Abádi, Nagy Zoltán

University of Debrecen

Identitásdráma tér és idő határain túl, kognitív narratológiai nézetben

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Ignácz Rózsa: Torockói gyász (In memoriam Görömbei András)
A kommunizmus évtizedeiben méltatlanul félreállított, erdélyi származású, kiváló írónő, Ignácz Rózsa Torockói gyász című történelmi regénye (1958) a szerző által alaposan megkutatott, megtörtént eseményeken alapul. Az 1702-es torockói „bányászforradalom” eltiprásáról, a kivégzésekről, a templom szétlövetéséről, a gyalázatos jogfosztásról szól. A szörnyű tettekre az osztrák zsoldban álló francia generális (Rabutin de Bussy gróf) adott parancsot, a királyi adomány- és kiváltságleveles szabad bányásznépet önös érdekből örökös jobbágysorba taszítani akaró kapzsi Toroczkay grófok ármányának köszönhetően. Az intenzív kognitivitású mű a torockói nép identitásdrámájának is tekinthető. A Torockói gyász alapvonása, hogy a lehetőségek gazdag tárházát kínálja a kognitív narratológiai közelítésmódhoz, hiszen szerzőjének, narrátorának, cselekvőinek kognitív világfeldolgozásával, intenzív mentális tevékenységével, pozícionáltságával, önpozícionálásával és át- meg átpozícionálásával (vagy erre képtelen rugalmatlanságával), intra- és intermentális folyamataival van dolgunk. A szövegvilág beszélőjének közvetlen diszkurzusában megjelenő, valamint a történetvilágbeli cselekvők nyílt vagy fedett motívumaiból közvetetten kibomló gondolkodás révén képződik meg a mű „fiktív tudatosság”-nak mondható tudati-gondolati tartománya. Ebben a tartományban szövi Ignácz finoman azt a gondolatiságot is, mely az erdélyi magyarság 20. század eleji identitástraumájáig és onnan tovább, az elnyomott magyar önazonosság 1956-os forradalmáig és szabadságharcáig vezeti – terek és évszázadok határain túlra – az erdélyi kulturális emlékezetben oly mély nyomot hagyott 18. század eleji identitás-tragédia relevanciáját. Ennek az összefüggésnek a kimutatása kognitív narratológiai elemzéssel lehetséges. Kritikai és elméleti eszköztáramat a kulturális narratológia, kognitív narratológia, regényelmélet, történetfilozófia és az Ignáczra vonatkozó kritikai irodalom eredményeiből veszem. Munkámat a határon túli magyar irodalom nemrég elhunyt jeles tudósa, Görömbei András emlékének ajánlom.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Abádi Nagy Zoltán, Ph.D., az irodalomtudomány doktora, a Debreceni Egyetem Észak-amerikai Tanszékének emeritus professzora, a kolozsvári Babes-Bolyai Egyetem díszdoktora. Volt British Council research fellow (University of Leeds, 1967-68), ACLS Fellow, (Duke University, N.C., 1972-73), Fulbright vendégprofesszor (U of Minnesota, U of Oklahoma, U of California, Irvine, 1987-90); “distinguished visiting professor” (TCU, 1998-2000). Tanított a Salzburgi Szemináriumban és a finn Joensuu Egyetemen. A Magyar Anglisztikai Társaság korábbi elnöke, a Magyar Amerikanisztikai Társaság társelnöke. Évekig a magyar-amerikai Fulbright Board tagja, két ciklusban elnöke; a Maastricht Center for Transatlantic Studies igazgató tanácsának alapító tagja. Szolgált tanszékvezetőként, intézetigazgatóként, bölcsészdékánként és a Kossuth Egyetem rektoraként. Doktori programok majd az Irodalomtudományi Doktori Iskola vezetője Debecenben. 17 évig a HSE és a HJEAS főszerkesztője; az Orbis Litterarum monográfia-sorozatnak 12 évig alapító sorozatszerkesztője. Számos könyv és tanulmány szerzője. Kortárs amerikai irodalmi műveket fordított magyarra, amerikai íróinterjúkat publikált Amerikában és Magyarországon.




Ajtony, Zsuzsanna

Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania

Images of Armenians in Hungarian Literature

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The Armenian ethnic group appears on the linguistic landscape of Transylvania and of the Carpathian Basin in the 17th century when Mihály Apafi (1632–1690), Prince of Transylvania allows this ethnic group, having fled from the East across Moldavia, to settle in the principality. This paper tries to answer the question regarding how the Armenian, as an ethnotype, emerges in the Hungarian common consciousness and, within this, what kind of ethnic and cultural Armenian-related images of alterity the Hungarian literature has produced. My research is mainly conduct on a Hungarian literary corpus, starting from the 19th to the 21st century. After a brief examination of this corpus I draw conclusions regarding the variations of the stereotypical Armenian hetero-image.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Zsuzsanna Ajtony is senior lecturer at the Department of Humanities, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Miercurea Ciuc, Romania, where she teaches courses in linguistics (syntax, pragmatics, lexicology). She received her PhD in Philology in 2011 at the University of Bucharest and in 2012 she published her dissertation in the volume Britain and Britishness in G. B. Shaw’s Plays – a Linguistic Perspective. She has published several articles and book chapters on the linguistic representation of ethnicity and identity both in Romania and abroad. Her main areas of interest cover the interdisciplinary field of language and literature, including the areas of imagology and translations studies. She is co-editor of the volume Discourse of Space (published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013) and editor of the journal Acta Universitatis Sapientiae – Philologica.




Aladžić, Viktorija

University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Subotica

Civic Participation in Saving Szabadka’s (Subotica) Building Heritage

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Szabadka (Subotica), located near the Hungarian border in Serbia, was part of Hungary until the First World War. The town developed its specific character during the 19th century, and was able to preserve it to the present day. Owing to socio–political changes and urban plans made according to communist ideology in the period after the Second World War, until the 1980’s, the value and importance of 19th century buildings heritage was not recognized. There was, however, a period of recognition of the importance of 19th century Szabadka building heritage just before the Yugoslav war started in 1991. Because of the struggle for survival during the war the care for building heritage was again forgotten. Recently a small group of people organized and devoted themselves to preserve Subotica’s building heritage and specific town character. Through a number of activities they managed to draw attention of a great number of citizens to the importance of their identity and valuable building heritage. This presentation will focus on the efforts, objectives and achievements of a small group of citizens who named themselves “Smile at Subotica” (Nasmeši se Subotici -- Mosolyogj Szabadkára), to raise awareness and change behavior in creating he future for Szabadka’s building heritage.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Viktorija Aladžić is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, in addition to being an architect, an urban planner, and an expert in protection and restoration of architectural heritage. She received her Master degree (2001) in Technical Sciences – in protection, revitalization and study of building heritage, and her PhD degree in Spatial Planning, at the University of Belgrade, in 2007. Her research reports include “Optimization of architectural and urban planning and design in function of sustainable development in Serbia”, financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Serbia.




Albert, Sándor

Felnőttképzési Intézet,Komárom,Szlovákia

Magyar nyelvű közoktatás és felsőoktatás a Felvidéken

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Az előadás a felvidéki magyar nyelvű közoktatást és felsőoktatást veszi górcső alá. Ismerteti a közoktatási hálózatot, rámutat a kisiskolákat veszélyeztető folyamatokra, iskoláink működtetésével járó gondokra és az államnyelv oktatásának módszertani problémáira.
Foglalkozik a magyar nyelvű tanító- és tanárképzés hiányosságaival. Rámutat a tehetséggondozás és a felzárkóztatás megoldatlanságára. Javaslatokat fogalmaz meg a bezárásra ítélt kisiskolákkal kapcsolatban és kistérségi iskolák, ill.iskolaközpontok létrehozását szorgalmazza. A szlovákiai közoktatás tartalmi reformját, az oktatás módszertani megújúlását és a háttérintézmények kiépítését sürgeti.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Albert Sándor egyetemi professzor, a Nyugat-magyarországi Egyetem díszdoktora, a Selye János Egyetem alapító rektora, a kassai Ipariskola volt igazgatója, a komáromi Felnőttképzési Intézet igazgatója.




Balogh, Róbert

Institute of History, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Shortage as Experience in the 1940s and 1950s in Hungary and Transylvania

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The paper argues that shortage of food and energy as an experience concerned a whole generation during the 1940s and 1950s across the region and that it triggered emotional responses and routines. The paper starts with a close reading of the recently published receipt-book prepared by women in forced labour camp in 1944 (Czingel 2014) and of diaries written in 1944-45 that contain references to shortage. Through these texts I show types of moral economy functioning in the time of crises of those years.
Second, I analyze the discourse of shortage in letters exchanged among professional foresters working in Northern-Transylvania and Hungary between 1939 and 1944.
In the third section I juxtapose these with moral economy of cookbooks published in Hungary and in Transylvania during the war years and in the 1950s, narratives published in specialist periodicals as well as with reports related to food supply prepared by UNRRA and FAO administration between 1946 and 1960 about Hungary and Romania.
As an outcome we will see common and specific elements of the moral and emotional economy of shortage across time and space.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
I have MA in History and Political Science from the University of Debrecen. Currently, I am doing research for my Phd dissertation at ELTE, Budapest. I work as a junior researcher for the Institute of History, HAS in Budapest. My research seeks to link social and environmental history through looking at hybrid elements of urban life during the period of state socialism in Hungary.
I studied at the University of Pisa, Italy with Socrates-Erasmus scholarship in 2005 and at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India between 2011 and 2013 with a grant from Indian Council for Cultural Relations.




Biro, Ruth

Duquesne University

Expanding Perspectives Beyond Borders for American Educators through Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad to Hungary and Eastern Europe

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Presentation focuses on two Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad conducted in Hungary in 1990 and 1991, organized and directed by Ruth G. Biro. Marta Pereszlenyi-Pintér served as co-director for the $50,000 six-week award for fourteen professors (from four Pittsburgh area universities representing different academic disciplines), held in Pécs, Western Hungary, and Budapest in May-June 1990. Julianna Nádas Ludanyi was co-director of the 1991 July-August $60,000 grant for fourteen F-H fellows (four faculty and three graduate-in-service teachers from Duquesne University and seven teachers from the Oregon International Council. Elizabeth Simon was the native informant for both years. The on-site Hungarian Leadership team was composed of three English professors from Janus Pannonius University(now University of Pécs).

The purpose, benefits, eligibility, criteria, personnel, pre-departure orientation, itinerary abroad, assessment, follow-up, outcomes, and outreach relating to the F-H GPA (CFDA 84.021 A) will be specified. Aspects of the 1990 and 1991 Duquesne University grants, now twenty-five years later, will be described in relationship and comparison with recent awards for Hungary (and Hungary in combination one or two other countries). Additionally, Eastern European nations bordering Hungary that have been the subject of F-H grants will be mentioned.

The potential for AHEA member(s) to develop and/or AHEA to sponsored a future F-H GPA application will be addressed. Principal Investigator role, Federal Register announcements, application packet procurement, priorities, deadlines, preparation (orientation, time frame, travel arrangements, accommodations, field trios, lectures, honoraria, debriefings, dissemination plans), along with online submission details, peer review, notification, and final reporting will be enumerated. Possible contacts, sites, topics, and activities will be discussed pertaining to a prospective proposal involving Hungary and/or one or two neighboring nations. American professors, teachers, and graduate students would have the opportunity to greatly expand their perspectives on Hungary and other Eastern European countries through a carefully planned overseas project designed to achieve the goals of the Fulbright- Hays Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act-- P.L. 87-256, 75 Stat. 527.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. Biro holds a B.A. in Political Science from Chatham College, and a Master's in Library Science and a Ph.D. In Higher Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Now retired from Duquesne University, she taught courses in Children's and Adolescent Literature, Cultural Diversity, International Education, Multicultural and International Literature, Program Design, Holocaust Perspectives, and others in the USA and abroad. She was curriculum coordinator of the AHEA sponsored Ethnic Heritage Studies grant on Hungarian Americans in Pittsburgh, directed by Paul Body in FY 1980-81. With co-authors Miklós Kontra and Zsófia Radnai, Dr. Biro wrote the Hungarian Picture Dictionary for Young Americans (Budapest: Tankönyvkiadó, 1989). From 1996-2004 she was a Summer Faculty Associate at the Russian and East European Institute of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, under the auspices of the US Department of State and the US Office of Education. Her article "Refuge, Resistance, and Rescue in Hungary in WWII: Religious and Cultural Interactions," was published in Learn, Teach, Prevent: Holocaust Education in the 21st Century, Eds. Carol Ritter and Wendy Whitworth. (Greensburg PA: Seton Hill University, National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, 2010, 102-115.) Dr. Biro, a founding member of the AHEA, was the recipient of the Peter Basa Award of the American Hungarian Educators in 2012.




Bock, Julia

Long Island University

The Changing Perception of the History of Holocaust in Hungary

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The perception of the history of the Holocaust in Hungary is changing by discovery of new data and facts within and outside the country. As more and more Holocaust survivors are leaving us, new publications, as well as new types of media make the subject more widely accessible. This also leads to a wider acceptance of Holocaust research and puts the Holocaust in its proper place in Hungarian history.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Julia Bock received her MS Library degree at Eötvös Lóránd University in Budapest, MLS at Columbia University, and Ph.D. in History, from Eötvös Lóránd University. Dr. Bock is an Acquisitions librarian and Associate Professor at the Brooklyn Campus Library of Long Island University, since 2005, where she is teaching historical methodology. Previously she worked at New York University Law School Library, Columbia University Archives; she was the chief librarian at the Leo Baeck Institute, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Her research is related to Hungarian Jewish history, as well as subjects on library related areas. Julia Bock is past president of the American Hungarian Educators Association. She was awarded a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Yad Vashem International Institute in 2013-2014.




Boda Székedi, Eszter

Babes-Bolyai Tudományegyetem

Az óceán közepén. Wim Wenders amerikanizálódó európaisága.

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Wim Wenders német filmrendező nemzedéke egy többé-kevésbé akadálytalanul amerikanizálódó, régi értékeiben bizonytalan országban, Nyugat-Németországban nőtt fel. Az Amerikához való vonzódás és az Európához való tartozás Wenders művészetében ambvivalens viszonyt feltételez, sajátos kozmopolitizmust. „Félúton érzem magam Európa és Amerika között, valahol az óceán közepén. ”- nyilatkozta A dolgok állása elkészülte után, amolyan szellemi otthontalanságra panaszkodva. Ez a film az Amerika iránti vonzódásnak és annak a törekvésnek az eredménye, amely Wenderst Hollywoodba vezette. A rajongás tárgya számára elsősorban az amerikai filmek hőskora. Szerinte a klasszikus amerikai mozgóképek nagy tette volt a kollektív, mitikus mesélés, és nem csupán egy mitológia megfogalmazói, de annak megteremtői is voltak. Ezzel szemben Európában csak szubjektív történetek születnek. Amerika, mint vonatkozási pont így kettősséget jelent Wenders művészete számára: reflektálást a filmgyártás módszereire és nosztalgiát, amely a mai Amerikát kínáló világgal szemben a mitikus Amerikához kötődik.
Wenders a Hammet című filmjével próbálja meg először megkísérelni az egyeztetést a két filmgyártás módszerei között. A több éven át forgatott művet kudarcként tartják számon, holott egy próbálkozás figyelemre méltó eredménye, A dolgok állása pedig ennek a kísérletnek a látlelete. Wenders amerikai filmet készít amerikai producerrel, európai szemszögből, és teszi ezt még jó néhány alkalommal az elmúlt évtizedek során (Az erőszak vége, A Millió Dolláros Hotel, A bőség földje, vagy a Berlin felett az ég amerikai változata, az Angyalok városa). Európában készült filmjeibe is folyamatosan beemeli az amerikai popkultúra elemeit, vagy éppen színészeket, rendezőket, énekeseket, akik gyakran önmagukat alakítják, és mindig önreflektív jelentéssel ruházzák a szerepüket. És bár Wim Wenders már nem egyszer nyilatkozta, hogy nincs közös vonás Amerika és Európa között, ami a filmművészeti vonatkozást illeti, az ő alkotásai a legjobb példák ennek a megcáfolására.
Az önreflexió Wenders filmjeinek a sajátos olvasását jelenti. Az alkotási folyamatra való reflektálás vonzáskörébe tartozik az európai és az amerikai filmkészítési sajátosságokra való figyelés. Ebből a szempontból párhuzam vonható az önreflexiót főszereplővé avató A dolgok állása (1982) és az önreflektív motívumokat ugyancsak előtérbe helyező Mundruczó Kornél Szelíd teremtés – A Frankenstein terv (2010) című alkotása között. Izgalmas feladat feltérképzeni a a sajátosan német vagy magyar vonatkozásokat, a két mozgókép által hasonló, vagy éppen gyökeresen eltérő módon feltett, az egyetemesség irányába mutató kérdéseket, valamint átgondolni ezeket a két kontinens eltérő filmkészítési módszereinek és művészi elvárásainak a szempontjából, és megfigyelni mindennek a harminc év különbséggel sorra kerülő vizuális megfogalmazását.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Romániában, Csíkszeredában születtem és végeztem a középiskolát, majd a kolozsvári Babes-Bolyai Tudományegyetem magyar-német szakán szereztem oklevelet 1998-ban. Csíkszeredában, a Márton Áron Gimnáziumban tanítok német nyelvet, a Csíki Hírlap valamint a Vásárhelyi Hírlap filmajánló rovatát szerkesztem. Vezetek iskolai és városi filmklubot, opcionális tantárgyként filmesztétikát oktatok. 2012. októberétől a kolozsvári Babes-Bolyai Tudományegyetem hungarológiai doktori iskolájának a hallgatója vagyok.




Bodnár, Éva

Independent scholar

The Charitable Bank: Fáy András and the First Domestic Savings Bank of Pest

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Before 1848 in Hungary society was divided legally into four groups of people: prelates, lords of the realm, lesser aristocrats and city burghers. These identities had existed since medieval times, but they no longer completely reflected changing social realities. Identities stubbornly refuse to correspond to limited boundaries or borders. The peasants were excluded from the protection of the constitution, as were new social groups on the scene, such as the middle classes and the working poor urbanites.
One person who saw this problem and attempted to do something about it was Fáy András. He thought that the elimination of economic barriers or borders between advantaged and disadvantaged social groups would help bridge the gap between the poor, the middle classes and the aristocracy. Common embourgeoisement would produce greater social harmony, which would in turn produce a renewed, more unified county. To this end, he was instrumental in founding a portion of the savings institution which would grow into the OTP we know today.
Fáy’s vision of social cohesion through elimination of income inequality scuttled, unusually, as a result of its own success. Where did he go wrong? This subject has a special timeliness, because the notions of the Hungarian middle classes and what constitutes poverty have become the subject of renewed social discourse.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Eva Bodnar received her PhD degree in March 2011, in History from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; M.A. in History in 1999 from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario; and B.A. Honours in Comparative Literature and History from McMaster University. Her scholarly fields are Nineteenth Century Hungarian History, Habsburg History, the Reform Era of Hungary, and Revolutionary Europe.




