90) brought together in a pioneer union catalog not only descriptions but holdings for early Hungarian imprints located in multiple repositories. His innovation in library science was inspired by the project to create a Greater Hungary.
Szabó’s job description as librarian placed central emphasis on the cataloging and description of the manuscripts and books entrusted to his care. In assembling the book catalog he determined that an adequate description of the early publications required that he compare them to other copies and unique items in other repositories, and also that Hungarian imprints be defined by place of publication rather than language. Hence the catalog of one library grew into boxes of cards carefully annotated thru visits and correspondence with more than 40 repositories, then eventually into the multivolume work that was completed after his death but was always meant to stimulate additional entries by colleagues around the country.
This paper proposes to investigate the inspiration and significance of Szabó’s "Old Hungarian Library" for librarianship in Hungary and abroad. I am in correspondence with Cluj/Kolozsvár in Romania and hope to consult Szabó’s papers there for the completion of this project.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
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Nikolov, Marianne

University of Pécs

A "Hungarikum" in English Language Education: Findings of a Survey on the Year of Intensive Language Learning

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Proficiency in English is a desired commodity in Hungary, but as many students lack equal opportunities to study it, policy makers decided to offer a year of intensive language learning (YILL) at age 15. I will give an overview of the aims and outcomes of an evaluation project on the YILL launched in 2004/2005 allowing students to study one or two foreign languages in 11-18 weekly hours. YILL students are expected (1) to become motivated and autonomous language learners; and (2) to pass an advanced-level school-leaving proficiency exam. The YILL aims to offer disadvantaged learners an opportunity to achieve proficiency not available at traditional secondary schools.
In the spring of 2009 a representative sample of students, their parents, language teachers and school principals were asked to fill in questionnaires on how they evaluated the first YILL and the successive four-year period. I will analyze all stakeholders’ views based on both quantitative and qualitative data collected from 1,079 learners, 910 parents, 320 language teachers at 267 institutions. The results show that most YILL students are not disadvantaged; the majority studied one foreign language (English or German), but would have liked to learn two or three; English is far more popular (94%) than any other language; 77% of the students took an exam at intermediate level instead of advanced level; and if they entered secondary education now, 51% would not choose YILL again. All stakeholders’ views are a lot more favorable about their intensive year than the four years after it.



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Nyírádi, Kenneth

Library of Congress

Kossuth in Washington: a Closer Look

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Lajos Kossuth came to the United States in December 1851 aiming to enlist the support of the United States government in continuing the struggle against the Habsburg Empire, which had, with the help of Russia, defeated the Hungarians in August 1849. His tumultuous reception in New York City, where hundreds of thousands came out to see him along the procession route, and thousands came to hear him speak at various venues, undoubtedly led him to believe that official support for Hungary was forthcoming. And the scene in New York was repeated—albeit on a smaller scale—in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Washington DC was another story altogether. Although popular literature emphasizes that while in Washington Kossuth received the high honors of meeting the President and receiving an official introduction to Congress (an honor no foreigner had received up to that point, save the Marquis de Lafayette), his stay in the capital turned out to be string of disappointments. The United States government had no intention of abandoning its traditional foreign policy of neutrality and risking a war with Austria and Russia. Kossuth’s opponents in Congress dragged out the debate for over a month over whether to officially greet him, and then how to greet him. At his meeting with President Millard Fillmore, Kossuth was told rather curtly that, personal sympathies notwithstanding, no official aid to Hungary would be forthcoming. Even Kossuth’s much anticipated meeting with Henry Clay, the most revered and influential voice in the Senate, was disappointing as Clay lectured Kossuth on how quixotic it would be for the United States to become involved in a European war. In summary, Kossuth found much sympathy in Washington but no official aid. Consequently, he devoted the remainder of his time in the United States raising money for the cause from private donations.



