Abstracts of Submitted Papers 2014

A Raptor Head in the Ear (and Tail) of a Stag: Re-assessment of Heraldic Steppe Imagery from Budapest to Beijing – a Century Later

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Recovery of Iron Age animal plaques in the early decades of the twentieth century that featured profiled images of the heraldic stag from two peripheral regions of the Eurasian steppe—namely Hungary’s Carpathian Basin and China’s Northern Zone—stirred academic interest before succumbing to Cold War neglect. A review of Hungary’s Scythian-styled Zöldhalompuszta and Tápioszentmárton gold plaques is prompted by publication of newly excavated bronze plaques from China’s northeast that like the Zöldhalompuszta piece combine two key diagnostic motifs of migratory steppe culture. The uncanny symmetry of a raptor’s head tucked in the ear of the Carpathian stag and the tail of the Chinese stags mandates recognition of the kaleidoscopic utility of select steppe imagery from the Danube to the Amur Rivers. This paper reviews cultural biases that, along with the reality of disturbed sites and mixed burials, stymied archeological assessment at both ends of the steppe. With the new data, it offers methodological insight to infuse Hungary’s migratory legacy with relevance for the twenty-first century.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Mrea Csorba received all three academic degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. She has been teaching art history at the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University as adjunct Assistant Professor since the early 90’s.
Her MA thesis (1987) investigated horse-reliant cultures associated with Scythian steppe culture. The Ph.D. (1997) expanded research of pastoral groups to non-Chinese dynastic populations documented in northern China. Dr. Csorba's current research continues the theme documenting diagnostic artifacts of Scythian culture in the peripheral reaches of the Eurasian steppes. She first presented on the stag plaques of Hungary at an International Conference on China’s Periphery and Beyond held at the University of Pittsburgh, May 2011. Subsequently she presented the Hungarian material with parallel material that had recently been reassessed to northeast China, along with newly excavated artifacts, at the International Symposium hosted by the 1st Emperor’s Institute of Archeology in Xian, China, Aug. 2013.

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Even Pictures Don’t Tell: Constructing a Sense of History in Stories of the Past

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
In this paper I discuss the power of history as narrated in personal stories about family members’ participation in major events of Hungarian and world history. Interview-based narratives are analyzed from the perspective of the storytellers’ sense of history. 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. Relating to personal stories, a sense of history is defined as the knowledge of multiple series of events in the past that the individual applies to create interpretive frames of the surrounding world. Thus, the past and the present are linked in the narrative, which often breaks the traditions of linearity and disrupts the unity of textual truth and textual purpose. I approach the stories from narrative and discourse analytical perspectives.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Monika Fodor works as assistant professor at the Department of English Literatures and Cultures at the University of Pécs. Her research interest includes narratives, identity, ethnicity, oral histories, ethnographic fieldwork and the applications of these fields in teaching English as a foreign language. Currently she is working on exploring uncertainty and the chaos/complexity perspective in the context of assimilation and narrative identity construction. Her most recent publication is a co-edited volume (Arapoglou, Fodor, Nyman eds.)titled Mobile Narratives. Travel, Migration and Transculturation published by Routledge, New York.

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A Return to the East: Right-Wing Geographies of Nation and Self in ‘EU’ Hungary.

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This paper explores the cultural politics of space and place in contemporary Hungary, focusing in particular on symbolic geographies of nation and self that have emerged in the last decade amongst groups and political organizations on the right. Exploring the popular resurgence of eastern-oriented narratives and imagery since Hungary’s ascension to the EU in 2004, the paper gives careful consideration to the geographical foundations of a broad-based movement that has much in common with fin-de-siècle Turanism and cults of Árpád, and also with the populist, territorial revisionist movements of the interwar period. Central to this study is a critical examination of the geo-political “fantasies” of the Baranta Szövetség, a Christian-nationalist organization of predominantly young men and women (and their families) whose critique of the present and vision for the future is rooted in a fundamental reconceptualization not only of national “space” itself, but also of Hungary’s historical and geographical “place” within Eurasia more generally.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Steven Jobbitt is an assistant professor of modern European history at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He is technical editor of the AHEA e-journal, and guest editor for the upcoming 2014 cluster "Space, Place, and the Making of Modern Hungary."