Bucur, Tünde Csilla

János Zsigmond Unitárius Kollégium

Hagyomány, történelem és az én elbeszélése

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Előadásom középpontjában Závada Pál szociográfiája és regényei állnak. Mindenik a múltat igyekszik megragadni, az emberek, az adott közösség, földrajzi egység életét és gondolkodását meghatározó történelmi, társadalmi, gazdasági, politikai vonulatok identitás-meghatározó erejét tárja fel. Mind a Kulákprés című szociográfiában, mind szépirodalmi munkáiban a történelem kiemelt szereppel bír, a mikro- és makrotörténelem perspektívái, a különféle narratív struktúrák megjelenítései, a történetmozaikokból felépülő regények szövegdarabjai vizuálisan és textuálisan egyszerre konstruálnak történelmet. Történelem- és hagyományfelfogásuk felől vizsgálva, a múlt elbeszélésének lehetőségeiként értelmezve a műveket azt láttuk, hogy olyan tágan értett közös térbe és időbe íródó történetmozaikokról beszélhetünk, amelyek identitásformálói egy tótkomlósi szlovák-magyar identitással rendelkező, szlovák-magyar kevert nyelvet beszélő közösségnek.

A múlt elbeszélését narratív struktúraként fogja fel, annak tudatával, hogy a múlt elbeszélései (akár történelmi, akár irodalmi alkotás) konstrukciók, sosem ábrázolhatnak teljesen, hiszen mindig szelekció eredményei, minden írott dokumentum szöveg, amely korlátot szab az objektivitásnak. Az elbeszélt történelem nyelvbe és kulturális diskurzusba ágyazott, a múlt komplex szöveghalmazként érthető, a posztmodern metafikciós történelmi regény pedig reflektál a múlt szövegszerűségére, az elbeszélő szöveg intertextualitására és parodisztikusságára.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Bucur Tünde Csilla 2013-ban védte meg doktori dolgozatát a Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetemen. Tágabban értett kutatási területe a kortárs irodalom. Doktori disszertációjában Závada Pál munkásságával foglalkozott. A János Zsigmond Unitáius Kollégium magyartanára.




Corbett, Joyce Berczik

Mingei International Museum

"It's Not Enough To Have Talent": Hungarian Women Emigré Designers

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
During the first half of the 20th century, many Hungarians from the professional communities such as science and the arts emigrated to the United States. The catastrophic events following following WWI, WWII and the Hungarian Revolution caused such a transformational dislocation in society, that normal professional life became impossible. Many of these emigres worked in creative fields of film, art, writing, and music. The dominance of Hungarians in the film industry in the 1930’s and 40’s was reflected in an often quoted sign posted on a director’s door:” It’s not enough to be Hungarian, one must also have talent”. Another director wryly turned it around and said “it’s not enough to have talent, one must also be Hungarian”.

A look at any list of famous Hungarian émigrés active in the arts will invariably show that the most of the entries will be men. In fact, very few women are ever included, aside from a few screen actresses,. A question can then be asked, is it possible that there were no Hungarian émigré women active in the arts? If there were, who were they and where were they?

This paper will highlight some of the best known women artists and designers from post WWI to the present. Born into an era of great turmoil, these women were able to transcend circumstance and build very successful professional lives. Women who will be discussed are:Illonka and Mariska Karasz, Sibyl Moholy-Nagy,, Evelyn Harasty, Evelyn Domjan and Eva Zeisel.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Joyce Berczik Corbett is a research scholar specializing in the decorative arts and folk art of Central Europe, She has curated exhibitions at Mingei International Museum, San Diego, CA and Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA including: "Between East and West: Folk Art Treasures of Romania" (2010-2011)(co-authored catalog), Hungarian Folk Magic: the Art of Joseph Domjan" (2008)(directed documentary video accompanying exhibition), "Eva Zeisel: Extraordinary Designer Craftsman at 100” (2006-2007) traveled to the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles. CA. (2007) “Dowry: Eastern European Painted Furniture, Textiles and Folk Art” (1999)(co-authored catalog). She is on the International Advisory Board of Mingei International Museum, San Diego, CA. She authored the chapter “Central European Embroidery” for the exhibition catalog: “Resplendent Dress from Southeastern Europe, Fowler Museum at University of California Los Angeles, (2013). She received an M.F.A in Art History and Studio Art, from the University of Washington, Seattle, where she held a Woodrow Wilson Scholarship. She has received IREX (International Research and Exchanges Board) research grants for Romania and Hungary and was a Fulbright Research Scholar to Hungary and the Slovak Republic.




Csorba, Mrea

University of Pittsburgh

'A Pot is Not a Person' and other Adages from the Ground Up

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
For nearly one hundred years, Hungary’s exploration of ancient nomadism has been energized by the discovery of a pair of singular gold stags from two disturbed and isolated Carpathian sites. However, given the compromised circumstances of the discoveries at Tapioszentmarton and Zoldhalompuszta and the continued paucity of reconstructive data, efforts by twentieth century Hungarian archeologists and historians to contextualize and integrate with similar Iron Age material associated with Black Sea Scythians remain stymied. This paper pits old methodologies and approaches against new investigative theories that can circumvent forced assumptions and nationalistic presumptions that compromise assessment of Hungary’s own Scythian era finds.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Art historian Mrea Csorba received all three of her advanced degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. She has taught art history at the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University as adjunct Assistant Professor since 1993. Her MA thesis (1987) investigated horse-reliant cultures associated with Iron Age Scythian steppe culture. Her Ph.D. (1997) expanded research of pastoral groups to non-Chinese populations documented in northern China. Current research continues the theme documenting diagnostic artifacts of Iron Age cultures in the lateral reaches of the Eurasian steppes in east China and the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe. She discussed Hungarian material with parallel artifacts recently excavated in northeast China at the International Symposium hosted by the 1st Emperor’s Institute of Archaeology in Xian, China, August, 2013, and further developed the topic at the AHEA 2014 University of Florida at Gainesville conference.




Dani, Erzsébet

University of Debrecen

Székelymagyar nemzeti- és kulturálisidentitás-stratégiák a trianoni határokon túl

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A 21. század Európai Uniójában egyre inkább előtérbe kerül a többségi-kisebbségi kérdés, a nemzeti identitás, az interkulturális kommunikáció különböző formái. A magyar identitás önmagában is igen összetett kérdés, többek között azért, mert a két világháborút követő világpolitikai döntések nyomán a magyarságot súlyos történelmi traumák érték: a korábban viszonylag egységes kárpát-medencei magyar kultúrát széttördelték, és kétharmad részben beletagolták más kultúrákba, tehát az erdélyi magyarság (is) határokon túlra került.
Különösen izgalmas kérdés ilyen körülmények között az a népcsoport, a székelymagyarság, mely Erdélyen belül mindig is saját azonosságtudattal rendelkezett. A Trianon utáni helyzet viszont annyiban más, hogy míg a székelység korábban nemzet-azonos kultúrán belül fogalmazta meg magát és önrendelkezési törekvéseit, addig Trianont követően egy többkultúrájú világban találja magát, amelyben a mai fogalmaink szerinti, megengedő multikulturalitásnak nyoma sincs. A székelymagyar kiélezett interkulturális helyzetbe kerül. Megváltoznak a határok körülötte, úgy, hogy szülőföldjének elhagyása nélkül, határon túlivá válik. Ennek az interkulturális kommunikációs és identitásmenedzselési küzdelemnek kortörténeti jelentőségű dokumentumsorozata a Trianon utáni székelymagyar irodalom, mely mindezt széles spektrumú változatokban vonultatja fel.
Előadásomban különböző 20. századi identitás- (Eriksen, Bloom, Plamenatz, Smith, Csepeli), asszimilációs- (Yinger, Hess), koloniális-poszkoloniális- (Bhabha), kultúra- (Assmann) és interkulturális kommunikációelméletek (Rosengren) felhasználásával kísérlek meg néhány irodalmi alkotást értelmezni, újraértelmezni. A szépirodalmi szövegek (többek között Ignácz Rózsa, Tamási Áron, Bözödi György, Kacsó Sándor, Lőrincz György) vallatása során olyan identitástípusokat, illetve típusjellemzőket próbálok felállítani, melyek hagyományos elemzési módszerekkel vagy az itt használtakhoz képest más elméletekkel nem hozhatók felszínre, és a mai európai helyzetben is segítségül hívhatók – pro vagy kontra – a nehéz interkulturális viszonyok értelmezéséhez, illetve az értelmes interkulturális kommunikációban való gondolkodáshoz.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
1968-ban születtem Székelyudvarhelyen. 1990 óta élek Magyarországon. Az Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetemen szereztem informatikus-könyvtáros végzettséget, majd 2008-ban az Irodalomtudományi Doktori Iskolában Ph.D.-fokozatot. Jelenleg a Debreceni Egyetem adjunktusa vagyok. Oktatói munkám mellett kiemelkedően fontosnak tartom a határon túli magyar irodalom népszerűsítését. Kutatási területeim közé tartozik a nemzeti- és kulturális identitás kérdésköre az irodalmi példákon keresztül. Ezen témakörben tanulmányaim jelentek meg a Hitel, a Bárka, a Napút, a Székelyföld, az Agria folyóiratokban. Két székelyföldi témájú monográfiám kiadás előtt áll.




Deák, Nóra

ELTE SEAS Library

Refugee Registration Process: From Cards to Camp Kilmer Refugee Research Database

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
“We feel a solemn and responsible pride that in your time of need you have come to our shore” – These are some of the words from a letter by President Eisenhower, greeting Hungarian refugees at Camp Kilmer, NJ. The bilingual sign “Isten hozta Amerikában – Welcome to America” at the gate of the Reception Center symbolized the border between their old and new identities for these refugees. Between November 1956 and June 1957, when Camp Kilmer – a former World War II military base - was reactivated as a Reception Center under the name Operation Mercy, 32,000 refugees were processed, interviewed, supported, and resettled by government and other sponsoring agencies, volunteer organizations and individuals in the United States. The whole process resulted in 3 x 5” registration cards, located these days in 37 filing boxes at the Library of the American Hungarian Foundation. A project to catalog and digitize the cards will be presented, describing its advantages and disadvantages, the possibilities and obstacles along the way, options considered and solutions found, both in terms of technical and privacy issues.
The database will eventually include the digitized copies of the cards, connected to a list of the refugees’ information on the cards, with a search capability for all individual data fields. CKRRD – hosted by Rutgers University repository – will complement the digital records of the President’s Committee for Hungarian Relief that are already in RUcore, in addition to be beneficial for genealogists and biographical researchers.
Audio-visual requirements: projector


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Nóra Deák is pursuing PhD studies in American Studies at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Her research topic is the reception of the 1956 Hungarian refugees in the United States.
She graduated in English and Russian languages and literatures in 1990 in Debrecen, then received a LIS MA in 1997 in Budapest. She has been working as Head of the Library at the School of English and American Studies Library, ELTE, in Budapest, since 1995. She is currently a Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar for the second time at the American Hungarian Foundation.





Deczki, Sarolta

Institut for Literary Studies of Hungarian Academy of Sciences

An Invisible Border: The Reduced Identity of Poor People

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The problem of poverty is one of the most sensitive questions of Hungarian society. The discussion of poverty has been a taboo subject throughout the twentieth century. Yet, there are many novels and studies in Hungarian literature depicturing the life of the poor in the twentieth century.
This is the case with the novels of Sándor Tar also, one of the most important writers in Hungary in the last century. His novels are about people living on the periphery of society: in little poor villages, in suburbs, in mental hospitals, etc. His characters have no chance of living a better life and vegetate on the periphery of civilized human life. Sometimes they try to break out, but all the attempts are fated to fail from the very beginning. These dark stories reveal the real living standards of large segments of Hungarian society during the nineteenth century. Poor people live on the other side of an invisible border. They do not have access to the common goods, such as culture, education, sport, wealth, etc. They construct their identity not on the basis of these goods but on their lack of these assets. People living in need have no possibility to identify themselves as autonomous human beings. The codes and narratives of self-identification are reduced to the experience of poverty and deprivation. Tar’s writings will be analyzed from this perspective of identity.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Sarolta Deczki, who received her Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Debrecen, 2012, works as a scientific assistant at the Institute for Literary Studies of Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The topic of her dissertation was the problem of crisis in the husserlian phenomenology. Now she researches the history of the Hungarian "Geisteswissenschaftliche Schule", writes a monography of Sándor Tar, and writes regularly on contemporary Hungarian literature. She has published a collection of essays in 2013. (Az érzékiség dicsérete; The Laudation of Sensuality), and her dissertation in 2014 (Meredek sziklagerincen: Husserl és a válság problémája; On the Rocky Ridge: Husserl and the Problem of Crisis)




Domokos, Johanna

Karoli Gaspar University of the Reformed Church in Hungary

On Literary Translingualism by Terézia Mora

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The Hungarian born Terézia Mora (b. 1971) was 19 when she moved to Germany/Berlin and in a decade time she became one of the leading and most prolific prosaists of contemporary literature written in German. For her works she has already received all of the most important German literary prises. However German critics seems to not being able to decipher the secret of her writing. Beside translating the best Hungarian prosaists into German (i.a. István Örkény or Péter Eszterházy), writting screen plays she is the author of three novels and a collection of short stories. The present paper demonstrates how do the two most important Hungarian prosa traditions influenced her style, and how does Hungarian existencial poetry manifest in the metaphoricity of her work.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
After teaching at several European and American univestites, Prof. Domokos holds a position at Károli University Budapest. Author of two monographies on Sámi culture, 8 translation and 7 poetry volumes and around one hundread article, Prof. Domokos' research field includes multilingualism and multiculturalism in North and Central European literatures.




Faragó, Borbála

St Patrick's College, Dublin City University

Moving Silences: Holocaust Trauma Memory in Hungarian Women’s Poetry

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The compulsion to speak about the unspeakable permeates Holocaust literature. But how can poetry be a medium that assists survivors in making sense of their life experience? Is poetry of any use for remembering, particularly in the manner in which it exposes an underlying problematic with a general privileging of life narratives, in which the ‘use-value’ of these texts is taken at face value? Often the remembering voice is exploited for its historical value, rather than allowed to take control of its own meaning. The main assumption that underpins the widespread use that researchers make of life-stories or survivor testimonies is that they are authentic (in terms of their sincerity in reflecting real life events and experiences) and that they have the capacity to give voice to the victims. Although literary outputs, including poetry, are most often valued because of their individuality and uniqueness, when it comes to Holocaust-literatures the authenticity of both the author and the content comes especially to the fore as political and/or ethical pressures are exerted on writers to produce meaning cognisant of their lived experiences.
In this context the question arises whether poetry could be read as an alternative to life-narrative or testimony, where the offered readings reveal, rather than exploit, what happens within the text. The works of the Hungarian women poets in this paper – Éva Láng, Stefánia Mándy, Zsófia Balla - explore the circuitous and indirect path from experience and memory to imagination, offering readers an opportunity to become sensitised to empathy and affect and look for meanings in the moving silences of trauma.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Borbála Faragó currently lectures at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra. Previously she held a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship in the Central European University Budapest, Department of Gender Studies. Dr Faragó holds a PhD from University College Dublin. Her research interests include literature and cultural studies, poetry, literary theory, gender, ecocriticism and discourses of migration and transnationalism. She is the author of a monograph on the work of Medbh McGuckian (Medbh McGuckian, Bucknell and Cork University P, 2014) a number of articles on contemporary Irish poetry and is also co-editor of a collection of essays, entitled Facing the Other: Interdisciplinary Studies on Race, Gender and Social Justice in Ireland (with M. Sullivan, 2008), an anthology of Irish immigrant poetry entitled Landing Places: Immigrant Poets in Ireland published by Dedalus Press (with Eva Bourke, 2010), and Animals in Irish Literature (with K. Kirkpatrick), which is forthcoming from Palgrave P.




Fazakas, Emese

Babes Bolyai University

Names of Musical Instruments in 16–18th century Transylvania

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The study presents the meaning and semantic changes of general words, expressions related to musical instruments used in 16–18th century Transylvania. I do not undertake musical terminology, I do not include in my analysis the words denoting musical genres or words of musical theory. The historical linguistic study regards the words such as: virginál, doromb, ütőgardon, tambura, lant, koboz, tilinkó, pikula, etc. and their family. The data used were collected from the Historical Dictionary of Transylvanian Hungarian Language, and my analysis rely only on these data. In my presentation I work only with linguistic data, the musical historical background is not being used.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Fazakas Emese, born in 1967 Marosvásárhely (Tg-Mures, Romania); 1989-1994 MA studies at Babes-Bolyai University (Kolozsvár, Romania), 1994-1995 MA at Central European University Budapest College (Hungary), 2005 PhD at Babes-Bolyai University (Kolozsvár, Romania); senior lecturer at Babes-Bolyai University, vicedean of Faculty of Letters; research domains: linguistics, Hungarian historical linguistics




Fazakas, Noémi

Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania

The Construction of a New Minority: Language and Identity between the Two World Wars in Transylvania

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
“Keleti Újság” [‘Eastern Newspaper’] was a Hungarian daily newspaper published in Cluj-Napoca between 1918 and 1944, and is considered one of the most important periodicals of the period between the two World Wars. Covering a large range of topics, it also includes articles on the Hungarian language, as in 1936 Jenő Dsida, one of the most important poets of the period started a column (or a ‘movement’, as they called it) dedicated to the cultivation of the Hungarian language in Romania, entitled Anyanyelvünkért (‘For the protection of our mother tongue’). It published articles on the state of the community in the new political context, as well as overtly and covertly outlining attitudes towards the mother tongue and the language of the state that determined the way in which the new minority identity of the community was to be shaped. My paper discusses these ways in which the new minority was constructed in the articles and texts published in the Keleti Újság newspaper from the point of view of displacement and the issues of multi- and plurilingualism.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Gál Noémi, PhD is lecturer at the Sapientia University of Marosvásárhely, at the Department of Humanities. She completed her university studies in 2003 at the Babeş–Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca majoring in English language and literature and Hungarian language and literature. She received her Master’s degree in Irish Studies at the same university in 2004. She completed her doctoral studies in 2009, the title of her thesis being Language Revitalization. Theory, Methodology and Perspectives. Her main field of research is sociolinguistics and the revitalization of endangered languages. She has presented her results at numerous national and international conferences and workshops.




Flamich, Mária

Vocational School of the Blind, Budapest

Music for Everyone

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Two concepts: music and disability
The first one implies happiness, the other one designates fear and anxiety. Although people generally connote contrary feelings to these two concepts, music and disability share many features. One feature, universality, is best manifested in Zoltán Kodály’s worldwide-known philosophy: ”Music is for everyone.” Music is really for everyone; each of us perceives, understands, interprets it in our own way. The universal nature of music and the relevance of special perception, understanding and ways of performing music provides endless possibilities for persons with disability to express themselves. The reflection of the Kodály heritage is introduced via interviews in one stage of this study.