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Olson, Judith

American Hungarian Folklore Centrum, Passaic, NJ

Acquired History: How Hungarians in America Connect with their Past through Folk Music and Dance

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This study explores two contradictory forces affecting Hungarians in the New World and their interaction with Hungarian folklore and tradition—the first is the natural impulse to maintain ideas brought with them from Hungary; the second, the blending of ideas and practices which occurs within an expatriate group with heterogeneous backgrounds as they build a community-based on maintaining ties with an Hungarian heritage.
Immigration of Hungarians to the US and Canada throughout the last century has occurred in waves, each wave coinciding with different reasons for leaving Hungary and affecting certain economic and social groups. In addition, American Hungarians vary in their distance from true folklore. For some, folklore is an extension of their experience; for others it is a new background, which they embrace as a tie to a homeland, sometimes many generations behind them.
A major event where Hungarians of diverse backgrounds come together, bound by a shared motherland but varying experiences, is Hungarian Day, which takes place the first Saturday in June every year in New Brunswick, New Jersey. This paper will combine interviews and videos from events at Hungarian Day to show how differing ideas as to what people like, the appropriate use of folklore, and even what is Hungarian, are revealed in stage presentations.
I suggest that for many, the ideas represented in their individual presentations form a snapshot of ideas on folklore in Hungary when the group came here. We will also explore the degree to which the event reflects a sort of pan-Hungarian cultural space in which people from varied backgrounds are able to interact.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
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Olson, Judith

AHFC

Acquired History: How Hungarians in America Connect with their Past through Folk Music and Dance

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This study explores two contradictory forces affecting Hungarians in the New World and their interaction with Hungarian folklore and tradition—the first is the natural impulse to maintain ideas brought with them from Hungary. The second, the blending of ideas and practices which occurs within an ex-patriot group with heterogeneous backgrounds as they build a community based on maintaining ties with an Hungarian heritage.
Immigration of Hungarians to the US and Canada throughout the last century has occurred in waves, each wave coinciding with different reasons for leaving Hungary and affecting certain economic and social groups. In addition, American Hungarians vary in their distance from true folklore. For some, folklore is an extension of their experience; for others it is a new background, which they embrace as a tie to a homeland, sometimes many generations behind them.
A major event where Hungarians of diverse backgrounds come together, bound by a shared motherland but varying experiences, is Hungarian Day, which takes place the first Saturday in June every year in New Brunswick, New Jersey. This paper will combine interviews and videos from events at Hungarian Day to show how differing ideas as to what people like, the appropriate use of folklore, and even what is Hungarian, are revealed in stage presentations.
I suggest that for many, the ideas represented in their individual presentations form a snapshot of ideas on folklore in Hungary when the group came here. We will also explore the degree to which the event reflects a sort of pan-Hungarian cultural space in which people from varied backgrounds are able to interact.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
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Orbán, Clara

DePaul University, Chicago

Recent Hungarian Comic Cinema: Bridges to the World, Bridges to the Self

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The last fifty years of Hungarian cinema have seen serious directors shift preoccuptions. Early post-war films such as Somewhere in Europe (1947) emphasized finding a place for those damaged by war. Cinema of the sixties and seventies criticized and at times poked fun at entrenched bureaucracy and totalitarian regimes (films such as The Witness [1968]). Internationally prominent filmmakers such as Béla Tarr allude to the realities of Communist life in metaphorically dense, bleak portraits of stifling families and damned villages. It seems that in these decades, comedy was relegated to light period pieces on the margins of cinematic excellence.
The new millennium of Hungarian cinema has seen a resurgence of comedies, at times tributary of formulaic Hollywood products, but often still with enough depth to criticize established norms. In films such as Chico (2001), I Love Budapest (2001), Miracle in Kracow (2004), The District (2005), Just Sex and Nothing Else (2006), and Train Keeps a Rollin’ (2007), characters are searching for themselves as they desperately try to cement relationships with others. At times they travel to other, mainly ex- or post-Communist countries, encounter eccentric individuals both foreign and homegrown, and assert their desires for self-fulfillment. In recent comedies, it seems that self-exploration begins with building bridges to the Other.
In this presentation, I will look at some themes in recent comedies to explore this new direction in Hungarian cinema.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
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Pennington, Jeffrey

University of California at Berkeley

End of the Line? The Changing Geography of Railways between the Alföld and Carpathians