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Remembering Raoul Wallenberg: A Theatre Play Tribute in Reading and Music

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The story of Raoul Wallenberg is an account of impassioned devotion to a community threatened with destruction. Living in a neutral country, driven only by his conscience, he took upon himself one of the most extraordinary individual humanitarian tasks of all time.
Remembering Raoul Wallenberg is a chamber theater performance. Wallenberg’s inspiring story is told through the music of the cello and violin, interspersed with readings from poetry, eyewitness accounts, media reports, literary works and narrative.
Today’s session will begin with background information on creating and researching the script, the importance of testimony and eye-witness reports, and continues with readings from the testimony of two women who were rescued by Wallenberg.
Pamela recently performed the testimony of Miriam Herzog, rescued by Wallenberg, at a memorial service for Vera Parnes in Montreal. This reading, accompanied by violin concludes the session.
Remembering Raoul Wallenberg has been performed at the International Finnish Festival, Tenth Anniversary of Wallenberg, Holocaust Remembrance programs in Pensacola, Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach; Florida Atlantic University; and for a community-wide 9/11 memorial for the city of West Palm Beach, FL. Discussion and excerpts have been presented in a diversity of forums and conferences in Vienna, Cracow, London, Jerusalem and various venues in the United States.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Pamela holds an MFA degree in theatre. A member of Actors Equity Association, she has served on the faculty of Nova University, Broward State College and Palm Beach State College. Her graduate work included an internship at the prestigious Herbert Berghof Studio in New York City. She was Founder and Artistic Director for the Actor’s Conservatory Theater, directing plays by Harold Pinter, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee and John Guare. After Holocaust studies at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Pamela began weaving together diaries, letters, documents and eyewitness reports to create unique performance pieces with Holocaust themes.

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1944-2014: Hungarian Women's Fragmented Memories and Memoirs & Holocaust Cookbooks

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
In this paper I explore the Hungarian Holocaust through women’s fragmentary narrative testimonies, which can provide invaluable resources for understanding the experiences of the victims of war that personalize the events and at the same time serve to help write the obscure into history. I will first discuss several Hungarian diaries, among others, that of Eva Heyman who began writing her diary in 1944 on her thirteenth birthday and wrote until two days before her deportation, where she perished. Unlike diaries written in many other parts of Europe, in which the escalation of repression against the Jews unfolded over a period of years, Eva’s diary vividly reflects the sudden and swift attack on the Jews of Hungary.
In the second part of my paper I will discuss two recently published volumes, the Szakácskönyv a túlélélésről, the collected recipes that five Hungarian women wrote in a concentration camp, and the anthology Lányok és anyák. Elmeséletlen történetek where thirty five women write Holocaust narratives in which their mothers’ lives become the intersubject in their autobiographies, underscoring the deadly risks of intergenerational transmission, where memory can be transmitted (or silenced) to be repeated and reenacted, rather than to be worked through.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Louise O. Vasvári (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley) is Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature and Linguistics at Stony Brook University and presently teaches in the Linguistics Department at New York University. She works in medieval studies, historical and socio-linguistics, translation theory, Holocaust Studies, and Hungarian Studies, all informed by gender theory within a broader framework of comparative cultural studies. Related to Hungarian Studies she has published with Steven Tötösy, Imre Kertész and Holocaust Literature (2005), Comparative Central European Holocaust Studies (2009), a special issue of CLCWeb (2009), as well as Comparative Hungarian Cultural Studies (2011), all in Purdue UP. In the 2010 issue of this journal she published “A töredékes (kulturális) test írása Polcz Alaine Asszony a fronton című művében.” She is the Editor of AHEA E-Journal.

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Roundtable Discussion of the Future of the AHEA E-Journal

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Report on the progress of the journal, on the grant, and, in general, try to get our membership to participate more, to submit articles etc.

Discussion led by Louise O. Vasvári, E-Journal Editor, with the participation of Enikő M. Basa, Associate Editor; Steven Jobbitt, Technical Editor; Ilana Rosen, Book Review Editor; and Katalin Voros, Webmaster.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):

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AHEA and Open Access Publication - Overview

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Open access is a social movement regarding free access to scholarly communications between the academic world, publishers and the reading public in general. Its enabling technology is the Internet, which provides "free", unrestricted distribution of the results of scholarly work. The technology allows infinite possibilities for self-publishing and blogging; however, for academic on-line publications of quality the peer review process remains standard. In this informational talk options available for academic electronic publications will be reviewed, focusing on the AHEA E-Journal: Hungarian Cultural Studies.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Katalin Vörös is R&D Engineering Manager Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, where she has worked for thirty years. She maintains an active informational mailing list for San Francisco Bay Area Hungarians. Katalin is Secretary/ Webmaster of AHEA and manager of the AHEA E-Journal conversion to open access project.

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