Before the interviews the study focuses on stereotypical images which have been accompanying blind people, who are believed to be gifted musicians. The study reveals what is behind the above stereotypical statement in the first stage. And in the second one, with the help of the interviews, it aims to answer the questions whether there are any technical specialties and if yes, what are those which make it possible for blind and sighted musicians to offer joint performances in Hungary. With this study the author wishes to pay tribute to Kodály Zoltán’s philosophy which inspires thousands of people worldwide, to go beyond borders of whatever nature.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Mária Flamich teaches English as a Foreign Language at the Primary and Vocational School of the Blind, Budapest, Hungary. At the same time, she is also a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Education and Psychology at Eötvös Loránd University. Her current interests are perspectives of cultural disability studies in higher education with special regard to music, disability memoir and its reflections in music. In the spring semester of the academic year 2011/2012, Maria Flamich was a Fulbright researcher at the English Department of the University of California at Berkeley.




Fodor, Mónika

University of Pécs

Twice Told Tales—Narrative and discourse features of ethno-cultural identity construction in re-storied life episodes

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In this paper I discuss the narrative and discourse features of meaning making and identity construction in selected life episodes told more than once by second and third generation Hungarian Americans. The stories are part of a database of 34 qualitative interviews with 12 persons. According to Elliot G. Mishler, the process of restorying lives has long been a dilemma in identity related narrative and discourse studies. A generally held view about the retelling of the same event in multiple discourse settings is that each telling is different from the other and such anomalies decrease the truth validity of these narratives. I argue, however, that the qualitative interview setting triggers a special rhetorical interaction of small story and Labovian (or big) story templates, which remain identical or close to identical at each telling, thus making the identity work of the individual accountable.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
I have been teaching various subfields of American Studies and occasionally courses in TEFL at the University of Pécs for 14 years. In my research I combine the two areas through the study of narrative. So far I have published 17 articles in scholarly journals and volumes, and presented 24 conference papers. Currently I am working on a book on the narrative construction of ethno-cultural identities.




Forintos, Éva

University of Pannonia

Parallel Processes in Canadian/American-Hungarian Language Contact Situation

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Languages in contact are the outcome of the people in contact and the consequence of communities of people of dissimilar language surroundings in contact. Language contact is a multidisciplinary, multidimensional field in which mutual effects control the comprehension of how and why people use the languages they do. In language contact research there is an interrelationship between language systems, social and communicative factors and psycholinguistic processing (Clyne 2003). The focus of the present paper is on the dynamics of the language systems in contact, i.e. to see how bilinguals make their languages more synonymous/similar (convergence) and how these languages are distinguished in certain aspects (divergence). In other words, attention is paid to how the language systems converge, and how and to what degree material from one language is integrated into the other. The two languages involved are genealogically non-related and structural-typologically non-identical languages.
This paper considers aspects of language contact on the basis of data across dyads in an environment of English language dominance where the Hungarian community is of a minority. The research employs the corpus of written language samples taken from the Hungarian community’s newspaper titled Kanadai Magyarság, which is the largest Hungarian weekly in the Western World.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Forintos, Éva is an associate professor at the English and American Studies Institute of the University of Pannonia, Veszprém, Hungary lecturing in linguistics, applied linguistics and contactlinguistics. She has carried out the contactlinguistic study of the language of the Hungarian community in Australia. She has published a number of articles focusing on different linguistic aspects of English-Hungarian language contact situations as well as the language use of Hungarian communities in different domains.




Friedmann, Robert

Georgia State University

Personal Letters as Historical Data Sources

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Twenty eight letters written by Renee to her younger sister Edith, who left home prior to the deportation, were discovered in 1999 following Edith’s death. The letters were written between 1941 and 1947 and reflect pre-deportation, Holocaust, and post-Holocaust years. They were written in and sent from Hungary, Sweden and Romania to Palestine. While the letters are personal and intimate in nature, their analysis reveals a valuable and rich documentation of personal accounts, perceptions, and perspective of an individual caught in the midst of overwhelming historical forces and a measure of personal coping and persevering against seemingly insurmountable challenges. The letters open a window to how people who lived through the turbulence of the deportation, the Holocaust, the infliction of Communism, and the tyranny of the British Mandate in Palestine, coped with the challenge of living beyond surviving. The letters reveal a wide gamut of attributes such as determination, integrity, dignity, aspiration, and above all, a desire to live “on calmer waters.” The letters comprise a historical document that serves as a valuable source to understand processes and outcomes of experiences for which living personal accounts become a rarity.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Robert Friedmann is Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice and Director, Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia.




Gárdosi, Rita

Cleveland State University

Hungarian Language Maintenance in Cleveland, Ohio

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This paper focuses on the situation of Hungarian language maintenance in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to the history of Hungarian language instruction, I will give a detailed account of actual Hungarian language teaching based on interviews, a questionnaire and published materials as well as an outline of my own experience.
Cleveland is one of the most important centers of Hungarian Americans in the USA. The Hungarian population of this very significant American city is about 150,000. For the Hungarian Americans it is important to preserve their language, culture and traditions. In this question three major themes emerge: the value of speaking Hungarian as a sense of identity, the impact of parenting on language maintenance, and the influence of friends and peers through organized events in the Hungarian community, mostly through the scouting movement.
The first Hungarian schools were organized in the Roman Catholic, Reformed and Greek Catholic Churches built in the 1890s by the Cleveland Hungarian community on Buckeye Road. St. Emeric Parish in the near west side area, established in 1904, also provided Hungarian instruction. Presently this church is the home of the Hungarian School and scouting activities.
Founded in 1958, the Hungarian School or Magyar Iskola is attended by students in addition to their regular schooling. The origin of this school may be found in scouting by recognizing the need for a weekend-type school. Since 2002 the Hungarian School is also offering conversational Hungarian classes for adults in different levels.
The history of Hungarian studies in higher education reach back to Hungarian cultural courses at Western Reserve University. In 1960s the center of Hungarian studies has shifted to Cleveland State University and after a long pause it has recently been reestablished in the Department of Modern Languages.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Rita Gárdosi is currently in residence in the Department of Modern Languages at Cleveland State University, in the status of a Fulbright Visiting Professor in Hungarian language and culture. She graduated in 2007 from the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, with Masters Degrees in Hungarian Language and Literature and Hungarian as a Foreign Language. She worked for six years at the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III as Hungarian lecturer and assistant professor in Hungarian linguistics. While in Paris, Rita Gárdosi earned a doctorate in Linguistics and Language Teaching, graduating in 2012.




Gáti, Sally

Gati Productions

CULTURE COLLECTOR Ferenc Tobak [90-min. documentary film]

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
CULTURE COLLECTOR is about the Csángó (Hungarians) of Moldavia and Transylvania in Romania. FERENC TOBAK, a Hungarian-American, goes on an exotic road trip in search of old bagpipe tunes and finds folk musicians, Gypsies, songs, dances, tales, superstitions, customs, & costumes. He encounters such craftspeople as a potter, a wood-turner, & bagpipe, flute, and spoon-makers. While it’s the story of a man and his love for the music and people he collected from, we also see the struggles and thrills of collecting folklore. (90 min. documentary film)


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Sally Gáti received her Master of Arts degree from the Ethnographic film program at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1969. She was a language instructor at City College of San Francisco until her retirement in 2012. Sally Gáti's documentary video productions include Traditions for Sale (1996), STARTING OVER IN AMERICA: The Story of the Hungarian 56ers (2003), BAY CITY LUV: Singin’ ‘n Livin’ on the Edge (2005), DAN CYTRON: One Artist’s POV (2011), ABOUT MY FATHER Sam Cytron: A Life in Music (2013). http://gatiproductions.blogspot.com/

Ferenc Tobak, a musician and instrument maker in Hungary moved to the United States in 1991. Since 1998 he has made a personal effort to document the bagpipe traditions of the Hungarian Csángó people of Moldavia in Eastern Romania.




Glanz, Susan

St. John's University

Nicholas L. Deak, the Hungarian “James Bond of the World of Money”

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
An article on Nicholas Deak published in the June 12, 1964 issue of Time magazine is the source of this moniker. His bio in brief: Nicholas Louis Deak was born in 1905 in Hateg/Hátszeg, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, immigrated to the USA in 1939 and was murdered in 1985. In between these dates, Deak had an exciting life, though not as violent as Bond’s, from joining the OSS during WWII to establishing Deak & Co after the war. His holdings grew from a small export-import firm in 1946 to a financial empire in the 1980s which included currency exchange offices all over the world, banks in the US, Switzerland and Austria, and various other trading houses. As Deak & Co grew newer and newer business were added. From the mid1970s the company was often in the news, but the news were frequently bad. The IRS investigated the firm’s currency exchange operations and was found violating the Bank Secrecy Act (1970) and aiding money laundering activities of drug dealers. The Congressional hearings (1976) on corporate corruption exposed the firm’s role in the Lockheed bribery scandal. As customers “ran” from the firm, Deak & Co was forced into bankruptcy in 1984. In 1985 he was shot dead in his office, by a woman, with no conclusive motive for the murder. Although the following year the firm emerged from bankruptcy, without Deak at the helm, in a couple of years, however, it disappeared from the scene. This presentation will look at Deak’s life and analyze how he and his firm reacted to and tried to influence the changing financial landscape.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Professor of Economics at St. John's University.




Haba, Kumiko

Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo

Hungarian Minorities in Borlderlands: Transylvania and Ukraine

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The author wishes to investigate the situation of Hungarian minorities outside of the borders of Hungary, especially in Transylvania and Ukraine. The relations to the Hungarian Government after the collapse of the Cold War will be considered, including the status law and dual citizenship. Through important examples, the author investigates the life and happiness of minorities in borderlands, both under the socialist governments and the EU membership.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Kumiko Haba is a Professor at Aoyama Gakuin University, and the next Vice President of International Studies Association (ISA, USA) (2016-17), the largest Association in North America of International Relations. Her Specialty is International Relations, EU and Asian Regional Integration; nationalism, minority questions, especially in the Hungarian border areas. Dr. Haba is the author of 53 books, including co-editing and co-writing, and more than 160 academic and general articles.




Hajdú, Zoltán

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Kárpát-medence vs. Történelmi Magyarország a határon túl élő magyarság identitás-viszonyulásában

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A határon túl élő magyarság identitásáben 1918-ig egyértelműen a "létező ország" jelent meg viszonyulási, identitás-képzőként. A két világháború között a volt Történelmi Magyarország vált meghatározó érzésképzővé, de megjelent a Kárpát-medence is. Az államszocialista korszakban a nyílvánosság szintjén, amennyiben egyáltalán megjelent, akkor a szocialista Magyarországhoz való viszonyulásról lehetett csak szó. (Nem a nyilvánosság szintjén élt a Történelmi Magyarország tudata.) 1989-1990 után a Kárpát-medence vált fokozatosan "térközösség-képzővé" a nyilvános kommunikációban, de lényegében szinte mindenki a történelmi Magyarországot értette és érti alatta. Az utódállamokban élő magyarság számára a magyar állampolgárság megszerzése a "közjogi és politikai nemzethez való tartozás tudatát és gyakorlatát" erősítette meg.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Hajdú Zoltán tanulmányait a debreceni Kossuth Lajos Tudomány- egyetemen fejezte be 1976-ban. 1977-től a Magyar Tudomanyos Akademián dolgozott. 2002 óta az MTA doktora.Jelenleg tanar a Debreceni KLTE történelem-földrajz szakán. Kutatási területe a magyar politikai tér (állami, közigazgatási) hosszú távú átalakulási folyamatai.




Hantz, Lám Irén

Independent Scholar

Egy kezdeményezés kiteljesedése

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A kommunista diktatúra 1989-es bukása után Romániában hatalmas energiák szabadultak fel, társadalmi, kulturális élet terén. Negyven év lemaradását kellett bepótolni. Óceánon átívelő segítségnyujtás a közös munka gyönyörű példája az 1991-ben elkezdődött és ma is tartó Torockó-program.
A Torockó-program egy ifjúsági szabadidőközpont létrehozásával kezdődött. Az évek folyamán kiteljesedett Torockó népi építészetének kutatásával, faluturizmussal, múzeumfelújítással, galéria létesítésével amely időszakos kiállítások rendezésének biztosít keretet. Az immár húsz éve tartó munka számos torockói tárgyú könyv megjelenését is lehetővé tette.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Hantz Lám Irén 1958-ban a Bolyai Tudományetem Geológia-Földrajz szakán szerzett diplomat. 1961-1969 között a Babeş-Bolyai Tudományetem Földrajz szakán volt gyakornok. A fizikai földrajz tárgyköréből jelentek meg szakdolgozatai. Doktori tézisét a Rév-Báródi medence fizikai földrajzi jellemzéséből írta. 1969-től a Georghe Lazâr Pedagógiai Líceum tanára volt, majd 1984-től a Brassai Sámuel Líceumban tanított, nyugdíjba vonulásáig. Tanári tevékenysége alatt a romániai magyar sajtóban ismeretterjesztő cikkeket írt. 1998-ban a Torockó utikalauzzal jelentkezett, amit több más, irodalom- és helytörténeti könyv követett.




Havas, Judit

Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum

Jékely Zoltán útjai -- 1913-1982

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
„csak hangyamódra matarásztam a földtekén.”
Néhány életrajzi tény ismertetése elengedhetetlen a költőről, íróról, műfordítóról szólva; egész életét meghatározta az az erdélyi irodalmi műhely, amelyben a mestere, édesapja, Áprily Lajos volt.
Első verskezdeményei Enyeden születtek. A gimnázium első három osztályát Enyeden végezte.Tizenhárom éves korában az első barátságok és szerelmek élményével gazdagítottan el kellett hagynia a ,,Maros-parti Athént”, mert a család ismét Kolozsvárra költözött a megélhetés gondja, és az 1926-ban bontakozó erdélyi magyar irodalom okán. Jékely Zoltán 1931-ben középiskolai tanulmányi versenyt nyert s a 7-8. osztály elvégzése után érettségi vizsgát tett. Az Áprily-család otthonra lelt a budai Baár-Madas leánynevelő intézetben, lévén Áprily Lajos 1934-ben elnyerte az igazgatói kinevezést. Jekely a középiskolai verseny elismerésnek köszönhette, hogy mint magyar-francia-német szakos bölcsészhallgatót felvették a híres Eötvös Kollégiumba. A német szakos képzést az első félév végén művészettörténeti tanulmányokra cserélte. Egyetemi tanulmányait 1935-ben fejezte be, s még ez év decemberében bölcsészdoktorrá avatták. Lévén egyetemi évei alatt Jékelyre a legnagyobb hatást Horváth János lenyűgöző személyisége és hatalmas tudása tette, doktori értekezését Az erdélyi magyar irodalom kezdetei a háború után és Kuncz Aladár címmel Horváth Jánoshoz nyújtotta be.
1935 decemberében az Országos Széchenyi Könyvtárban helyezkedett el, mint fizetés nélküli gyakornok, s csak 1938-ban kapott könyvtárosi kinevezést. Első jelentős külföldi útjának időpontját 1937. júniusára tehetjük, amikor is az 1937-ben megjelent Kincskeresők című regényének tiszteletdíjából Velence, Verona, Firenze, Chiavari felfedezése után öt hetet Párizsban töltött.1939. nyarát ismét Velencében és Firenzében töltötte. S Jékely 1939 végén és 1940 elején már mint ösztöndíjas tért vissza Rómába.
Jékely Zoltán életében sorsdöntő dátum 1941, amikor a kolozsvári Egyetemi Könyvtár munkatársa lett.
1946 nehéz év volt Jékely Zoltán számára, mert megjelentetett műveinek örömét az új állampolgársági rendelkezések beárnyékolták. Döntéskényszerbe került 1946. augusztusában befejezte a Világosságbeli szerkesztői munkáját, s november végén Budapestre költözött. Hazatérését örömmel fogadták. Munkahelye ismét az Országos Széchenyi Könyvtár hírlaptára lett. 1948-ban ismét Itáliába utazott. A Római Magyar Akadémia élén Kardos Tibor állt, aki mondhatni irodalmi műhelyt hozott létre a Palazzo Falconieriben. Visszatérése után napi könyvtárosi munkája mellett, mondhatni az asztalfióknak írta verseit. Nyugalmat csupán a Szentgyörgy-pusztai ház nyújtott. Visegrád és Dunabogdány között Jékely nyaranta itt hódolt horgászszenvedélyének, amely ihlető forrása is volt. 1982-ben bekövetkezett haláláig számtalan külső és belső utazást tett meg a költő, aki mindvégig hű maradt szülőföldjéhez.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Havas Judit irodalomtörténész, előadóművész felsőfokú tanulmányait az Eötvös Loránd Tudomány Egyetem Bölcsészettudományi Karán magyar-könyvtár szakon végezte. 1975 óta előadóművész. 2003-ban PhD fokozatot szerzett az ELTE Irodalomtörténeti Intézetében. Témavezetője Dr. Kenyeres Zoltán professzor volt. Jelenleg a Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum tudományos főmunkatársa. 2006. március 15-én a Köztársasági Elnök a Magyar Köztársaság Érdemrend Lovagkeresztje kitüntetésben részesítette irodalmi munkássága elismeréseként.




Havas, Judit and Szántó, Ildikó

ELTE, Hungarian and Finno-Ugric Institute; independent scholar

To the Memory of Benő Karácsony and Ernő Salamon

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Following the Treaty of Trianon, Hungarian intellectual and literary life developed its own identity in cities such as Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, Arad, Timisoara and Targu Mures within a multiracial and multilingual Transylvania in the newly-created greater Romania. Both Benő Karácsony and Ernő Salamon, though a generation apart, are regarded as solitary figures in Transylvanian Hungarian literature. Benő Karácsony expressed the mood of his generation which, having returned from the trenches was bitter and disillusioned. His characters come from the small town of Alba Julia and his sympathy lies with those, who are at the periphery of society. In comparison to Karácsony, who was a successful novelist and playwright, the much younger Ernő Salamon was a poet of poverty. Salamon believed that there will be a better world and his poems bear a strong link to the poetry of Attila József, as well as to the avant-garde poets of his age. In different ways , both Karácsony and Salamon were nonconformists. Benő Karácsony regarded himself a Hungarian writer who was also loyal to his Jewish roots, similarly to Ernő Salamon, who was much attached to his beloved native region, Gyergyó.

This is intended as a performance presentation, Ildikó Szántó giving an overview of the two writers, with prose and poetry readings by Judit Havas.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Judit HAvas, PhD ELTE, is a research fellow at the Petőfi Literary Museum.

Ildikó Szántó received her M.A. degree in History from Macquarie University, N.S.W. She has taught interdisciplinary courses focusing on the ideological movements of the twentieth century in East-Central Europe at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences, Pázmány Péter Catholic University and the Budapest Business School.