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This paper traces the history of the railway between Debrecen and K?rösmez? in the Máramaros region of the northeastern Carpathians, demonstrating how such a railway served to link the people and natural resources of northeastern Hungary to the markets of the Alföld and Budapest. Originally constructed between Debrecen and Máramarossziget in the period 1868–1872, the Hungarian Northeastern Railway (Magyar Északkeleti Vasút) made it possible for the salt and timber of Máramaros and the fruit products of Szatmár and the Érmellék to be transported quickly and cheaply to markets in Debrecen and Budapest, and in exchange allowed manufactured and consumer goods to reach the people of northeastern Hungary. Nationalized in 1890 and made part of the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV), the line was extended north to the Hungarian-Austro-Galician frontier at K?rösmez?. Passenger traffic along the route facilitated seamless travel between Budapest and the northeastern Carpathians.
World War I and the resultant dismemberment of Hungary dealt a crippling blow to the unity of this railway line. The paper continues by recounting the fate of the line in the interwar period, now split between three countries; changes brought about by the First and Second Vienna Awards, including reincorporation into the MÁV network; and the post-World War II situation. The paper concludes with an outline of today’s circumstances. In its way, this paper sketches how a railway can build links between Hungarians and how these links can be torn asunder but re-established over time.



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Petrovics, István

University of Szeged

The Cities and Towns of Medieval Hungary as Economic and Cultural Centers and Places of Coexistence

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The independent Hungarian Kingdom (1000 -1526) was a multi-ethnic state. Part of the foreign ethnic groups living in Hungary were “native” inhabitants of the Carpathian Basin, that gave a geographical frame to this medieval state, while others arrived together with the conquering, mostly Finno-Ugrian Hungarians in the late ninth century. The most important component of foreign ethnic groups, however, arrived after the foundation of the state. The population density of the realm was low in the Middle Ages, and frequently the storms of history (e.g. the Mongol invasion), decimated the inhabitants of the country. Therefore the Hungarian kings invited foreign settlers to their realm in large numbers and provided them with numerous privileges. Before 1241/2 immigrants came to Hungary both from the Eastern (e.g. Jews, Ismaelithes, Patzinaks, Cumans) and the Western part of Europe (Walloons, Italians, Germans), but after the withdrawal of the Mongols only the influx of the Germans remained important. The overwhelming majority of the German hospites (guests) became urban burghers and played a decisive role in the process of medieval Hungarian urban development. The wealthiest towns of the realm were populated predominantly by Germans who were called in Transylvania and in the north-eastern part of the country, in the Spiš (Zips) region Saxons. The paper focuses first on the general features of medieval Hungarian urban development, then discusses the development of individual towns: Szeged, Pécs, Temesvár. The case of Pécs is particularly interesting, since it has a famous Roman heritage and it was one of the earliest and wealthiest of the episcopal seats of Hungary, and it is the European capital of culture in 2010.


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Pigniczky, Réka

Independent filmmaker: 56films.com

Documentary film: Incubator

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This documentary film is about growing up in an exile community in the West, developing a double-identity, and becoming a hyphenated-somebody. It's about learning to have two homelands at the same time - one in real life, and the other imagined and maintained by parents who were forced to flee. It is about a first generation of children whose parents lived abroad longer than they originally expected to, and who never really assimilated. Neither here nor there, the children of this generation find themselves, adults, trying to decide where they belong, what their nationality is, where their allegiance lies.

The story is told through an unlikely, albeit dramatic reunion - one which involves a Hungarian rock opera performed in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California by a cast of 40-something Hungarian-Americans. They meet in the same exact spot they performed Stephen, the king 25 years ago, as
Hungarian scouts during summer camp in 1984. That summer the Soviets still had tanks stationed in Hungary, and the country was isolated behind the Iron Curtain. Many of these scouts had never been to Hungary, where their parents were born.

The reunion of this original cast, now living all over the world including Budapest, makes for an emotional and hilarious portrait of one of many 'incubators' operating in the U.S. over the years. They're meeting, not only to reminisce, but also to figure out just who they've become, twenty years after the 'Motherland' was liberated.



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Prohászka Rád, Boróka

Sapientia University, Csikszereda

The Pitfalls of Translation—Gábor Vincze’s A Historical Chronology of the Hungarian Minority in Romania 1944-1989 (2009)