Hegedűs, István

Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Role of the St. Ladislaus Church in New Brunswick's Hungarian Community

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
There were four larger waves of Hungarian immigration from 1880 to 1990 to New Brunswick. Before the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, after the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, after the end of the World War II, after the 1956 revolution of Hungary.
By the first years of the 1900’s the Roman Catholic members of the community became strong enough to establish an independent Hungarian parish. In the winter 1903, a voting ceremony took place at Columbia Hall (St. Peter’s Parish) led by McKeesport priest Kalman Kovacs, where the members decided the founding of the Hungarian parish. They got the license in the summer of 1904 from the Bishop of Trenton. The members called upon Fr. John Szeneczey of McAdoo, PA to lead their community, which was accepted. The father occupied his new service place in September 1904. The church record’s began with a baptism on October 2nd 1904. The establishment of the parish was in 25th October 1904, when the Saint Ladislaus Roman Catholic Church registered as a legal person. The masses were held at St. Peter’s halls for several months. The parishioners intended an important role for teaching their childer as well. To serve those need they started to build a school in 1914, which was already dedicated September 6th in the same year. We can say that the Hungarian education began 100 years ago in New Brunswick.
The number of weekend's Hungarian school (operated by St. Ladislaus Church and Magyar Reformed Church) around 170, however, the clock effects of assimilation is very strong. The St. Ladislaus Church still regarded as the center of local Hungarian community organization.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
István Hegedűs (MA in History, Eszterházy Károly College, Eger; MA in Library Science, Eszterházy Károly College, Eger; Msc in agricultural engineer specialized to rural development, Károly Róbert College) working as research assistant at the Institute for Minority Studies Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He is working on his doctoral thesis in History (about the estates and possessions of the Andrássy family during 19th-20th century). He is also interested in the preservation and development of Hungarica collections of the US. He spent half a year in New Brunswick, NJ with the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor scholarship.




Hetényi, Zsuzsa

ELTE, Budapest

Parallels in Difference – A Typological Comparison of Isaac Babel and Károly Pap as Two Cases of Jewish Writing in Different Languages

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In spite of the fact that Babel (1894–1940), a Soviet Jewish writer and Pap (1897–1945), a Hungarian Jewish one, were assimilated in the very different circumstances of Tsarist Russia and Austro-Hungarian empires, have strikingly many comparable moments in their biographies and—what is more important—in their writings that are concentrated around the possibility of a double cultural and personal identity of Jews.
They were both involved in the revolutionary movements and later disappointed in Socialist ideas; they both took distance of their Jewish background. They died nearly the same age, both a violent death, both victims of a dictatorship, of the two totalitarian regimes of the 20th century.
My paper’s aim to of outline some typological conclusions of these seeming coincidences for the impasses of the Jewish assimilation among the intellectuals of 20th century.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Zsuzsa Hetényi is Professor and PhD-program director in the Institute for Slavic Studies, ELTE University, Budapest, DSc of Academy of Sciences and a literary translator (Babel, Bulgakov, Kharms, Nabokov, Russian-Jewish prose anthology, and others). Her main works include a monographic study on Biblical and messianic motifs in Babel's Red Cavalry (1991); In the Maelstrom: The History of Russian-Jewish Literature (in Hungarian 2000, in English 2008, CEU-Press). She edited and co-authored the 2-volume History of Russian Literature (v. 1: 1997, v. 2: 2002). Her fields of interest are the Russian Prose of 20th century, bilingual authors, literature of dual identity and exile, Biblical motifs in literature and Jewish Prose. She is currently at work on the first Hungarian monograph on Vladimir Nabokov’s oeuvre.




Hoffmann, Rita

Independent Scholar

Teaching Diversity in Hungary

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Teaching a foreign language involves more factors than teaching words and grammar. One factor is most certainly culture. Disability is a phenomenon which strongly determines lives all over the world; consequently, how people react to the phenomenon reflects in cultures. Therefore, teaching a foreign language proves an excellent resource to go beyond borders.

As a teacher of English and researcher of cultural disability studies (CDS), I feel privileged to assist students to discover segments of the target language culture. These segments include knowledge of and attitudes to disability recently present in various English language coursebooks and seem inspiring sources for learning/teaching paradigms beyond political correctness.

Being a vision impaired teacher of English as a foreign language (TEFL), I not only welcome the diverse nature of disability amongst the topics of language teaching, but also do my utmost to provide literary texts to help my students identify their own relations to disability, whether they are disabled or non-disabled. Since I believe that understanding disability is based on understanding various perceptions of the world, I offer disability memoir as a medium of learning/teaching diversity in the hope of motivating, inspiring my disabled and non-disabled students while they learn the language of diverse cultures. In Hungary we need to improve understanding and attitudes to disability; the aim of the paper is to highlight what perspectives CDS and TEFL share to go beyond borders.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Rita Hoffmann is a freelance teacher of English as a Foreign Language and a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Education and Psychology of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. Her current interests are perspectives of cultural disability studies in higher education, disability life writing and literary representations of disability with special regard to the representations of disability in the works of contemporary Catalan writer, Jaume Cabré. In the spring semester of the academic year 2011/2012, Rita Hoffmann was a Fulbright researcher at the English Department of the University of California at Berkeley.






House Wade, Susan

not applicable at present

Imre Kiralfy and the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition at the White City, London

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Hungarian-born Imre Kiralfy (1845-1919) had created such success with the popular Earl's Court exhibitions in London, staged between 1885 and 1903, that he was given the task of leading the Franco-British Exhibition in 1908, for which he devised and created the White City site. This was to be the first of a string of Kiralfy-led White City productions which went on for some six years.

Kiralfy was a recognised showman and promoter in England, the United States and continental Europe. He utilised a formulaic approach to the successful creation of the spectacle, and by the time of the Japan-British Exhibition in 1910, he had a number of fairs and exhibitions to his credit.

He was fully cognisant of the potential of Japan's popularity with Western audiences. The craze for all things Japanese was at a high point, and crowds arrived in 1910 at the White City site from all over the United Kingdom, as well as from continental Europe.

In this paper, I will examine Kiralfy's extraordinary showmanship skills as they relate to the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910. During the period from May to October of that year, Kiralfy was able to attract over eight million visitors, exceeding even the numbers which turned out for the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, which was widely acknowledged to have set the standard by which all other expositions were judged.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr Susan House Wade is an independent scholar based in London, England. She has studied in both the United States and in England, having received a Master's degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and a PhD in Design History from the University of Brighton. Her doctoral thesis topic related to the representation of Korea and Japan in print and in visual imagery in England during the period 1910-1939. Susan's current research interests include the phenomenon of the great exhibition/exposition, as well as the impact of orientalism, in the broad sense, on popular culture in the early 20th century.




Huszti, Judit

University of Pécs, Foreign Language Centre

Diaspora Program - Outline of a Project at the University of Pécs

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The presentation introduces a project plan of the University of Pécs (UP), which intends to reinforce the institutional cooperation with Hungarians living in the world. In line with the Hungarian government's efforts aiming to involve those who are interested, the UP wants to connect not only with Hungarian local organizations abroad, but also to link them culturally through education and learning at the University of Pécs. (Pécs was the European Capital of Culture in 2010.) Educational training programs based on the needs of Hungarian foreign communities provide the basis for the professional program. Under the Diaspora Innovative Program English and Hungarian languages can be used in distance learning curriculum packages (e-learning, m-learning, blended learning). Short courses, training courses take place in the following priority areas: Hungarian as a foreign language; Hungarian history, culture, folklore and traditions; Hungarian legal system. The courses fit the Bologna system, the European Qualifications Framework to ensure interoperability among the courses, training areas and institutions.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Judit Huszti is the director of the Foreign Language Centre of the University of Pécs. As the test developer of the ECL examination system she has been dealing with test construction and assessment. She worked for several years as member of the Hungarian Accrediation Board for Foreign Language Examinations. She was involved in projects developing blended learning materials in Hungarian language (Mig Komm, Imed Komm). Her publications are in the field of different areas of language testing – communicative aspect of testing, aligning tests with the CEFR, test takers with disabilities.




Jablonczay, Tímea

King Sigismund College

Liberated Women Survivors (?) Effects and After-effects of the Holocaust in Women’s Narratives (Teréz Rudnóy and Boris Palotai)

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Although scholarly interest in Holocaust representation and remembrance from a gendered perspective emerged, over the last decades a few researches on Holocaust in Hungarian scientific studies began to analyze the significance of gender differences regarding Holocaust experiences and narratives. Many women Holocaust survivor attempted to record and preserve their suffering in fiction and poetry, using literary and aesthetic strategies to mediate their experiences emphasizing how gender differences shape the perceptions, experiences, and representation of the Holocaust. In my presentation I will focus on two intertwined novels; Teréz Rudnóy’s Szabaduló asszonyok, 1947 (Liberated Women Survivors) and Boris Palotai’s A férfi, 1964 (The Man) can be analyzed foregrounding issues of gender, the representation and trauma of Holocaust concerning social and historical context, which frame the literary texts.
Teréz Rudnóy in her text of Szabaduló asszonyok [Liberated Women Survivors] - published in 1947 [2011], a month before her death – narrates her experiences in creating novel about devastation, hopelessness, tormented memories, in posing questions about law and revenge right after the liberation. The text portrays the strong female bodily experiences; within this representation the fragmented female body could be revealed as a sign of suffering, absence and vulnerability. The complexity of memory in narrating the woman’s experience after the Holocaust can be seen in Boris Palotai’s text (titled, A férfi, The Man), contained fictionalized set of biographical elements referring to Teréz Rudnóy’s tragical story after the liberation. The protagonist of the novel struggles to recover a collapse connection with life, but she cannot survive her suffering, loss of her family and own liberation.
The aim of this presentation is to explore the extratextual and intratextual interconnections between these two texts produced within the representation of the women’s experience in Holocaust concentrating on the dilemma of interpreting representations.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Tímea Jablonczay teaches gender, media and cultural studies at the King Sigismundus College, Budapest. She was trained as a literary scholar and her interest in scholarship includes narratology, gender studies, Holocaust and Central-European Literature. Jablonczay has published a co-edited volume Narratívák 6. Narratív beágyazás és reflexivitás (2007) [Narratives 6. Embedded Narratives and Reflexivity] on narratology and her publications include various articles on literary and gender studies including “Nation, Sexuality and Gender in Literary Representations of Ilona Zrínyi”, Hungarian Studies Review (2014) or "Marginality and the Practice of Border-crossing: Hybrid Forms of Identity in Erzsi Senesh’s Works (in Hungarian", TNTef Interdisciplinary E-Journal of Gender Studies (2014).




Kádár Lynn, Katalin

Eötvös Loránd University Budapest

The Cold War Intelligence Activites of Hungarian Émigrés in the West

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In 1953 at the height of the "hot" phase of the Cold War, when liberation was still a keystone of US policy, an American intelligence operative commented that "every Hungarian of any value to intelligence is connected by now with one or another Western intelligence agency."

It certainly is very close to the truth, as Hungarian emigres were utilized in various intelligence or intelligence related capacities during WWII, a practice which was continued and greatly expanded with the onset of the Cold War and the newly arrived flood of Hungarian refugees in the west.

This paper will focus on the early years of the Cold War ( 1947-1956) and seek to introduce the various ways in which Hungarians were involved with and supported the activities of intelligence agencies of the United States and Great Britain in their efforts not only to spy upon but to destabilize the Soviet grip on their homelands. It will touch upon the organizations, individuals and networks that were in place and political orientation that the emigres themselves represented and supported.

The paper will also reveal more fully Tibor Eckhardt's history with American intelligence,the knowledge of which has greatly expanded as a result of recently declassified materials being made available.





Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Katalin Kádár Lynn is a historian based in Budapest and California whose principal area of scholarship is World War II and the Cold War with an emphasis on Central and East European émigré political activities and organizations. She is the founder and Editor in Chief of Helena History Press, LLC a publishing house specializing in scholarship about and from Central and East Europe in English. She most recently edited and contributed to The Inauguration of Organized Political Warfare: Cold War Organizations sponsored by the National Committee for a Free Europe/ Free Europe Committee (Helena History Press, 2013). She is the biographer of the Hungarian political figure Tibor Eckhardt titled Tibor Eckhardt: His American Years 1941-192 published in English and Hungarian (East European Monographs, L’Harmattan Press). She edited and published Eckhardt’s memoir, Tibor Eckhardt: In His Own Words. She co-authored along with historians Károly Szerencsés and Péter Strausz, Through an American Lens, Hungary 1938: Photographs by Margaret Bourke-White (East European Monographs, 2010). Kádár Lynn is currently researching and writing an expanded biography of Tibor Eckhardt, which will encompass his Hungarian years and his wartime and Cold War intelligence activities. Her upcoming publications include a biography of Béla Varga and a history of the Hungarian National Council and a survey of Hungarian immigration history from 1938 – 1972. She serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Comenius, the International Advisory Board of the AHEA e-journal Hungarian Cultural Studies, the board of the American Hungarian Library and Historical Society of New York and the American Hungarian Federation. In 2011 she was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary.




Kádár, Judit

University of West Hungary, Szombathely

Ways of Losing Identity: Emigre Women Writers from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The period of soaring economic prosperity after 1867 brought about the birth of modern women's literature in the eastern part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy too.

Female descendants of impoverished noble or middle-class families that had been unable to adapt to capitalism, young girls who were resolute to earn a living by writing moved to the Hungarian capital city even from the remotest regions.

Almost two-thirds of these future intellectuals arrived from the provinces, among them Anna Tutsek, who quitting her Transylvanian birthplace, Kolozsvár (Cluj), settled down in Budapest in the 1890s, or Margit Kaffka who moved to the capital from a region located to the west of Transylvania in 1902.

For many, it was the dissolution of the Monarchy that led to their emigration: one of the most popular writers of the interwar period, Lola Réz Kosáryné left her native land, the Selmecbánya (Banska Stiavnica) region in the West Carpathians to emigrate from the new state of Czechoslovakia to Hungary in 1919.

By analysing the writings of these women writers, the aim of this paper on Hungarian - Eastern-European women's social history is to examine how these immigrant writers reacted to the loss of cultural and social norms that had inevitably occurred to them, to investigate whether they identified this loss of identity as deprivation or having been convinced of the existence of an indivisible unitary Hungarian nation and culture they avoided/rejected self-reflexion.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Judit Kádár, who received her Ph.D. in Hungarian Literature at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, teaches American Literature and Twentieth-Century British prose in the English Department of the University of West-Hungary in Szombathely. Her main field of research is nineteenth and twentieth century Hungarian women writers, and she also regularly writes on contemporary American and British literature as a correspondent for Magyar Narancs, a Hungarian political and cultural weekly. She has published an anthology of twentieth century Hungarian women poets (Térdig születésben, halálban), a collection of critical essays (Royal Flush), and a monograph on pre-World War II Hungarian women writers (Engedelmes lázadók).




Kerekes, Judit

City University of New York College of Staten Island

USA Perspectives of Creating 21st Century Learners in Mathematics Teacher Education

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Topic: Education
In the USA, there is a great demand of K-12 and post-secondary education to do better preparing graduates for the 21st century workforce. The nation’s long history of standards, student testing demands for teacher performance is well known. However, definitions of 21st century learning vary according to international contexts and such skills depend on the discipline.

I am a professor of Math education in NYC and work in teacher preparation, graduate education and school based professional development. This provides a specific vantage point to discuss the theoretical and practical understanding of 21st century learning in USA. My philosophy of math education is highly constructivist and student centered. I teach through original experiential learning activities wherein my teacher candidates discover the beauty and excitement of math concepts.

Most of these college students have been taught math in traditional modes which heavily emphasis worksheets and repetitive drills. In our classes, they begin to experience a hands-on, approach to discovering math for the first time. They need to learn these approaches, because the schools systems, state and federal standard require them to teach 21st century skills, and math in real life contexts.

In my session, I will present the current understanding of 21st century learning and related essential skills which USA believe students need. I will also demonstrate several of my key strategies for developing and facilitating constructivist learning (including video clips). Participants will learn and experience the USA perspective of these concepts, and cutting edge approaches to preparing teachers and master teachers.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Judit Kerekes is an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education at the City University of New York College of Staten Island. She has published extensively on the educational aspects of mathematics and she was a co-author of two books on the same topic. She also lectured and presented numerous papers on education and has been involved in teaching in Hungarian Schools within the community. Kerekes Judit’s major areas of math education research include constructivism, critical thinking, problem solving, pedagogy, and teacher education.




Kincses, Katalin Mária

Institute of Military History of Hungary

From the History of the First Hungarian Barber-Chirurg-Guild: The Chirurgs in Cluj-Napoca

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The history of Cluj-Napoca in the middle- and early modern age compared with other Hungarian cities is one of the most particularly revealing research-field. Specifically, the history of the handcraft, of the guilds as their advocacy system, their multi-layered tasks (taking part in the city-administration, in the social network) became well-known in the last decades.
Among the crafts the guild of the chirurgs, surgeons (barbers), is of special interest, as it is today difficult to imagine how healthcare could work as a union of craftsmen. Surgery meant, over centuries, the medical attendance to injuries; it meant only accident surgery.
Moreover, the chirurg-guild in Cluj-Napoca founded in 1568 was the first barber-guild of Hungary. Its constitution from 1648 we can get a glimpse of how the craftsmen in the guild worked. By now we know that about 80% of the barbers in Cluj Napoca were of Hungarian desendence; they came from Cluj-Napoca, from the town of Cibiu, Bihar county and from the villages in Kolos county. Furthermore, we know that in addition to three doctors in 1790 in the city, there were still six chirurgs.
Researching the Hungarian guild-database we managed to compile last year the protocols of the barber-guild in Cluj Napoca in the 17th and 18th centuries. Based on these protocols containing the names of every guild-members, we developed new ideas about the guild-system, the influence of the craftsmen in the city, and about their numbers. The number of the barbers in Cluj Napoca is unique even in European context: we can examine masters, fellows, servants in the documents.
Above all we have to ask: why were there so many healer persons in Cluj Napoca? Might we witness an unprecedented phenomenon, a „healer college” in the frame of a guild?


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Katalin Mária Kincses is managing editor of the journal Quarterly of Military History in Hungary, Institute and Museum of Military History. She received her PhD from ELTE in medieval and early modern Hungarian history in 2001. Her research interests include medieval and early modern Hungarian history, Environmental history, Hungarian historiography, history of 16-18th century mentality.




Kissné, Novák Éva

University of Szeged

Történelem és nemzettudat

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Minden nemzet számon tartja azokat a kiválóságokat, akikre büszkén hivatkozik, legyenek azok tudósok, feltalálók, sportolók, történelmi hősök, kiemelkedő államférfiak. Fontos, hogy bárki legyen is az érdemének, helyének, jelentőségének megfelelően értékeljük. Minden vele kapcsolatos tényt, adatot tárgyilagosan korrekt módon ítéljünk meg.
Ezt a szempontot szem előtt tartva előadásomban a jelenleg érvényesülő történelem szemléltet szeretném röviden – néhány példán keresztül – bemutatni. Azt a „kulcsra kész történelmet”, amivel oktatásunk saját képére kívánja formálni nemzettudatunkat.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Kissné dr. Novák Éva egyetemi docens a Szegedi Tudományetem Filozófia Tanszékén. Kutatási témái: értékelmélet, család és életmód, Böhm Károly filozófiája.




Kovács, Ilona

Hungarian National Library (OSzK), Budapest

The Perspectives and Features of Second Generation American Hungarian Veterans’ Readjustment to their Home Society Returning from WWII; New Brunswick, NJ 1946-1960

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The paper attempts to contribute with original information to the history of second generation American Hungarians in the post war period: how was their readjustment returning from WWII. How did they recover, how did they start or restart their life? How did the identity of this generation develop? Could they utilize America’s effort made for this generation, the G.I. Bill or any other veteran benefits: health care, studies, housing, etc.? Was there any influence of the US post war prosperity recognizable in their life? Did all those changes have any local or American Hungarian character?
For comparison the New Brunswick situation with the general post war American scene, the research findings of American Studies were utilized. The analysis of the New Brunswick case is based on a survey and post war Hungarian American contemporary sources. At the time of the research in 2013 hardly any members of the WWII veteran generation were accessible already. However their siblings and contemporary witnesses gave interesting interviews with important information. Although this survey brought valuable information, further research is necessary to make the picture complete. Despite the lack of detailed information regarding the second generation American Hungarians in the 40s and 50s especially from the view of the WWII veteran generation, we believe the details presented here can help to make the picture complete and be important for future research as well.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Ilona Kovács is librarian and retired department head of the National Széchényi Library, Budapest.
She gained her diplomas at the Budapest University (ELTE, 1961) and at Kent State University, Ohio (MLS, 1975), and her doctoral degree at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA 1993). Her research area is Hungarians abroad focusing on American Hungarians. As head of the Hungarica Documentation she was director of grants for collecting information and documentation and build up Hungarica databases and also conducting surveys to publish a series of publications on Hungarica material of libraries in Europe, Australia and Canada. She attended several international conferences in Europe, USA, Canada and Hungary and published over 100 articles, studies and books. She was a Fulbright scholar at the American Hungarian Foundation in the AYs 1995 and 2001/03.





Kulin, Borbála

University of Debrecen

The Borders of Identity in the Poetry of László Kürti

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The edition of László Kürti’s latest poems (Masses of the Body, 2012) shows that the new language of his philosophical poetry sruggles to find the borders of the always-changing self. In my paper I study the experimental borders of the identity through his poems, that are sought in sexuality, in family relations and in the relation to the transcendent.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. Borbála Kulin rceived her PhD degree at the University of Debrecen, Department of Literature and Cultural Studies, in January 2015. The title of her thesis: „The objects shine. Poetic representation of the transcendent in the œuvre of Gyula Illyés”. Since 2009 she is the editor of the Hungarian periodical of arts, culture and literature „A Vörös Postakocsi” (www.avorospostakocsi.hu)




Laki, Péter

Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Multilingual Soliloquies: The unaccompanied voice in the works of György Kurtág

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
György Kurtág is one of the most highly regarded composers of our time. Born in 1926 into a Hungarian-speaking Jewish family in Lugoj, Romania (known until 1918 as Lugos, Hungary), Kurtág grew up speaking Hungarian, Romanian, and German. He lived in Hungary from 1945 until the early 1990s, when he moved to Western Europe, eventually settling in southwestern France. He is known, among other things, for his very sophisticated relationship to languages and literatures, having worked with texts by such giants as Attila József, Hölderlin, Kafka, Beckett, and Akhmatova. Polyglot from an early age, Kurtág has set poetry in Hungarian, German, Russian, English, French, ancient Greek and, recently, Romanian (there is also a short, unpublished Italian fragment of Ungaretti's "M'illumino d'immenso"). Several of these works use a single human voice without any kind of instrumental accompaniment. My presentation will address this rather unusual medium and examine how the entirety of the musical material is generated from the poetic word alone. These works, whose performance can be described as a heightened dramatic recitation, amount to a personal interpretation and a perceptive analysis of the literary sources.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Peter Laki was born in Budapest where he studied musicology at the Franz Liszt Conservatory (now University) of Music. After further studies in Paris, he moved to the USA in 1982 and earned a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. For many years he worked for the Cleveland Orchestra; he is currently on the faculty of Bard College. He is the editor of "Bartók and his World" (Princeton University Press) and numerous articles on Bartók and more recent Hungarian composers (Veress, Ligeti, Kurtág).





Lénárt-Cheng, Helga

Saint Mary's College of California

Hamvas Endre vívódásai

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Hamvas Endre (1890-1970) kalocsai érsek, a magyar püspöki kar elnöke, a kommunista diktatúra legkeményebb éveiben közvetített az államhatalom és a katolikus egyház között. Hamvas tiltakozott a zsidók deportálása, a Benes dekrétumok, valamint a németek háború utáni kitelepítése ellen, és felháborodásának nyilvánosan is hangot adott. A bebörtönzött Mindszenty József mellett is végig kiállt, azonban 1956 után –legalábbis látszatra– együttműködött a kommunista kormánnyal. Ennek az együttműködésnek a keretében Hamvas képviselte Magyarországot a második vatikáni zsinaton, valamint a Béke Világtanács moszkvai ülésén is. Az elmúlt években sorra jelentek meg olyan kiadványok, melyek a Hamvassal kapcsolatos államvédelmi és állambiztonsági iratokat tartalmazzák, természetesen válogatva. Bár a tudományos feldolgozás még várat magára, ezeknek a kiadványoknak köszönhetően bepillantást nyerhetünk e korszak közéleti szereplőinek személyes vivódásaiba, félelmeibe.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Helga Lénárt-Cheng studied French and German at JATE and ELTE in Hungary, and she received her PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. Since 2008 she has been on the faculty of the Department of Modern Languages at Saint Mary's College of California. Her research interests include the philosophical tradition of phenomenological hermeneutics, philosophies of subjectivity, various genres of life-writing (autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, blogs, etc.) and theories of utopia. She has just completed a monograph on Alexander Lenard, and she is working on her book about the politics of sharing life stories.




Lo Bello, Maya J.

ELTE - BTK

Observation as Action: the Holocaust Journal of Miksa Fenyő

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Diaries and notes were written in every place where Jews lived under Nazi rule—ghettos, camps, hideouts, forests—by men and women of all professions. It is impossible today to assess the scope of this written material, for much was lost. Still, it seems that about 400 diaries have been traced so far—more than half of them written in Poland—and that most of the diaries published now were written by adults in the ghettos of Warsaw, Vilna and Lodz.
(Dina Porat, The Vilna Ghetto Diaries)

As someone first introduced to Holocaust literature through The Diary of Anne Frank, Dina Porat’s examination of the Vilna Ghetto diaries not only opened my eyes to the relative scarcity of extant Holocaust journals, it also underscored my already high consideration of Az elsodort ország. A journal recorded by the Hungarian author and Nyugat editor, Miksa Fenyő, this work details the author’s months in hiding during the Hungarian Holocaust, as set to paper by a vivid personality whose literary skill was only surpassed by an intimate familiarity with Hungary’s art and political scene at this time. While my lecture will draw from examinations of Polish Holocaust journals—including studies by Aharon Appelfeld, David Engel, Robert Moses Shapiro—in an attempt to place Fenyő’s journal within the broader context of narrative techniques relevant to Holocaust literature, it is my intent to interpret Fenyő’s frequent references to “active observation” through the lens of his work as an impressionistic critic for the literary journal, Nyugat. As true as it is that Holocaust diaries form an individual’s struggle to preserve a sense of self in the face of a daily destruction, I would like to pose the question of whether Holocaust narratives can only be analyzed within the constraints of then or possibly after—what about the role of before?


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Maya J. Lo Bello received her B.A. in Central European Studies (with a concentration in Hungarian and Polish literature) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1999. In 2012 she attained her M.A. degree in Modern Hungarian Literature and Language at Eötvös Loránd University, following completion of her thesis on the impressionistic criticism of Miksa Fenyő. Maya Lo Bello has been continuing her research of Miksa Fenyő’s role in the early Nyugat period as a PhD student of the Modern Literature Program at Eötvös Loránd University. Her doctoral advisor is the Attila József scholar, Dr. György Tverdota. She is a resident of Hungary. Other than her publications in literary history, Maya Lo Bello’s translations have appeared in Germany, Hungary and the USA.




Ludányi, Andrew

Ohio Northern University

Book Presentation: Cseh Tibor: Csernátontól a Reménység Taváig

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Cseh Tibor élete (1925–2004) szorosan összefügg a szétszórtságban élő magyarok sorsával. Ezen belül példaképe és szellemi vezetője volt a külföldre szakadt magyarságnak, főleg a magyar cserkészmozgalom és az ITT-OTT folyóirat köré csoportosult Magyar Baráti Közösségen (MBK) keresztül.
Székelyföldön született, de Csernátonról még hatéves korában áttelepült Magyarországra. Onnan D.P.-ként került Ausztriába 1948-ban, és onnan Brazíliába 1949-ben. Már Ausztriában bekapcsolódott a cserkészmunkába és szervezésébe. Brazíliában fontos szerepet vállalt az ottani magyar cserkészet létrehozásában Rio de Janeiro városában. Itt aktív mozgatója volt a magyar kulturális életnek, mind a cserkész regös mozgalomban, mind a szabadegyetem irodalmi és művészeti előadásainak megszervezésében. Ezt a munkát feleségével, Gábor Annával végezték együtt. Miután munkahelye, a Cynamid vállalata új megbízatással küldte Észak-Amerikába, New Jersey államba, ott folytatta ezt a munkát is haláláig, 2004-ig. Ez lett életének meghatározó feladata, mert minden szabad idejét a cserkészetnek és az írásnak szentelte. 1972 után pedig – a herefordi találkozó után – állandó munkatársa lett a Magyar Baráti Közösségnek.
Megjelent cikkeiből témakör alapján antológiát állítottunk össze. Így élete fél évszázadának legértékesebb termését szeretnénk megmenteni az utókor számára. Írásai a Magyar Cserkész, a Vezetők Lapja, a Transsylvania és az ITT-OTT folyóiratokban és az MBK Kalendáriumában láttak napvilágot. Így e könyv potenciális olvasóközönsége a három kontinensen szétszórt magyarság, főleg a külföldi Magyar Cserkészszövetség és a Magyar Baráti Közösség tagjai. A könyv terjesztését a fenti két szervezeten kívül biztosan támogatja majd, a családi kötelékek miatt is, a Haszmann család és néprajzi múzeumuk Csernátonban.

Írásait témakör alapján többféleképpen feloszthatjuk (l. a mellékelt ismertetőt). Több kiváló nevelő szándékú írása van fiatalok, cserkészek számára a néprajz, az irodalom és a történelem témakörében. Írásaiban a külföldre szakadt magyarság lélektani állapotát is hatásosan boncolgatja. Egyik kedvenc témája a „szétszórtsági” és a „hazai” magyarság kapcsolattartása. Sokat foglalkozik szervezési kérdésekkel mind a cserkészmozgalom, mind az MBK életében. Írásait mindenkor áthatja a megmaradásért és a fejlődésért való elszántsága! Ezt mind kiváló stílussal, jó példázattal és érdekes okfejtéssel tárja az olvasó elé. Hézagpótló antológia lesz a szétszórtsági magyarok életéről.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Andrew Ludanyi (Szikszó, 1940) is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Ohio Northern University. His specialty subfields are Comparative Politics and International Relations. His research has focused on interethnic and inter-nationality relations in East Central Europe with particular attention on developments in Transylvania and Voivodina. He has published numerous articles and reviews and edited three book in his research area. His latest publication is “The Legacy of Transylvania in Romanian and Hungarian Historiography” (2011).




Lugossy, Réka

University of Pécs, Hungary

Revealing Multiple Identities: Research into Hungarian EFL Teachers' Beliefs about Using Stories

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The talk explores Hungarian EFL teachers’ beliefs about the educational value of stories and it examines how these beliefs are linked to teachers’ multiple identities. Despite the widely accepted cognitive, affective and linguistic benefits of telling and listening to stories (Bettelheim, 1991; Bruner, 1996; Elley, 1989; Schank & Abelson, 1995; Webster & Mertova, 2007), the convention in most Hungarian schools is to regard narratives as a decoration, instead of exploiting its potential as a context for imaginative and meaningful learning. Data gained from classroom observation and teachers’ narratives reveal a mismatch between current learning theories and teachers’ educational practice and they highlight the need to see teachers’ professional identities as shaped not only by their community of practice, but also by their specific cultural and educational traditions. It also appears from the research that learners’ development cannot be conceptualized without teachers’ growth: they are parts of the same complex, relational process which is indissociable from the social context, and from participants’ personal, professional and cultural history.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
I started my career as a primary and secondary school teacher of English, first in Transylvania (Romania), then in Hungary. In the past 20 years I have worked as a teacher trainer at the University of Pécs in Hungary, teaching courses on how to apply narratives in TEFL, on integrating language and content (CLIL) and on exploring teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning. I have published in English mostly on the role of educational culture in language learning and teaching, on teachers’ beliefs and on the role of narratives in children’s meaning making and in teacher cognition.




Lurcza, Zsuzsanna

MTA-ELTE

Identitásokon átívelő diskurzusok

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Az identitás és a kulturális identitás hagyományos esszencialista, szubsztancialista és konstruktivista elméletei a posztmodernizmus kontextusában mindinkább megkérdőjeleződnek. Az olyan elméletek mint a filozófiai destrukció különböző formái, a dekonstrukció, a posztstrukturalista és a posztmodern elméletek megingatják az identitás és a kulturális identitás hagyományos homogén- és egységorientált státusát, ezzel párhuzamosan viszont a posztModernizmus kontextusában ugyancsak megfigyelhető az identitás hauntológikusan új konstruálása. Központi szerephez jut e fogalmak definíciós problémája, nem csak a humán- és a társadalomtudományok tekintetében, hanem nemzetközi és globális vonatkozásban egyaránt. Radikalizálódnak továbbá az univerzális definíciók és az erre épülő etikai, politikai és jogi praxisok diskurzusai. A kérdés viszont az, hogy az univerzalista egységorientált elméletek mennyiben hitelesek és életképesek a kulturális, nemzeti, etnikai, vallási, szemléletbeli és más különbözőségek vonatkozásában? Határokon átívelő identitások körvonalazódnak vagy pedig inkább identitásokon átívelő diskurzusok?


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Lurcza Zsuzsanna (1985, Székelyudvarhely) az MTA–ELTE Hermeneutika Kutatócsoport tudományos munkatársa. Doktori disszertációját a Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetemen védte meg 2012-ben A kulturális identitás mint hermeneutikai probléma címmel. Kutatási területe: hermeneutika, dekonstrukció, posztmodernizmus. Válogatott publikációi: Kulturális identitás és de(kon)strukció. Doktori dolgozatok. Egyetemi Műhely Kiadó – Bolyai Társaság, Kolozsvár, 2014. Cultural Identity and Deconstruction. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai, Seria Philosophia, 2014/3.




Magyar, Kálmán

American Hungarian Folklore Center, NJ

Domján József and Qi Baishi, Friends Forever

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
József Domján [1907 – 1992] is one of Hungary’s most famous and prolific artists in the 20th Century. His works are in the collections of many major museums in North America, but also around the world. Domján was born into a poor working class family in Budapest and due to his exceptional talent and pure luck, he became a recognized artists before WWII and following, during the Communist regime. He has received the Munkáçsy and Kossuth Prizes and In 1956, after the fall of the Revolution, he immigrated with his family to the West, eventually settling in Tuxedo Park, New York.
Interesting and noteworthy, that in 1955 he was invited to visit, exhibit and study in China by the Mao Ce-Tung government. This visit resulted in 15 exhibitions in important Chinese cities and a study tour, which was a determining influence on his works throughout his life. During this visit, he was fortunate to meet and work with one of the most important Chinese artists, Qi Baishi [1864 – 1957]. The impact of Domján’s visit to China and his meetings with Qi Baishi are important part of his artistic imagery and symbolisms, even in his latest works.
In 2014 October, the Peking Hungarian Cultural Center, Balassi Institute, opened a successful exhibition of Domján Art and entitled the exhibition Domján and Qi Baishi, Friends Forever. In fact, it is true, since Domján is the only Hungarian artists who met Qi and has carried the reminiscence of these meetings throughout his life, thereby creating a connections between Chinese and Hungarian contemporary art. In 1955 Qi Baishi was already 92 years old and he passed away 2 years later.
To fully understand Domján Art, we must consider the importance of his visit to China. The presentation will focus on the 2014 exhibition in Peking and how important the 1955 five months study and exhibition tour was to one and only Hungarian artist who had a chance to visit China during the Mao Ce-Tung regime.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Kalman Magyar is the director of the American Hungarian Folklore Centrum and its related organization, the American Hungarian Museum, Passaic, New Jersey. The Museum’s long and meaningful association with Domján Art and Family makes one of its mission to keep Domján Art alive in Hungary and in the USA, and assist in bringing recognition to the works of this artist and his wife, Evelyn, a lifelong partner in his art.




Mak, Viktor

Colgate University

The History of Jászberény in 1944: How Hungarian History Molded My Hungarian-American Identity

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
The seeds of this presentation was planted years ago by my grandmother. Every summer she would tell me stories about her childhood during World War Two, the 1956 Hungarian revolution, socialism, the fall of it in 1989, neoliberal economic reforms, and Hungary joining the EU. The goal of my presentation is to interpret in light of international research how a small provincial town, Jászberény and a young Hungarian girl experienced the events between March and November of 1944, and the horrors that Hitler and Stalin’s armies inflicted. Based on interviews from Margit Hegedűs - my grandmother - and secondary sources, including an interview with a military historian at the Hungarian Military Museum, I have pieced together the events of 1944 in Jászberény. I found that the experience of my grandmother and the local events in Jászberény closely fit into both Deák’s description of Hungary under Nazi occupation and Snyder's characterization of the Soviet Union's occupat!
ion. My study proposes that only when examining the Holocaust and the Soviet occupation on the micro level can we understand the truly horrific nature of it.
The real significance of this study for me was the exploration and transformation of my Hungarian –American identity as the historical events in conjunction with my family stories of 1944 unfolded. This presentation will discuss how the examination of history contributed to identity formation.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Viktor Mak is a senior at Colgate University, Hamilton NY. In May, he is graduating with a degree in Global Studies and Philosophy. As a Benton Scholar at Colgate, he participated in extended trips to Uganda, Guatemala, Peru and Bangladesh to conduct research in history, economics and cultural studies. He completed two summer research internships at the Central European University in Budapest. He has just published an article in the Foldgomb, the journal of Hungarian Geographic Scientific Association. His research interest is current Eastern European history.