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
My presentation serves a double purpose. Firstly, I would like to present a volume that truly meets a long-felt need, providing data to both Hungarians from Transylvania and to those from the mother-country and other parts of the world about the decades of communism in Romania and the Hungarian minority’s destiny and the atrocities committed against them in this era of horrors. As a Hungarian from Transylvania—living and working there—Vincze’s volume represents for me a veritable and reliable source of information and knowledge that allows me a clearer view through a deeper understanding of our past, our present condition and future aspirations. At the same time, I firmly believe that this chronological history offers a comprehensive perspective to all Hungarians upon the fate of those of us who—by a “whim” of history—were separated from the mother-country; it contributes to getting to know each other better, and thus fosters understanding and builds bridges.
Secondly, I would also like to talk about the pitfalls that lurk in the attempt of transposing such a historical work into another language. I had the honor and the opportunity to translate Vincze’s Chronology into English, a process that often proved to be a struggle but was always edifying and intellectually highly engaging. I also argue that it constituted the building of a further symbolical bridge: during my travels I have often encountered people who seemed baffled by my emphasizing the fact that I am a Hungarian who comes from Romania. I even met indignation when I refused to identify myself by my citizenship. I do hope that this book will contribute to building those bridges of understanding and acceptance.



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Quick, Julia

South Carolina State University

The Pedagogy of Imre Waldbauer, First Violinist of the Hungarian String Quartet

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Imre Waldbauer was a distinguished violinist-musician-teacher. He was born in Hungary in 1892 and lived and taught there until 1945, when he came to the United States. From that time he taught at the School of Music at the University of Iowa until his death in 1952. Waldbauer attained his greatest stature as a performer in his position as first violinist with the internationally famous Waldbauer-Kerpely String Quartet which existed from 1910 to 1945. He was closely associated with such composers as Bartok. Kodaly and Dohnanyi and premiered their works at a time when their music was generally treated with indifference and hostility.
The main thrust of this presentation will be about Waldbauer’s teaching of violin, viola and chamber music based on my 1977 dissertation for the Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. In order to obtain information about his teaching, I made inquiries of his former students and colleagues from both Hungary and North America. The main instrument of inquiry was a detailed questionnaire which I devised. Altogether, forty persons out of the sixty-two contacted responded to these questions.
Details of his teaching include descriptions of his analytical manner of teaching, his attitude toward teaching children, his interest in and philosophy of the so-called “vocal method,” and his major influence upon his students. Probably the most distinctive feature was his emphasis on the physiological aspects of playing the violin, including right and left hand techniques on muscle functions and tone production.



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Rab, Virág and Tóth, Imre

University of Pécs

Central Europe’s Future as Planned by Kálmán Kánya

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
As a result of the peace treaties that followed WWI, Interwar Europe and Central Europe can be characterized by political isolation and confrontation. Apart from this, however, the need for regional and international cooperation was also detectable regarding economics. This cooperation was observable both within informal and formal frameworks.
The study aims at presenting the Hungarian proposals for Central European cooperation between the two world wars. It also targets to contextualize relevant ideas of Kálmán Kánya, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Kánya-folder has recently appeared from a Berlin archive through the Hungarian historian, Imre Tóth, and it content has not been made publicly available yet.



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Rácz, Barnabás

Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI

Twenty Years After: Shifting Regional Voting Patterns In Hungary 1990-2010

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Similar to most parliamentary democracies Hungary shows significant differences in regional voting preferences. There emerged a traditional voting pattern between 1990 and 2008, when a tectonic change occurred. The south-west/north-east axis reflected primarily the conservative forces south of the axis while the left parties dominated the areas mostly north of the divide. The analysis suggests that the old electoral map became largely overshadowed on the 2008 referenda and 2009 EP election but still survived as a subterranean phenomenon playing some role on the 2010 elections. The outcome of this landmark shift may open up the spectre of substantive changes in the political/constitutional system and may also trigger sensitive reactions in the larger East European area.


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Rácz, Barnabás

Eastern Michigan University

Twenty Years After: Shifting Regional Voting Patterns In Hungary 1990-2010

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Similar to most parliamentary democracies Hungary shows significant differences in regional voting preferences. There emerged a traditional voting pattern between 1990 and 2008 when a tectonic change occurred. The south-west/north-east axis reflected primarily the conservative forces south of the axis while the left parties dominated the areas mostly north of the divide. The analysis suggests that the old electoral map became largely overshadowed on the 2008 referenda and 2009 EP election but still survived as a subterranean phenomenon playing some role on the 2010 elections too. The outcome of this landmark shift may open up the spectre of substantive changes in the political/constitutional system and may also trigger sensitive reactions in the larger East European area.