Maróti, Orsolya

Balassi Intezet, Budapest

"Nem sokat tud csinálni?" A nyelv megőrzésének lehetőségei szórvány- és diaszpóraközösségekben

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
A nyelv és az identitás kapcsolata sokféle lehet. Az identitás megőrzésének gyakorlata közösségenként és családonként is eltér. A legtöbb modellnek része azonban a szülők, nagyszülők nyelvének megőrzése: olyan érték, amiért érdemes erőfeszítéseket tenni. Előadásomban arra a kérdésre igyekszem megtalálni a választ, hogyan segítheti az alkalmazott nyelvészet ezeket a törekvéseket, és mit jelent a származásnyelvi szemlélet.
Amikor kétnyelvűségről beszélünk, az egyén nyelvhasználata szempontjából írjuk le tapasztalatainkat. A közösségi és az oktatási feladatok meghatározása szempontjából azonban érdemes megvizsgálni a származásnyelvi szemlélet nyújtotta lehetőségeket is, hogy a hétvégi és délutáni magyar iskolák diákjainak és önkéntes tanárainak is segítséget nyújthassunk.
A magyarul tanuló magyar származású diákok nyelvtudása olyan mintázatot mutat, amelynek leírása segítheti oktatásuk hatékonyságának növelését. Sokan a magyarországi tanulókhoz hasonlónak tekintik őket, máskor éppen ellenkezőleg történik a besorolás: haladó szintű külföldi nyelvtanulók között találjuk őket. Nehéz feladatot jelent számukra mindkét csoporthoz tartozás. Az előbbiben komoly gondot jelent számukra a magyarországi iskolások számára készített tananyagok nyomasztó összetettsége, az utóbbiban elsikkadnak olyan részterületek, amelyeknek fejlesztésére a külföldieknek nincs szükségük.
A megoldás a tanárok és a tanulók tudatosságának fejlesztésében rejlik: a nyelvtudás értékének hangsúlyozása mellett a feladatok meghatározására is szükség van. Ezzel a szemlélettel csökkenthetjük a származásnyelvi diákokra nehezedő pszichés terheket és valódi segítséget nyújthatunk nekik.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Orsolya Maróti (MA Hungarian Literature, Linguistics and Language Pedagogy, ELTE University, Budapest; MA Hungarian as a Second Language and Hungarian Studies, ELTE University, Budapest; MA Cultural Anthropology, ELTE University, Budapest; PhD in Linguistics, University of Pécs) is working as the Head of the Hungarian Language Department at the Balassi Institute and as a lecturer at the Department of Hungarian as a Foreign Language, Eötvös Loránd University.
She has experience in teaching foreign (HSL) and heritage students (HHL) for 17 years in the Balassi Institute and at the Corvinus University in Budapest.. She teaches linguistics and language pedagogy at Eötvös Loránd University and at Károli Gáspár Protestant University. She has worked with Hungarian language teachers as a teacher trainer (HSL and HHL) in Canada, in the Netherlands, in Germany and in many other countries where there are Hungarian language courses for heritage and HSL students.





Milliman, Zachary

University of Alaska Anchorage

The Opera Erkel Should Have Written: Revisionist History in Bánk bán

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Throughout centuries of subjugation, Hungary retained a fierce pride in its national identity, a pride that was often bolstered by the arts. In 19th-century opera, composers transcended borders to amalgamate the normative forms and models of the West with indelible Hungarian features. They extracted subjects from Hungary’s autonomous past, employed musical monikers of the style hongrois, and—perhaps most importantly—set Hungarian-language librettos to music.
Ferenc Erkel’s 1861 opera Bánk Bán, based on the Katona play, manifests this fusion. The opera has become arguably the most influential work in the Hungarian operatic canon. It was pivotal in developing Hungarian music and was a powerful expression of Herder's notion of the Volkgeist. As ideas of national identity strengthened during the early 20th century, Kálmán Nádasdy and Nándor Rékai subjected it to large-scale revisions in 1940. These revisions followed Bartók’s polemics toward 19th-century Hungarian music, and responded to the ideals of Hegelian nationalist historiography that influenced the development and preservation of other marginalized musical repertories. The goal was to make Bánk Bán the ultimate expression of Magyarság (Hungarianess).
As was the case in the original composition, the revisionists sought models from beyond Hungary’s borders, even while they purged many of the Western formal elements they felt were antithetical to Magyarság. This endeavor thus brought the opera’s libretto closer to the original play and exemplifies the troublesome search for an autochthonous artistic voice during the turbulent interwar period. It stands as an example of opera’s social efficaciousness, as well as its capacity for cultural preservation in the face of domineering influences.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Zachary Milliman received his M.M. from the University of Utah after completing his B.M. at Brigham Young University. His research has been featured in two conferences for the American Musicological Society, the Confutati Symposium, and the symposium he created, Opera Periphereia, and has been published in the Journal for the International Allegiance of Women in Music. His current research projects are centered on Hungarian opera, particularly of the mid-20th century. He resides in Anchorage, Alaska and is a lecturer and music instructor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, as well as private instructor, coach and clinician. Zachary is the Artistic Director for Bel Canto Alaska, and Music Director for First United Methodist Church. As a tenor, has has sung leading roles in several operas and concert works. He was recently heard in Anchorage Opera’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors, as the tenor soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion, as well as on a recital tour of Alaska with guitarist Dr. Armin Abdihodzic, sponsored by the University of Alaska.




Molnár, Erzsébet

University of Miskolc

The Influence of Brassai's Life-Work on Hungarian Culture and Science Within and Beyond Borders

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
At the centre of Brassai’s life-work, which influenced his whole life and his scientific work, was his research into the methodological principles of teaching. In his long life he was engaged in the sciences; he fought for education in the Hungarian language eagerly and successfully. Besides jurisprudence he was very good in almost every science; excellent linguist, natural scientist, philosopher, critic, mathematician, musician, teacher and headmaster, essay writer, university professor, and a regular member of the Academy of Sciences.
The presentation relies mainly on facts in the monographs about Brassai; on the contemporary periodical reviews and publications published in Kolozsvár; on the writings of Sámuel Brassai; on the documentary data, on the history of foreign-language teaching, on his influence at home and abroad, as well as on the development of the Direct Method and its methodological background.
His works had a great influence on the scientific life of our country. With his achievements, scientific researches, writings and teaching he contributed to the development and spread of the Hungarian culture and science. Sámuel Brassai’s teachings are so fundamental and deep that they are substantial even today for all Hungarians within and beyond borders.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Erzsébet Molnár is Senior Lecturer at the University of Miskolc, Hungary. She received her Ph.D. from Pannon University in Veszprém, based on a dissertation about the great Transylvanian-Hungarian Polymath, Sámuel Brassai (1797-1897). She has been working at the Department of English Linguistic and Literature at the University of Miskolc. Her specialty is language pedagogy and the main issues of foreign language teaching. Her publications include half dozen textbooks, three dozen related articles in English and Hungarian, as well as a book on the topic of her dissertation, Sámuel Brassai. The Last Transylvanian Polymath (2008). She is a frequent participant at various international conferences, including those in Great-Britain, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Albania, Malta, Canada, and the United States.





Molnár, Eszter

Eötvös Loránd Science University

Mágikus kép és mágikus nyelv a két világháború közötti magyar irodalomban és képzőművészetben

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Tervezett előadásom a következő kérdésekre keresi a választ: Léteztek-e mágikus céllal írt irodalmi, illetve képzőművészeti alkotások magyar nyelvterületen a húszas, harmincas években? Azaz van-e a képeknek és a nyelvnek mágikus funkciója a két világháború közötti irodalmi és képzőművészeti irányzatokban? Hogyan jelent meg a mágia témája a két világháború közötti irodalmárok, írók, költők gondolkodásában? A korszak képzőművészei és költői milyen elméleti felkészültséggel rendelkeztek a mágiáról és alkalmazták-e tudatosan művészetükben? Mi az összefüggés a mágikus kép és az ún. archetípusok között? Milyen képek szerepelnek az irodalmi művekben? Hogyan tipologizálhatóak az irodalmi alkotásban megjelenő képek és azok hogyan viszonyulnak az ún. archetipikus képekhez?


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Molnár Eszter (1985) – művészettörténész, az Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem 'Irodalmi modernség' programjának harmadéves hallgatója, témavezetője Tverdota György professor emeritus.




Murádin, János Kristóf

Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania

Hungarian-Romanian Political Relations in Northern Transylvania Between 1940 and 1944 from the Perspective of the Transylvanian Party

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The lecture deals with the problem of changing of the ethnic composition after the Second Vienna Award in Northern Transylvania. It tries to present the relationship between the Hungarians becoming the majority and Romanians the minority in the region, offering an overview of the problem from the political perspective. The activity of the Transylvanian Party (Erdélyi Párt), the most important political formation of the Transylvanians in that time, is analized. The discourse concentrates on the analysis of the party program with special focus on the basic conception of the party regarding ethnic problems in Transylvania. The source material of the lecture consists of special books, studies, essays, memoirs, published recollections, as well as data and articles published in the contemporary press.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
MURÁDIN, János Kristóf (1980–) – Historian. Studies in Cluj/Kolozsvár (Babeş-Bolyai University, 1999–2003). PhD degree in contemporary history (Babeş–Bolyai University, 2010). Assistant professor at Sapientia University Cluj/Kolozsvár (2008–). Member of the Transylvanian Museum Society (2005–), the „Bolyai” Society (2006–) and the External Public Body of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2011-). Subject interests: Hungarian–Romanian relations in the period of the Second World War, activity and role of the Transylvanian Party in the Hungarian political life between 1940 and 1944, deportation of Hungarian civilians from Cluj to the Soviet Union in October 1944 and history of their captivity in Soviet labour- and concentration camps, development of Hungarian minority culture in Romania and the transformations inside the cultural institutions of the Hungarians living in Transylvania between 1944 and 1948.




Murádin, Noémi Lovász

Apáczai Csere János Elméleti Líceum, Kolozsvár, Románia

Mozgástér és kényszerpálya. Az erdélyi magyar képzőművészeti nevelés jelenlegi helyezete és kilátásai.

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Előadásomban az erdélyi magyar vizuális művészeti oktatásban az 1989-es forradalom után bekövetkezett változásokat tárgyalom. Célom annak bemutatása, hogyan terjedtek és terjednek el jelenleg is az új trendek, irányzatok az oktatás és nevelés területén. Mennyire befolyásolja az alkotást és annak utóéletét az alkotó és befogadó személyisége, az erdélyi magyar identitástudatból eredő gondolatvilág. Előadásom alapja az évtizedes oktatói tevékenység során szerzett elméleti és gyakorlati tapasztalat. Az erdélyi magyar képzőművészeti oktatás perspektíváit boncolgatom az alkotói utánpótlás és közönségnevelés lehetőségeinek tükrében. Alkotóként és középiskolai oktatóként a kolozsvári művészeti hagyományokra, gyökerekre és életpályákra fokuszálok.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Murádin Noémi (1979–) – Képzőművész, művészpedagógus. Tanulmányok: Nagyenyed (Bethlen Gábor Kollégium, 1985–1993), Székelyudvarhely (Dr. Palló Imre Művészeti Líceum, 1993–1997), Kolozsvár (Ion Andreescu Képzőművészeti Egyetem 1997–2002). Művészettörténeti mesterképző Kolozsvár (Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetem, 2003–2004). Munkahelyek: Nagyenyed (Bethlen Gábor Kollégium, 2002–2005), Kolozsvár (Apáczai Csere János Elméleti Líceum 2005–). Tagság: Erdélyi Magyar Művészpedagógusok Egyesülete–EMME (2004–), Barabás Miklós Céh–BMC (2009–). Tudományos-művészeti alkotási terület: 19-20. századi magyar művészettörténet, erdélyi magyar művészetfilozófia – transszilvanizmus a vizuális művészetben, esztétikai nevelés, figuratív és nonfiguratív alkotások.




N. Fodor, János

Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest

Interlingual Characteristics of the Family Names Found in the Carpathian Basin in the 18th Century

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In Europe, contemporary research of family names places great emphasis on the importance of digital atlases, sources that render information about the spatial extension of names and allonyms, their localization and dialectal differences. The past five years has witnessed the emergence of Hungarian geonomastics, resulting in genuine achievements in the synchronic as well as the diachronic analysis of this field.
In order to start these historical examinations, a homogeneous corpus was needed that would best represent the regional distribution of surnames. The first country-wide census of Hungarian Kingdom in 1715 is the earliest record to suit this purpose. The second part of the database consists of the census from 1720. The two censuses yield a total of 344 thousand names, an amount of data that provides a significant base source for the analysis.
An advantage of the The Atlas of Historical Hungarian Surnames (AHHS 1715–1720) is among others, that the organic “unity” of personal names of the Carpathian Basin could be represented on maps in the way how name-systems of different languages took effect on each other. The corpus of personal names of different languages appears free from external influences (e. g. changing or “Hungarianisation” of names) reflecting the natural language contacts of centuries. When sorted by language, the collected names found in the database provide a reliable indication of the percent of minority populations in this era. According to our estimates, roughly half of this corpus is comprised of Hungarian names. Researchers from neighboring countries have yet to exploit the linguistic and onomastic possibilities offered by digitalized national censuses, even though at least one-fourth of the personal names gathered are Slavic in origin (mostly Slovak, Ruthenian, with smatterings of Czech or Polish), while one-fifth is either Romanian or Southern Slavic.
In the multilingual Carpathian Basin, the meeting and mingling of languages affects not only language, but names as well. The name systems utilized by different languages influence name-giving, resulting in the emergence of interferential properties in name usage. These characteristics are found where languages come in contact, appear on language borders and therefore provide an ample source of study. My paper’s main focus will concentrate on an examination of name-contact phenomena emerging from Hungarian and Slavic connections.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
János N. Fodor, PhD, is senior lecturer in the Department of Hungarian Historical Linguistics, Sociolinguistics and Dialectology of Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. His main research interests are historical onomastics, mainly anthroponymy, and Hungarian dialects. He researches the linguistic geography characteristics of the Hungarian dialect islands. He has published papers on historical name studies (mainly on the origin and history of Hungarian family names) and on the dialectology.




Nagy, Adrienn

National Archives of Hungary

Magyar tannyelvű oktatás megszervezése egy soknemzetiségű kikötővárosban, Fiumében a 19-20. század fordulóján

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Az előadás célja, hogy bemutassa, miként alakult a dualizmus kori Magyarország gazdasági, kereskedelmi életében fontos szerepet betöltő, sajátos földrajzi elhelyezkedésű, soknemzetiségű adriai kikötőváros, Fiume magyar iskoláinak és tanulóinak sorsa különös tekintettél a közép- és felsőfokú szakiskolákra. Fiume oktatási viszonyainak áttekintésével egyrészt arra kerestem választ, hogy az állam által oly fontosnak tartott magyar tannyelvű oktatás megvalósult-e a mindennapi gyakorlatban. Fiume Magyarországhoz történő visszacsatolása után (1868) a többség által beszélt olasz, horvát és német nyelv kiegészült a magyarral, amit a magyar kormány a magyarosítás és egyszersmind az általa vágyott asszimiláció eszközének tekintett. A magyarosítás egyik elsődleges eszköze és színtere az iskola volt. A városban tannyelv és önmagában a nyelvoktatás kérdése a provizórium időszakában mindvégig komoly vitákat és indulatokat váltott ki. Bár a magyar kormány sorra alapította a magyar állami intézményeket és a községi városi iskolák estében is törekedett a magyar nyelv tantárgyként való oktatásának bevezetésére, azonban a diákok tanulmányainak előrehaladását nem hátráltató magyar nyelvű oktatás gyakorlati megvalósítása kevéssé valósult meg. A kormány erőteljes magyarosítási törekvése szinte minden iskola esetében megmutatkozott, azonban az 1910-es évektől egyre többen vélték úgy, hogy az erőszakos magyarosítás nem vezet eredményre, egyúttal jelezve, hogy a diákok ugyan tanulják a magyar nyelvet, de nem használják, utalva arra, hogy Fiumében a közigazgatás és egyúttal szóbeli kommunikáció nyelve az olasz, melynek elsajátítása létkérdés szemben a magyarral.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Adrienn, Nagy received her Masters Degree in History and History Education, University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities (2007), and Ph.D in Educational Sciences, University of Pécs, Education and Society Doctoral School of Education, Doctoral program in the History of Education (2015). 2011–2014 Assistant Professor, University of Pécs, Faculty of Humanities, Institut of Education, Department of History of Education and Culture, Pécs, Hungary (Courses taught: History of Education, Methodology of Educational Sciences Research, Comparative Education). She is currently in residence in the National Archives of Hungary, Departement Coordination of Methodology, Education and Records Manegement Supervision, in the status of the archivist. Her research is focused on the history of rural and the commercial secondary schools during the dualism in Hungary.




Nagy, Éva

Ministry of Education

Templom és iskola - 200 éves a bukaresti magyar nyelvű oktatás és református egyház

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
"Csak anyanyelvemen lehetek igazán én." - mondta Kosztolányi Dezső, s meg kell találnunk a saját Én-ünket, ahhoz, hogy valóban részei legyünk a sokszínű európai (és nem csak) kulturális világnak, amelyben - szintén Kosztolányit idézve, ”Erős várunk a nyelv”. Ezekkel a gondolatokkal köszöntöm a 40. AHEA-konferencián részt vevő tanárokat, diákokat és minden érdeklődőt azon események iránt, amelyeken különös hangsúlyt fektetünk itt a Kárpát-medencében, a magyar nyelv, kultúra és oktatás megőrzéséért, ápolásáért és fejlesztéséért, hiszen Nagy László szavaival élve: ”Nem elég magyar anyanyelvűnek születnünk, tanulnunk kell magyarul a sírig”.
Előadásomban szó lesz a 200 évvel ezelőtt megalakult bukaresti református egyházról és magyar nyelvű oktatásról, annak sikereiről és nehézségeiről, fontosabb történelmi pillanatokról, kiemelkedő személyiségekről, pedagógusokról és diákokról, valamint más érdekességekről.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. Nagy Éva 2010-től Államtitkári Kabinetigazgató a bukaresti Tanügyminisztériumban és magyar tanár (külső munkatárs) a Bukaresti Tudományegyetem-Idegen Nyelvek Fakultása-Hungarológia Tanszékén, ahol 2008-ban fejezte be PhD tanulmányait, a nyelvészet/média-kommunikáció terén. Témavezető dr. Murvai Olga professzor volt. Tizenhárom évig a Román Rádió illetve a Román Televízió bukaresti Magyar Adásainak szerkesztő-bemondója volt, öt évig sajtó-referens a bukaresti Magyar Nagykövetség Kereskedelmi Kirendeltségének-ITD-H Irodájában. Két évig Parlamenti Kapcsolatokért felelős igazgató volt a bukaresti Tanügyminisztériumban és több éven át tanár (külső munkatárs) a bukaresti Ady Endre Líceumban, valamint a Bukaresti Tudományegyetemen.