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Strausz, Péter

ELTE, Budapest

Prime Minister Pál Teleki's Plans for the Reform of the Hungarian Economic and Social Order

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Teleki’s predecessors (Gömbös, Imrédy) wanted to create a corporate social and economical system such as that which existed in Italy. Teleki (influenced by the idea of 'professional orders/estates' mentioned in encyclical letter of the Pope Pius XI), however, intended to oppose the Arrow Cross and wanted to create a society and economic system inspired by the Roman Catholic Church. The plans were prepared (I found them) but the war prevented them from being realized.


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Szabó, Lilla

Hungarian National Gallery

József Domján and Other Hungarian Graphic Artists in America

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Domján József fest? és grafikusm?vész és az Amerikában élt/alkotó magyar képz?m?vészekr?l

Domján József fest? és grafikus bizonyos értelemben elismertebb és ismertebb m?vész az Egyesült Államokban, mint Magyarországon. Annak ellenére, hogy egész életében ? is és felesége Evelyn is fontosnak tartották a kapcsolattartást hazájukkal, kevesek ismerték ?t. Rendszeresen küldték haza metszet-sorozataikat, tudva tudván, hogyha nem is rendeznek m?veib?l kiállításokat, olyan intézménynek, mint a Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, ?riznie kell munkáit. Kitartó szerelmesként küldték Amerikából az aktuális kiállítás meghívókat, újságcikkeket, saját kiadványokat, visszaemlékezéseket. Teljes életm? és adattári dokumentummal rendelkezik így a Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, illetve a sárospataki gy?jtemény.

Sorsa és életm?ve egyben szimbolizálja is a tengeren túlon, valamint a világ más tájain él? magyar képz?m?vészek életútját és hazai megítélését. Sajnos állíthatjuk, hogy amíg az ún. rendszerváltástól eltelt húsz év alatt az irodalomban „egységes” magyar irodalomról beszélhetünk, ez nem a folyamat történt meg a képz?m?vészet területén. Állampolgárságtól, és élettért?l, országtól függetlenül a kortárs irodalmunk részesei mindazok az írók, költ?k, irodalomtörténészek, teoretikusok, akik jelent?set alkotnak, akik ismerete nélkül szegényebb lenne irodalmunk és kultúránk. Akár hazai, akár nemzetközi viszonylatban – és akár az elmúlt évtizedekben született, akár jelen m?vek tekintetében. Akár a Magyarországgal szomszédos országokban– akár távolabb élt/él? alkotók tekintetében. Érezzük és olvassuk ezt a sajátos párbeszédet – ami az irodalom „építkezését” is jelenti egyben. Reflektálását a mindenkori korra; m?vészeti, kulturális, társadalmi és ideológia értelemben egyaránt. Valamint egymásra, a különböz? égtájakon és korokban élt/él? írók stílusbeli és eszmei, gondolati rendszerére.

A 20. századi magyar képz?m?vészetben életm?vek és egész korszakok „lebegnek”. Hatalmas ?r tátong az ismeretek hiánya miatt. Nem szervesülnek egymáshoz és egymásba a környez? országokban (Felvidéken, Erdélyben, a Vajdaságban, Kárpátalján) született m?vek – és ugyanígy jobbára ismeretlen az USA-ban, Nyugat-Európában és másutt keletkezett alkotások sokasága.
Domján József életm?ve kapcsán az Amerikában élt, alkotó grafikusokról és képz?m?vészekr?l,
valamint a fentebb vázolt problémák okairól és mibenlétér?l szeretnék b?vebben beszélni el?adásomban. Arról, hogy a Magyar Nemzeti Galéria munkatársaként milyen rálátásom van az általános helyzetképre és milyen fontos megoldási pontokra, tényez?kre kellene figyelnünk a 20. századi magyar képz?m?vészet egységes feldolgozása és értékelése érdekében. Annak sürget? szükségér?l, hogy ismeretlen értékeink valódi értékeinkké, a magyar és az egyetemes kultúra közkincseivé váljanak.



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Szabó, Zoltán

MOET Institute, San Francisco

MOET Institute’s Role in the Evolution of Magnified Surgery Education in Hungary

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Magnified surgery, specifically microsurgery and endoscopic surgery, is an inclusive term the author uses to describe these surgical modalities. His role in the evolution of skill training and research in these fields dates back to 1972 in San Francisco, CA, USA where he was first involved with the nascent field of reconstructive microsurgery. It was a multidisciplinary approach that involved a vast array of surgical specialists; shortly afterwards the author work expanded and he was part of a leading group of researchers in developing techniques for microsurgery in fertility surgeries. In 1990, he focused his attention on the application of microsurgical techniques to laparoscopy. It began with laparoscopic gynecology, general surgery, urology, pediatric (fetal surgery), cardiovascular (including robotics), and other specialties. Today, the author continues to expand his research and educational endeavors with colleagues in new areas.

In 1983, the author organized a series of one-week intensive, Hands-On Microsurgery Workshops in Hungary that were conducted over a month-long period with invited faculty from the US. These programs were initiated following the visits of Prof. I. Gal and Prof. L. Lampe to the author in San Francisco, when they each issued an invitation to the author. Four consecutive microsurgical workshops in were held in Budapest (at OTKI, arranged by Prof. J. Kiss) and Debrecen (by Prof. Lampe). This workshop series expanded to Szeged at the invitation of Prof. J. Herczeg.

With the advent of the author’s involvement in laparoscopic surgery in 1990 in the USA, the first series of Advanced Laparoscopic Skills Workshops were organized in Hungary 1993 and conducted in Pecs, Debrecen, Szeged. Subsequently several workshops were held annually for several years until the author accepted an invitation from the University Szeged Medical School Surgical Research Institute lead by Prof. Mihaly Boros as a Visiting Professor to train the in-house residents and interested practitioners in 2003. This included his co-editing a published course syllabus in 2006, supported by a HEFOP grant. Initially the Laparoscopic facility was equipped by the MOET Institute. The concept of Magnified Surgery Skills Training was introduced and nationally accepted. This included one week each Micro and Laparoscopy preceded by one week of general surgery. Currently resident skills training programs are held for 30-60 residents each year by the author in collaboration with the MOET institute.



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Szentgyörgyi, Szilárd

University of Pannonia, Veszprém

New Cooperation between Nazareth College, Rochester, N.Y. and the University of Pannonia, Veszprém, Hungary: A Degree in American Studies

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In 2009, Nazareth College in Rochester and the University of Pannonia in Veszprém decided to start up a new joint master’s program in American studies. The two institutions have worked out all the details of the joint program, which is currently in the process of being accredited.
The Master of Arts degree in American Studies is designed to facilitate the academic and professional development of individuals who have studied some aspect of American history, language or culture as undergraduates, and to provide interdisciplinary study and preparation for those who wish to gain entry into broadly conceived applied fields such as education, government or international service. Students receive the preparation needed to be active and informed members of their academic and professional communities, and to have a keen awareness of issues and trends in the US and of global factors in culture and politics. Emphasis is placed on the role of globalization and the need for cultural competencies.
This interdisciplinary M.A. in American Studies will appeal to students with diverse academic interests and career goals. Some may be seeking New York State professional certification. Some students may be preparing to pursue a doctorate in American Studies or in English Language and Literature, American history, American philosophy, Sociology, or International Studies. The international component in Eastern Europe may be particularly attractive to students pursuing careers in diplomacy or in service to international NGOs. The attraction for international students is a degree from an American institution with an excellent curriculum in American Studies and an opportunity to conduct original research in the United States in the upstate New York region, which is rich in archival and cultural resources.
The joint American Studies master’s program is expected to attract a lot of attention. Even though programs in the humanities are normally not considered to be among the most popular ones, an American Studies program, especially a joint one by Nazareth College and the University of Pannonia seems to be an exception as it offers several kinds of advantage for several kinds of potential students: members of the Hungarian communities in any country may find it an excellent opportunity for their children to earn a valuable degree and to learn about their Hungarian roots – a way to learn the language and familiarize themselves with the culture – a unique experience, which would be difficult to do without traveling to Hungary. As a result of this, part of the recruitment will concentrate on Hungarians outside their mother country – this includes a few hundred thousand up to possibly a few million people – via their links to Hungarian minority organizations.
The conference offers a great chance to present this bridge under construction, which will not only bring together Hungarians with Hungarians on the other side of the Atlantic, but with Americans and other nationalities to offer them a unique (multi)cultural experience.