Nagy-Zekmi, Silvia

Villanova University, PA

“End the University as We Know It”: Global – Tech – Academe

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The title echoes Mark Taylor’s article that appeared in The New York Times about the reasons of the current crisis of universities. In this paper I will address one aspect of this crisis, the technological leap that landed us in the information age and its consequences for higher education. With the ubiquitous mooc-s (massive open online courses) and ever more scarce funding higher education is sliding into the digital realm. As education budgets are continuously cut in Hungary and 16 members of the European community(1), digital education is a constant issue of discussion, as it was in the 2013 global summit of graduate education held in Budapest http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/deanknuth-attends-global-summit-graduate-education-hungary titled “Graduate Education and the Promises of Technology.” New technological media challenge the traditional, grammar-centric concept of intellectual activity (i.e. the superiority of written language as opposed to spoken language), as scholars are confronted with a broad diversity of cultural expressions that cannot simply be reduced to words (written or spoken). “Computer technology is creating a new kind of public, a cyberculture with all its utopian and apocalyptic possibilities”(2)
Higher Education in Hungary:
In Hungary the population that participates in higher education has quadrupled since the system change in 1990 (http://mta.hu/data/cikk/13/10/36/cikk_131036/BeracsJozsef.pdf) in spite of the fact that birthrates are in steady decline and that the costs of higher education now are split between the state and the students. Changes in the financing and structure of higher education in Hungary, in addition to the Bologna process, whose “framework for common efforts to reform and modernize […] higher education systems” (Bologna Process Implementation Report 2012) are two main factors that influence the benefit of higher education to an individual. I will elaborate on the strength and weaknesses of the current system in Hungary contextualized by borderless education opportunities in the EU. I will elaborate on several aspects of the implementation of the Bologna accords and how they affected the nature of higher education in universities, such as ELTE, JATE, and Corvinus. Moreover, I will address in my paper the academic crisis of higher education to which I alluded earlier, namely the ransformation in our understanding of what constitutes “knowledge” and how it affects the system of higher education in Hungary.
_________________________________________
1 Garben. Sasha. “The Future of Higher Education in Europe.” ww.lse.ac.uk/europeaninstitute/leqs/leqspaper50.pdf
2 Tofts, Darren and Murray McKeich. Memory Trade: A Prehistory of Cyberculture. Newark, NJ: Gordon & Breach
Publishing, 1998. p. 4.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Silvia Nagy-Zekmi is a professor of Hispanic and cultural studies, and director of the Cultural Studies Program at Villanova University (Philadelphia). She publishes on a wide array of subjects ranging from Latin American, postcolonial and cultural studies, in addition to literary and cultural theories. Her latest publications include: Global Academe: Engaging Public Intellectual Discourse (2012) and Truth to Power: Public Intellectuals In and Out of Academe (2010 -with Karyn Hollis) Perennial Empire (2011) and Colonization or Globalization? (2009 - with Chantal Zabus), Moros en la costa: Orientalismo en America Latina (2008), Paradoxical Citizenship: Edward Said (2006, 2008); the award winning Democracy in Chile: The Legacy of September 11, 1973 (with Fernando Leiva, 2005), Le Maghreb Postcolonial (2003). She is currently working on a manuscript titled: The Postcolonial Condition: Eurocentric Discourses in Latin America. More information: www.wix.com/snzekmi/cv , or www19.homepage.villanova.edu/silvia.nagyzekmi/




Némethy, Judith Kesserű

New York University, Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Book Presentation: 21st Century Hungarian Language Survival in Transylvania, Published by Helena History Press.

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Multilingualism, as opposed to the ideology of linguistic homogenization, is at the core of the European Union’s linguistic political discourse, and instruction in minority languages is an important part of it. Although the social and ideological environment has drastically changed since the fall of the Communist regimes, the goal of achieving multilingualism, especially that of minorities reaching full bilingualism in both their mother tongue and the majority language, is facing as nearly unsurmountable obstacles. In fact, where nationalist linguistic ideology drives homogenization, the EU has been unable to implement its policy of protection of cultural diversity, with lethal consequences for the minorities’ survival as citizens equal in rights and opportunities to the members of the majority.

The six essays of the volume were written by academics from Hungary and Transylvania, all associated with the Babes-Bolyai University and/or AHEA, and deal with historical, political, educational, legal, social, and linguistic aspects of minority language survival in Transylvania: They refer specifically to the East-Central European traditions shaping language policy, to educational policy concepts, to Transylvanian public education regarding languages of instruction, to the revitalization possibilities of Hungarian in the Transylvanian diaspora, to the official register of Hungarian, and to its use in electronic media. An overview of majority-minority relations today and their governance through international covenants, and a brief review of the history of Transylvania within the history of Hungary and its minorities precedes the texts.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Judith Kesserű Némethy is Clinical Professor in New York University’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese. She obtained a PhD in History (Hispanic Studies) from the University of Szeged. Her research and teaching interests include foreign language teaching methodology, curricular training, second language acquisition, bilingualism, historical linguistics, Spanish dialectology, and ethnic, minority and diaspora studies.
She is past president of the American Hungarian Educators Association, Executive Committee member of the Hungarian Scout Association in Exteris and administrator of scholarship applications to the Balassi Institute's Hungarian Language and Cultural Studies program for students of Hungarian descent. She is a recipient of the 2012 Knight Cross Merit Award of the Republic of Hungary and of NYU’s 2013 Golden Dozen Teaching Award.







Niessen, James P.

Rutgers University

Why Did They Leap? Crossing Borders after the 1956 Revolution

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Nearly 200,000 people crossed the borders of Hungary during and after the Revolution of 1956. What were their motives: escape from punishment for their role in the revolution, taking advantage of loosened borders to infiltrate the West as spies, an opportunity to see the world, or in many cases a complex combination of motives? Crossing into Austria, the immigrants faced a further decision about their second leap, whether to move on to a third country, settle in Austria itself, or return to Hungary. The screening interviews of immigration authorities and intelligence services, the impressions of journalists, the contemporary interview project at Columbia University that is now available online through the Open Society Archive, later oral histories, and life stories all offer sources for an analysis of motivation. Between the first leap and the second, the further course of “the Hungarian crisis” and the policies of the host countries would influence the options and the ultimate decision of the immigrant.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
My doctoral dissertation focused on 19th century Transylvania: Battling Bishops: Religion and Politics in Transylvania on the Eve of the Ausgleich (Indiana, 1989). I’ve written many articles on aspects of Transylanian history, but after becoming a librarian in 1994 turned to the history of libraries and archives. My current book project concerns the Hungarian 56ers’ processing at Camp Kilmer.




Nyikos, Martha and Nyikos, Katalin

Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

Vitalizing a Minority Language: A Study of Critical Family Bilingual Strategies

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This qualitative study explores the key issues cited by Hungarian heritage language speakers who grew up immersed in majority cultures and languages other than Hungarian. The challenge of acquisition, retention, development and enhancement of the minority language in the face of continuous demands of the dominant language are explicated from the inner vantage point of lived experience. Data from extensive retrospective interviews with adults who grew up in households where the desire of both Hungarian parents was that their children maintain their heritage language will be discussed. The data show a complex mix of children’s evolving needs, interests and abilities as they are impacted by shifting demands and priorities, parental commitments and limitations and the changing valuation of the heritage language over time.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Martha Nyikos is Director of World Languages & ESL Teacher Education Program at Indiana University. Her research is in language learning strategies.

Katalin Nyikos, Georgetown University; Currently conducting research on comparative emergent reading and child language acquisition




Nyírády, Kenneth

Library of Congress

Francis Bowen, "War of Races in Hungary," and a Lost Harvard Professorship

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In February 1851 the Board of Overseers of Harvard University voted against confirming Francis Bowen as McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History. Bowen, the editor of the prestigious literary journal North American Review, the year before had written and published two articles highly critical of Hungary’s revolution and war of independence of 1848-49, resulting in a war of words, attacks and counterattacks, that carried over onto the pages of a few Boston newspapers, the Christian Examiner, and even the New York Tribune. In his articles, Bowen ignored the reforms that took place beginning in March 1848 and considered the Hungarian declaration of independence the following year nothing more than an attempt of the nobility to continue its subjugation of the non-Hungarian population without Austrian interference. Bowen was accused not only of besmirching the motives of the Hungarian patriots, but also of shoddy scholarship and plagiarism. His main adversary was Mary Lowell Putnam, a polymath who was one of the few Americans at that time who knew Hungarian. Putnam was joined by Robert Carter, an editor and lifelong friend of Putnam’s brother, the poet James Russell Lowell. There were political implications here as well; Bowen was a conservative Whig at a time when the coalition of the Democratic and Free Soil parties was temporarily ascendant in Massachusetts politics. As it turned out, Bowen was not out of favor for long; in 1853 Harvard confirmed him as Alford professor of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity, a position he held for the next thirty-six years.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Kenneth Nyirady is Reference Specialist for Hungary in the European Division, Library of Congress, a position he has held since 1990. From 1983 to 1990 he was a research analyst in the Library's Federal Research Division. He received an M.A. in history from the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1976, and an M. Phil. in Uralic Studies from Columbia University in 1979.




Olson, Judith E.

American Hungarian Folklore Centrum, NJ

Seeing, and not Seeing, Borders: Hungarian Identity in Dance

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A principal strength of the Táncház movement, revival of Hungarian village dance and music going on for the past 45 years, is that the same dances are done in the same way throughout the world. Dancers from very different backgrounds in Japan, Canada, Hungary, and Romania can dance well together, even if they have just met.
Although dances move smoothly across borders, beneath the surface lie very different ideas about how Hungarian dance relates to identity. Differing paths to modernity of the wide range of places Hungarians live mean that in some areas, the dances as common village practice were lost sooner. Furthermore, Hungarians traveling far from ancestoral homes tended to establish themselves as Hungarians, less as regional descendents. For Hungarians in Hungary or the United States, a sense of Hungarianness may be more all-encompassing than for those living in villages in Transylvania practicing the dances that used to be done socially in their own backyards. A young man in Kalotaszentkirály, Romania, told me, “Why should I do the dances from Mezöszég, I know only 6-7 figures of Mezöszégi dances and I know 200 or 300 figures of Kalotaszeg.”
How do these different attitudes express themselves in dance learning, approach to dance, and improvisation? How do differing attitudes affect seeing the dances as ours and our view of continuity with the past? What are the implications of these attitudes in terms of a sense of self as Hungarian? Our conference location, in the heartland of Transylvanian dance, facilitates useful comparisons.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Judith E. Olson (M.Phil, NYU, M.M. University of Colorado) is an historical musicologist working in the area of traditional Hungarian music and dance in Romania, Hungary, and among Hungarians in the United States and Canada. She combines research in traditional settings, in Hungarian dance camps, and within revival groups with analysis and discussion of dance structure, process, and improvisation. She presents frequently at venues such as the International Council for Traditional Music, the International Musicological Society, the Society for Ethnomusicology, and AHEA. She performs this research and organizes táncház (dance parties) in New York City under the auspices of the American Hungarian Folklore Centrum. A secondary research area is 19th century German music and musical culture.




Paksa, Rudolf

Institute of History of Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Transzilvanizmus a tányéron avagy Miért az erdélyi konyhakultúra az egyetlen jelentős regionális konyhája a Kárpát-medencének?

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Étkezési szokásainkban – mint cseppben a tenger – hűen tükröződik identitásunk, a nagy történelmi folyamatok lenyomatai és korunk divatja. A társadalmi és gazdasági változások, sőt a politikai események is vizsgálhatók a gasztrotörténet szemszögéből. Az ugyanis, hogy mit, mikor és hogyan eszünk, árulkodó lakóhelyünk természeti adottságaira, mezőgazdaságának fejlettségére, kereskedelmi kapcsolataira, valamint az ott élők kulturális, vallási, nemzeti szokásaira nézve.
Nincs ez másként az erdélyi konyha esetében sem, amely a Kárpát-medence legjellegzetesebb regionális konyhája, mely a 15-17. században öltötte fel sajátos regionális színezetét. Ekkor és itt ugyanis a középkori európai étkezéskultúra a protestantizmus, az olasz reneszánsz, az Újvilág felfedezése, valamint a Balkán felől érkező török hatás révén színesedett, s nyerte el máig hatóan sajátos arculatát. Előadásomban azt fogom bemutatni, hogy mit tudunk az erdélyi konyha történetéről: kialakulásáról, s későbbi változásairól. Rá fogok mutatni, hogy miért csak az erdélyi konyha tekinthető a történelmi Magyarország egyetlen jelentős regionális konyhájának. Mindemellett olyan kérdéseket is feszegetni fogok, hogy miként viszonyult az erdélyi konyha a történelmi Magyarország többi részének étkezéskultúrájához, hogyan jelent meg a nacionalizmus és a polgárosodás hatása a 19. században, s milyen hatással volt az erdélyi konyhára a huszadik századi impériumváltás. Előadásom arra a nem kis mértékben provokatív tézisre épül, miszerint a szakácskönyvek hűbb képet rajzolnak a társadalmi folyamatokról, mint az ideológiai programnyilatkozatok és anyanyelvi statisztikák.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Rudolf Paksa received his MA diplomas from the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, in history and history eduction in 2006. Also at ELTE, he completed his PhD diploma with „summa cum laude” in modern Hungarian history, in 2012; his thesis advisor was Prof. Ignác Romsics of MHAS. Thesis title: „The Hungarian Far-Right Elite from the Beginning of the 1930s until 1945”.
During his university years he was a member of the Eötvös College (junior: 2000-2006, senior and teacher: 2006-2009), the Mathias Corvinus College (junior: 2000-2001), and the Erasmus College of Budapest (junior: 2005-2006).
From 2009 Dr. Paksa is a Reseach Fellow at the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His research interests are: Hungarian far-right movements, interwar period in Hungary, modern Hungarian historiography, the history of the Eötvös College (Budapest), gastrohistory.





Papp, Judit

University of Naples "L'Orientale"

Language as a Marker of Identity: the Diaries and Memoir of Hungary 1944-1948 of Sándor Márai

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The concept of identity is quite complex and dynamic and it is something that concerns us in every phase of our life. The topic is even more fascinating when we deal with the importance and the meaning of identity to a person such as Sándor Márai. With the aid of his diaries, in this paper I try to explore what identity meant to Márai, which were the elements of his selfhood, how he perceived himself and how the others perceived him just before and during his first exile in Naples (from October 1948 to April 1952). I’ll discuss the significance and the (symbolic) role of the mother tongue to him as a crucial factor of identity: the Hungarian language to him was something that represented “the only significance of life”…



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Judit Papp is Lecturer in Applied linguistics at the University of Naples “L’Orientale”, Italy. In 2007 she earned her Ph.D. in Linguistics and literature (dissertation topic: European war poetry between the first and the second world war) at the European School of Advanced Studies, University of Suor Orsola Benincasa and University of Naples “L’Orientale”. In 2012 she’s completed a 4 years long post-doctoral research fellowship in Hungarian Language and Literature (Research topic: Formulaic style in the XVI century Hungarian Epic) at the Department of Eastern European Studies of the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’.




Pataky, Adrienn

ELTE BTK

Space and Body in György Faludy’s Sonnets (Hungarian emigrant poet) - Tér- és testkonstrukciók egy emigráns költő, Faludy György szonettköteteiben

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Faludy György (1910-2006) több mint 300 szonettet írt, amelyek nagy része emigrációban született. 1995-ben két könyve is megjelent, amelyek összegyűjtik szonettjeit, az egyik az első kétszázat, amelyek 1943 és 1989 között születtek, a második pedig az azutánikat, amelyek nagy része, egy-két kivételtől eltekintve már Magyarországon, főképp Budapesten íródott. Ebben a korpuszban vizsgálom a Faludy poétikájában megjelenő térkonstrukciókat, mind annak topográfiai, mind annak elvont értelmében – amely megengedi a test mint táj képzetét is mozgástérbe hozni. A testiség Faludyval kapcsolatban közismert, nemcsak szonettjei, költészete egészére jellemző téma, mint ahogy emigráns létformája is, azt azonban kevéssé vizsgálták, hogyan jelenik meg és függ össze e kettő a versekben, ezek közül is a szigorú formai szabályoknak megfelelő szonettben, amely Faludy életművéből kiemelkedik, hiszen nincs még egy versforma, amelyből több mint háromszázat írt volna, noha balladaköltészete is jelentős. A szintén 1995-ben megjelent, gyűjteményes Versek című kötete a Michelangelo utolsó imája című szonettel indul, amelyet 1935-ben írt, Firenzében – a kronologikus kötet szerint ez Faludy első verse. Faludy életműve műfordítóként sem elhanyagolható, többek között Louise Labé, Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Keats, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Valéry, Rilke vagy Lorca szonettjeit ültette át magyar nyelve, s rajtuk kívül még sok, kevésbé ismert szerzőnek is lefordította egy-egy szonettjét, ha mást típusú versét nem is (pl. Baffo, Palacio, Mirón, Othón, Pálánász stb.) –7-800 oldalas versfordítás-gyűjteményének csaknem felét szonett fordítások töltik ki.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Magyar nyelv és irodalom, összehasonlító irodalomtudomány és drámapedagógia szakokon diplomázása után az ELTE BTK Általános irodalom- és kultúratudomány doktori programjára nyert felvételt, jelenleg itt végzős hallgató, illetve az MTA-ELTE Általános Irodalomtudományi Kutatócsoport munkatársa. Elsősorban huszadik századi magyar költészettel, kiemelten a szonettformával foglalkozik. Tanulmányokat, kritikákat ír, szerkeszt, a Kortárs Online szépirodalmi rovatát vezeti, a Pesti Bölcsész Akadémia főszervezője és a Magyar Drámapedagógiai Társaság tagja.
http://www.aitk.hu/pataky_adrienn/





Pavelka, Orsolya-Petra

Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Writing in Exile. The Value of Work of a Mid-Nineteenth Century Hungarian Novelist

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Miklós Jósika a Transylvanian baron devoted himself to literature in his forties; foundling the historical romance in Hungarian literature with his first published novel Abafi in 1836. His merits as a novelist were instantly recognized and awarded in Hungary, the reading public and the critics too were delighted by his novels, which followed one another with rapidity. The Revolution/ War of Independence in 1848 could be seen as a line of demarcation in his literary activity. On account of his role as member of the Honvéd Government he was forced to go into exile, eventually he settled down in Brussels. His estates were confiscated and he himself was condemned to death by the vindictive Austrian Government, fact being satisfied by burning him in effigy. Brussels became his foreign but free homeland where he lived entirely by his pen.
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of this Hungarian writer’s ways of preserving national values and identity abroad, his efforts of making a living from writing in a foreign linguistic, cultural, and political context by mapping the steps of a successful career from recommencement to gradual fade. Miklós Jósika as a functional name was a prestigious representation label in the Hungarian literary field, but after 1849 it was prohibited. The emigree writer managed to reconnect with his Hungarian readership, when his publisher Heckenast had helped him to get printed in Pest anonymously his first novel of the exilic period Eszther in 1853. Since then almost for a decade Jósika had been using a pen name to sign his novels, „by the author of Eszther”. The paper also analyses the dualistic approaches to his literary work.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Orsolya-Petra Pavelka is recently pursuing her PhD in Hungarian Studies at Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca. Her research interests are Anglo-Hungarian cultural contacts, literary prose in the first half of the nineteenth century. She completed her university degree in Hungarian language and literature and English language and literature at Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca in 2007. She received her Master degree in Literature and Society at the same university in 2009.