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Szoták Szilvia

Pécsi Tudományegyetem

Kétnyelv?ség Burgenland iskoláiban

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A kelet-közép-európai régióban történt változások és az EU-keleti b?vítésének következtében a kisebbségi nyelvek egyre nagyobb hangsúlyt kaptak a környez? országokban, így Ausztriában is. A többnyelv?ség, a kulturális sokszín?ség, a kétnyelv? oktatás kulcsfogalommá váltak az osztrák nyelvpolitikában. A kétnyelv?ség olyan el?nyként fogalmazódik meg politikai és társadalmi kommunikációban, amelynek számos gazdasági és kulturális haszna is van.

Burgenlandban a két-, és háromnyelv?ségnek több évszázados hagyománya van. A tartomány etnikai sokszín?ségéb?l fakadóan az itt használatos kisebbségi nyelvek a történelem, kultúra és identitás részét képezik. A 90-es évekt?l kezd?d?en sok pozitív változás következett be a kétnyelv? oktatás és pedagógusképzés területén az óvodától egészen a középiskoláig. A regionális és kisebbségi nyelvek meg?rzésének és használatának ösztönzése emelte a kisebbségi nyelv? oktatásban részvev?k számát. Az el?adás a burgenlandi kétnyelv? oktatás helyzetét és struktúráját abból a szempontból vizsgálja, hogy mennyire járul hozzá a magyar nyelv megtartásához.



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Várdy, Huszár Ágnes

Duquesne University

Hungarian-American Literature in the Age of Dualism and the Interwar Years

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
During the four decades before World War I nearly two million Hungarian citizens, among them about 650,000 Magyars, emigrated to the United States. They were part of the so-called “great economic immigration” whose members left their homeland in search of a more promising future. Although often mistreated and exploited at home, upon arrival they soon developed a keen longing for their homeland. This longing became one of the main features of their cultural activities and of their literature. The other dominant feature of that literature was the description of the harshness of life in the coal mines, steel plants, and smoke-belching factories of America, including the frequent industrial accidents that resulted in the death of hundreds of immigrants every year.
This Hungarian-American poetry was not a high quality literature, but it was close to the immigrants. It expressed in a simple way their pains and sufferings, as well as their hopes for a better future. Most of these poets -- whose life was equally harsh -- continued to write even in the period between the two world wars. But after the First World War their original themes were joined by the pain they felt at Hungary’s dismemberment and of the transfer of their immediate homelands and villages to the newly created “successor states” created by the Treaty of Trianon. This poetry of interwar years is filled with the bemoaning of this dismemberment, which they viewed as a national tragedy on par with the consequences of the Battle of Mohács in 1526.



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Várdy, Steven Béla

Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA

The Changing Relations between Hungarian-Americans and the Mother Country since the Late 19th Century

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
This paper will discuss how the relations between Hungary and Hungarian Americans changed, depending on the makeup of the political regime in Hungary, as well as of the political orientation of the specific groups of Hungarian Americans.
The lowest point of this relationship was during the period of Soviet Occupation and communist rule, when the huge majority of the emigrés wanted to have nothing to do with Hungary. They campaigned actively for the overthrow of the communist system, and also condemned any of their fellow
Hungarian-Americans who established any kind of contact with Hungary and with the Hungarian regime.



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Varga, Adriana

Indiana University, Bloomington

Dezs? Kosztolányi And/In Translation

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Dezs? Kosztolányi was one of the most avid and versatile Hungarian translators of the twentieth century. At the same time, translation offers a unique way of gaining insight into Kosztolányi’s own works, particularly into his last cycles of short stories, Esti Kornél (1933) and Esti Kornél Kalandjai (1936). Looking at these stories through the prism of translation reveals that Kosztolányi’s prose is very much like poetry. In it, linguistic form is at least as important as semantic content, if not more. Here, the recognition of formal patterns leads to semantic discoveries. Language has become the protagonist that manipulates the other characters. Translation points most straightforwardly to this fact because it is in translation that the loss, and, therefore, the presence of the original’s linguistic form are most acutely felt.In my presentation I discuss Kosztolányi’s approaches to translation as well as what questions raised in the process of translation reveal about his own fiction.


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Varga, Zsuzsa

University of Glasgow

New Women for Old: Margit Kaffka and the Tradition of the New Woman

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
My proposed paper sets out to examine the representation of the New Woman in Margit Kaffka's fiction. M uch of earlier examination of Kaffka's novels focused on their embeddedness in history, and the decay of the Hungarian gentry, but Kaffka's heroines deserve an equal amount of attention from the perspective of women's emancipation. The heroines of Colours and Years and Maria évei explore the new questions of women's professionalism, access of the public sphere, and they also analyze the position of women in the domestic sphere.


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Venkovits, Balázs

University of Debrecen

Recollections and Photographs of a Journey in the Americas: Travels of Pál Rosti between 1856 and 1859

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Travelogues written by Hungarian travelers during the nineteenth century represented a major source of information for Hungarians interested in the culture, history or social traditions of countries in both North and South America. Pál Rosti was one of the most significant travelers of his time, who can be considered outstanding not only because of his writings, but also as a result of his achievements regarding the use of the new invention of the era, photography.
In this presentation I am planning to introduce Rosti’s journeys in the United States, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba through the discussion of his travel book and various articles published in Hungarian newspapers. The presentation, however, will focus on Rosti’s photographs that appeared in a special album after his return to Europe, as well as in his travel book, as the basis of the illustrations. The presentation will try to answer several questions regarding his photographs: What was Rosti’s purpose with using photography during his travels? Did he simply want to provide illustrations for his book? Or did he intend to present a more objective (scientific) view of the countries visited? How were the photos turned into actual illustrations? Did they all belong to Rosti or were some of them taken from other works? While answering these questions we will get a clearer picture of the unique achievements of an outstanding Hungarian and we can also identify the changes in travel writing brought about by the appearance of photography.



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Zerkowitz, Judit

ELTE, Budapest

Translating the spirit of the text: Nádas's Fire and Knowledge and Örkény's in Memoriam Dr KHG

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Péter Nádas in his short story entitled Fire and Knowledge relates that according to Hungarian media the four corners of the country have been ignited and the fire is spreading fast towards the capital. People „translate” the news as something is afoot, but certainly not as what they are told is the truth, and
as a result they do nothing. This phenomenon could be termed, modeled on Kundera's diagnosis of the Kafkan, as suspension of belief. If disbelief can cause communication breakdown between speakers of the same language it can cause even more problems in translations from one language to another. This talk
will present some translations that reflect the problem of staying too close or straying too far from the letter of the source text, due to a misunderstanding or due to the above willing suspension of belief in the spirit of the text. In everyday life such mistranslations are eventually clarified, as in Kertész’s recent interviews on his 80th birthday, but in literature consensual interpretation is hard to reach. Two English language translations of István Örkény’s In Memoriam Dr KHG will be analyzed and compared to illustrate how, once the spirit of the text is captured, stylistic differences can create delightful and in no way unacceptable versions.



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Zsiros, Sándor

University of Miskolc

Additional Data About the Crimes of Communism - Adalékok a kommunizmus b?neihez (Alcim: A Miskolc környéki civilek szovjet fogságba hurcolása)

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One of the consequences of the Soviet domination after World War II. was the reappearance of the institution of slavery. It came in the form of the Soviet forced labor camps, to which hundreds of thousands of Hungarians were deported. A unique form of this modern-day slavery was the malenky robot [“little work”], under the guise of which tens of thousands of Hungarian civilians were collected and then dispersed in various Soviet slave labor camps. The Soviet conquerors and their unscrupulous Hungarian collaborators were not very selective. They took everyone who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. They deported young and old, irrespective of gender. They even collected and sent to the Gulag fifteen- to sixteen-year old girls, as well as expectant mothers. It is nearly impossible to describe the misery and exploitation that awaited these unfortunate Hungarians in the slave labor camps of the Soviet Gulag. If they were lucky enough to survive and return home, their misery and exploitation did not cease. Communist Hungarian authorities, who were anxious to please their Soviet masters, continued to view these repatriates as war criminals and treated them accordingly. Most of them died in poverty, misery, and much before their time. The Soviet Gulag consumed the lives of millions for many decades, and reached Hungary in the winter of 1944-1945.


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Zsoldos Ferenc

University of Szeged

A magyar nyelv és kultúra védelme a Délvidéken

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Kitekintést tennék els?sorban az 1990 utáni helyzetre e két tárgykörben (rövid összefoglalással az 1918 utáni id?szakkal együtt). Ismertetném e két tárgykörben mozgó civil szervezeteket, nagyobb rendezvényeket, illetve a végén a Vajdasági Magyar M?vel?dési Intézetnek és a Magyar Nemzeti Tanácsnak a tevékenységét.


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