Quigley, Colin

University of Limerick

Confronting Legacies of Ethnic-National Discourse in Scholarship and Practice: Traditional Music and Dance in Central Transylvania

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Ethnic-national discourse in traditional music and dance practice and theory in Central Transylvania is pervasive and persistent. Scholarship in the field has been deeply implicated in the elaboration and imposition of national ideologies by cultural elites and, while ethnicity is a naturalized category, the local practice of music and dance in social life need not be primarily so marked. The identification of traditional music and dance in this region as Romanian, Hungarian or Gypsy as established by 20th century scholarship and as institutionalized in practice is examined and critiqued. The beginnings of a re-theorization moving away from the re-iteration of these divisions is noted and the possibility of escaping from them in practice is considered.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Colin Quigley PhD. Senior Lecturer and Course Director in Ethnomusicology; Emeritus Professor, University of California Los Angeles. He was Curator for the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival Romania Program, has published in journals such as Ethnomusicology and the Yearbook for Traditional Music, and has contributed the Music, Dance and Custom collection to the Indiana University EVIADA project. He is the author most recently of "The Hungarian Dance House Movement and the Revival of Transylvanian String Band Music" in the Oxford Handbook of Music Revivals and holds a Balassi Intezet advanced study grant at the University of Szeged in 2015.




Rab, Virág

University of Pécs, Department of Contemporary History

The Originality of Loránt Hegedüs

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
While analyzing the crises of the 20th century and their effects on the Hungarian society, I became aware of a stereotypic characteristic of the Hungarian society, namely: passivity. The reason behind this could be that “We can never decide our own destiny”, since our revolutions failed and we got the circumstances shaping our lives ready, just as we did with our paternalistic leaders. As Loránt Hegedüs Minister of Finance 1920/21 was nearly fifty years old when he witnessed the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, the First World War, the Bourgeois Democratic Revolution, the Hungarian Soviet Republic and the collapse of the world economy in 1929, he followed a different behavioral pattern, or rather, a different coping strategy. From his writings and economic plans, a different world view and set of values stand out. Because of these special personal characteristics he was able to effectively react and respond to the challenges of that time. The significance of his plans for the economic and financial reconstruction was recognized by American economists as well and the Columbia University requested his help to overcome the postwar financial challenges in the USA. The originality of Hegedüs’s work is originated in the fact that when he considered the crises as challenges, he mostly focused on the possible solutions instead of the failures while realized the importance of taking up responsibility and adaptation in solving the problem.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Virág Rab is an assistant professor at the University of Pécs, Hungary. She holds a PhD in History. The title of her doctoral dissertation was: "Diagnoses and Therapies: Financial Experts’ Ideas to Solve the Post-war International Financial Problems, 1919-1920".(2007). She has been involved in both teaching activities and research at the Department of contemporary History. Her courses include lectures on political and economic history of 20th century Hungary and Central-Europe. Her current research focuses on Hungarian economy from a global perspective.




Rácz, Edit

University of Debrecen

On the Cultural Aspect of Teaching Hungarian as a Foreign Language

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
As culture, the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group, (Webster, p. 314) is transmitted through language, it should be taught accordingly. Consequently, teaching a foreign language is inseparable from incorporating the teaching of the culture of the target community into the curriculum.
Language use does not only mean linguistically correct use of discourse, it is also of importance that language be used in a culturally correct way. To this end, the cultural competence of the foreign language learner should be developed from the first day of instruction. This is even more so if the foreign language is taught in the host country, and the language learner needs to communicate with native speakers from the very beginning.
Hungarian as a foreign language is no exception in this respect. In my talk, based on my experience of teaching foreign students at the University of Debrecen for several years, I would like to argue that language and culture are intertwined. This is manifested in my coursebook for beginners: Hungarian Language and Culture. After a brief overview of the structure and the language content of the book, I will discuss how the cultural literacy of students coming from a variety of cultures can be developed in a way that helps them master Hungarian as a second language and its culturally correct use. I will demonstrate how various aspects of Hungarian culture are presented in the coursebook.

References:
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1987.
Rácz, Edit. Hungarian Language and Culture – A Coursebook for Beginners. Debrecen: Debrecen University Press, 2012.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
I earned my first MA degree in Hungarian and English studies at the University of Debrecen, and twelve years later my second MA in General and Applied Linguistics at the same university. After a period of nine years as head teacher in a local secondary school, I became a language instructor at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (University of Debrecen), which meant a major shift in my teaching career, and thereafter a focus on business English. In order to improve my professional knowledge in economics, I earned my third (MSc) degree in Business Administration. Since the beginning of my career, I have been teaching Hungarian as a foreign language at Debrecen Summer School and in the past decade at my faculty. My professional fields of interest include Hungarian and English as foreign languages, both for general and specific purposes. I have taught a wide range of courses: Business English, Business Hungarian, Business Communication, Translation, Hungarian as a second language. I have written several coursebooks; the first was a video workbook published by Debrecen Summer School in 1991, then an ESP coursebook (Basic and Intermediate Level English in Commerce, 1998). I co-authered a Business Hungarian coursebook and workbook for intermediate learners (Magyar Üzleti Nyelvkönyv and Munkafüzet a Magyar Üzleti Nyelvkönyvhöz, 2004, 2005). I wrote a chapter in a teaching material sponsored by the British Council (Communicating in a Changing Europe,2004). My most recent textbook is Hungarian Language and Culture – a coursebook for beginners published in 2012.




Rosen, Ilana

Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

The Poetry of 1.5 and Second-Generation Israelis of Hungarian Origin

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In my 2014 presentation at the AHEA annual conference at Gainesville, Florida, I presented an inclusive and generational typology of Israeli writers of Hungarian origin, starting from the early twentieth century up to the present, and then focused on the prose works of a few of the 1.5 and second-generation writers among them. My readings in those works showed that they are governed by recurring concerns, or literary themes, such as: the memory or post-memory of the Holocaust, Hungarian-to-Hebrew language and translations peculiarities, preoccupation with the family's past or remote relatives, journeys back and forth between Israel and Central Europe, letters and other embedded texts, and fascination with home objects, dishes, and recipes representing the family's Hungarian past. In my 2015 presentation, I wish to focus on the works and worlds of 1.5 and second-generation poets and explore, first, the presence of the above listed concerns or themes and then examine issues of identity and of the relationships of these poets -- mostly second-generation women -- and their parents, most often their mothers. Thus I wish to trace these poets' Hungarian-Jewish past, Israeli literary figure, moral legacy, and role of transmitting and explicating their past Hungarian worlds to contemporary Israeli audiences.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Ilana Rosen studies the documentary literature of Jews of Central Europe as well as the multi-ethnic narrative of emigration to and foundation of the south of Israel. Her publications include: Sister in Sorrow: Life Histories of Female Holocaust Survivors from Hungary (Detroit, MI: Wayne State UP, 2008); Soul of Saul: The Life, Narrative, and Proverbs of a Transylvanian-Israeli Grandfather (Burlington, VT: Vermont University, 2011).




Sárosi-Márdirosz, Krisztina-Mária

Sapientia University, Marosvásárhely

The Role of Terminology in Keeping our Identity as Hungarian Professionals

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Without terminology there is no professional communication and without professional communication there is no transfer of knowledge. That is why we consider that the elaboration of an adequate and accurate Hungarian professional terminology in the countries outside the borders of Hungary is essential to keep our identity as Hungarian scientists, engineers, lawyers, doctors, teachers. One of the main sources of terminology formation is the translation of special texts from the official language of the country (Romanian, Slovak, Ukrainan, Serbian, German, English, etc.). In the paper we will deal with some translation related items of terminology.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Sárosi-Márdirosz Krisztina is an Assistant Professor PhD. at Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (Târgu-Mureş, Romania). She gratuated the Faculty of Letters at Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca and the Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences at Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca. She received her PhD. in philology at Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca in 2009. She has published studies on linguistics, translation studies and terminology. She is a member of External Public Body of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and at present she is working on the Hungarian-Romanian cultural dictionary and on an electronic data-base of legal terminology in collaboration with Szabó T. Attila Linguistic Institute (Cluj-Napoca). She has also taken part to numerous national and international conferences and scientific sessions (New York, Budapest, Eger, Szeged, Wien, Novi Sad, Cluj-Napoca, Miercurea-Ciuc etc).




Sohar, Paul

Independent Scholar

Sándor Kányádi: The Champion of Szekler Survival

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This talk concentrates on one aspect of the celebrated poet’s oeuvre, his ongoing struggle for the right of minority cultures to assert themselves against oppressive national powers and now, increasingly, against the tidal waves of globalization.

After WW I the Hungarian community of Transylvania became isolated and subject to efforts to submerge it in the dominant nation state of Romania, especially under the Ceausescu regime. Its very survival became precarious when Hungarian schools and institutions of higher learning were closed; an ethnic group cannot maintain itself without its language. Hungarian poets and writers became beacons in the fight for the preservation of Hungarian identity. Among them perhaps Sándor Kányádi has been the most effective, not only because of his strong personal commitment to the cause, but also because he realized from the beginning that the key to Szekler survival lay in peaceful coexistence and finding a common ground with the dominant Romanian culture. He started his career by befriending and translating the contemporary Romanian poets, including the aging Arghezi, the founder of modern Romanian poetry. In addition, he waged his battles without using nationalistic slogans; he tied the Szekeler cause to the survival of all ethnic minorities all over the world, such as Indian tribes in North America or the indigenous peoples of South America. In effect he is a cosmopolitan nationalist. His campaign for his embattled community is amply illustrated with my new translations of his poems on the subject.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Paul Sohar, a poet and translator, came as a teenage refugee from Hungary to the United States, where he studied philosophy and worked in a chemistry lab. His work has appeared in publications such as Chelsea, The Kenyon Review, and Rattle, and in Homing Poems, a collection of his poetry (Iniquity Press, 2005). He was also the editor of True Tales of a Ficticious Spy: An Hungarian Gulag Grotesquerie (SynergEbooks, 2006). He lives in Warren, NJ.




Suba, Réka

Sapientia EMTE

A romániai magyar médianyelv egyes sajátosságai

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A nemzeti kisebbségek anyanyelvhez való viszonya, anyanyelvének megőrzése és fennmaradása jelentős mértékben függ az oktatás, a vallás és a tömegkommunikáció nyújtotta nyelvi mintáktól. Annál is fontosabbak ezek a nyelvi modellek, mivel a kisebbségi léttel együtt járó két- és többnyelvűség jelenségével kapcsolatban számolnunk kell egy harmadik jelenséggel is, a diglosszia állapotával, amely ugyancsak kapcsolódhat a kétnyelvű személyiség kommunikációs potenciáljához.
Éppen ezért ezúttal a nyelvőrzés egyik alappillérének tekintett tömegtájékoztatás néhány nyelvi és nyelvhasználati jellemzőjének feltárását kíséreljük meg, a romániai magyar audiovizuális média nyelvhasználati sajátosságaira vonatkoztatva.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
dr. Reka Suba,
Sapientia Erdélyi Magyar Tudományegyetem
Műszaki és Humántudományok Kar - Marosvásárhely, Alkalmazott Nyelvészeti Tanszék




Szabó, Miklós and Juhász, Anna Mária

Faculty of Social Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)

He, Who Is Also Far, Is Actually Near – Hungarian Communities in the San Francisco Bay Area

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The constructed nature of social existence is not a new concept, and one must stress that the imaginary nature makes them not less, but incomprehensibly more powerful. One is not just trapped in his own projections, but also in what others constructed. Relations of power, economic processes, and other projective mechanisms are forcing identity in to us, and at the same time, an abstract “we” as a community forcing identity into “others”. It can be argued that a group of economical and social factors, what we tend to call modernity, created a social reality, in which it is increasingly problematic to clearly know who we are, and the only safe havens of self sameness are cultural identities. This process might be best understood through field research, as the subjects of the research are not just social interactions, but the very human imagination and emotion that creates them.
Understanding this underlines the importance of better understanding how individual Hungarian communities create their own cultural identity, and how the different surroundings affect this process, and what “we” as a “greater Hungarian community” can learn from them. To do so, I will be using the findings of two field researches conducted in San Francisco Bay Area in 2011. One focusing on the Hungarian Diaspora, and the other on Hungarians who chose not to get involved with the former and rather formulated their own micro-communities.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Miklós Szabó is PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program 
at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), where he also received his B.A. degree in Social Sciences (2010) and M.S. degree in Cultural Anthropology (2012). His fields of research interests are Identity research, Nationalism, and Genocide Studies.

Anna Juhász lived, worked and attended schools from 1975 to 2007 in Silicon Valley, California. Her experiences in the electronic industry, influences of a multicultural environment inspired her to study social sciences and cultural anthropology. She received her related BA from San Jose State University (SJSU), CA, earned her MA from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary. Subject of her field research was the Hungarian diaspora in the San Francisco Bay Area, focusing on individuals and identity, community and heritage, Hungarians and integration.




Szaffkó, Péter

University of Debrecen, Debrecen Summer School

A Debreceni Nyári Egyetem helye és szerepe a változó világban

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Az 1927-ben alapított Debreceni Nyári Egyetem alapvető küldetése régen és ma egyaránt a magyar nyelv és kultúra terjesztése bárki számára, aki érdeklődik Magyarország és a magyar kultúra bármely területe iránt. Bár ez a küldetés világos és egyértelmű, könnyen belátható, hogy az elmúlt csaknem kilenc évtizedben ezt a feladatot nem lehetett ugyanúgy és ugyanolyan eszközökkel végrehajtani. Az előadás különösen az elmúlt 2-3 évtizedre koncentrálva igyekszik bemutatni, hogy a nagy presztízsű intézménynek milyen kihívásokkal kellett szembenéznie.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
1978-ban szerzett angol-orosz szakos diplomát az egykori KLTE-n, ahonnan habilitált egyetemi docensként ment nyugdíjba 2013-ban.
Egyetemi oktatóként fő érdeklődési területe a színház és a dráma kapcsolata és fejlődése, főleg a kanadai és néhány más angol nyelvű posztkoloniális kultúrában, de kutatási területébe beletartozik a magyar-angolszász kapcsolatok számos találkozási pontja. Az angol nyelvű Színház specializáció és a magyar és külföldi egyetemi hallgatók számára 1999 óta évente megrendezésre kerülő Angol Nyelvű Dráma Fesztivál megalapítója és főszervezője. Oktatói és kutatói munkája mellett számos hazai és nemzetközi konferenciát szervezett, és egyik alapító tagja a HUSSE néven közismertté vált Magyar Anglisztikai Társaságnak, amelynek 1993 és 2010 között ügyvezető titkára volt. Jelentős szerepet vállalt a nagyváradi Partiumi Keresztény Egyetem Angol Tanszékének létrehozásában, amelynek 2001 óta oktatója és 2008-ig megbízott vezetője volt. A Debreceni Egyetem Bölcsészettudományi Karán működő tolmácsvizsga-központ vezetője, műfordító.
2009. június 1. óta a Debreceni Nyári Egyetem ügyvezető igazgatója.
2010 óta a Debreceni Egyetem utazó nagykövete.




Szántó, Ildikó

independent scholar

Declining Hungarian Birth Rate seen in Hungarian Literature

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Falling birth rates had already been recorded as early as the late-eighteenth century in south-western Hungary, in the Ormánság. Low birth rate, population loss remained one of the main topics focused on by writers and sociologists in the twentieth century. The issue of decreasing Hungarian population was highlighted among the social ills in the interwar period and this was one of several subjects, which divided intellectuals into ‘populists’ and ‘urbanites’. Following the impact of the low birth rate figures in the 1960s, the populist’s views of the 1930s reappeared in the public debates in the 1960s and 1970s, till the present day. The concern of the increasing trend of the one-child families in rural settlements as well as in urban areas appeared in the various works of Hungarian writers, publicist throughout the last century. The current paper intends to focus on the intellectual background to the public debate on the population issue, outlining the accounts of the interwar ‘village explorers’ briefly, and the way they are related to the pre-Second World War populist movement. Finally the reappearance of the populists and non-populists debates of the 1970s are discussed, a debate that is still continuing.
Keywords: low birth rates, one-child families, populist, non-populists.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Ildiko Szanto received her M.A. degree in History from Macquarie University, N.S.W. She has taught interdisciplinary courses focusing on the ideological movements of the twentieth century in East-Central Europe at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences, Pázmány Péter Catholic University and the Budapest Business School.





Szécsi, Tünde

Floda Gulf Coast University

Hungarian-American Families’ Perception on Heritage Language Literacy Practices through Media Technologies

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Despite the increasing number of linguistically diverse immigrants in the USA, more than 90 % of the population uses solely English for communication. Research also indicates that within three generations the heritage language (HL) is completely lost, often causing devastating consequences on immigrant children’s identities, family relationship, and academic accomplishments. Besides numerous well-researched factors, little attention was given to the effects of the use of media-technologies in families’ HL practices.
During the past decade technology has transformed our lives. The advancement and the availability of various media technologies has changed the way people live, work and communicate. Media sources have also been found beneficial for HL development. Among those are television programs in the HL, cartoons on video or DVD from the heritage culture, pop songs and audiobooks in the HL, video tapes for educational purposes, and the Internet (Cho & Krashen, 2000), DeCapua and Wintergerst, 2009, Park & Sarkar, 2007). In addition, media technologies such as email, social networking websites and Skype, a telephone and video calling service over the World Wide Web, carry new opportunities to connect immigrants with their families in the heritage country (Şenyürekli & Detzner, 2009). As a result, through becoming a part of each other’s virtual lives, immigrant families have enjoyed a day-to-day relationship with relatives and friends in the heritage country.
A study was conducted to delve deep into Hungarian – American families ' perceptions regarding the role media technologies play in their children's literacy development and maintenance of the Hungarian language in the United States. One hundred families participated in the on-line survey. Our analysis focused on the parents’ perception on the importance of HL maintenance, the barriers in this process and their perception on the use of media in HL maintenance. This presentation will report on the perceptions of Hungarian – American families on the use of media technologies in the maintenance of the Hungarian language and culture. For educators and families, regardless of their country of residence, this presentation will provide new insights into strategies and practices for maintenance of the Hungarian language and culture through the family members’ eyes.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. Tunde Szecsi is a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL where she is the Co-Coordinator for the Elementary Teacher Education Programs. She earned her Master’s degrees in Hungarian, Russian and English language and literature in Hungary. For seventeen years she taught at high school and college level in Hungary. In 2003, she obtained her Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education at University at Buffalo, and since then she has taught courses on elementary and early childhood education, teaching English as a second language. She served as coeditor for the 2007 and 2012 international theme issues and the Teaching Strategies column of the Childhood Education journal. Over the past decade, she has made numerous presentations throughout the world, and has contributed over forty articles and five book chapters in child development, multicultural education, culturally responsive teacher preparation, and humane education.




Szilágyi-Gál, Mihály

Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest

Online Political Radicalism in Hungary

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The special role of the media in the political developmentof the national-radical scene in Hungary in the last decade is that it does not simply “reflect” an already existing political group but it actually constitutes this group. Similarly to the phenomena of the exchange between classical and online contents as well as elements of style which have created a new media, the self-relying political presence of the online media and its fusion withmainstream politics have created a kind of new politics. This fact doesn't simply result an interaction between mainstream politics and the online media, but also results in the emergence of parallel political realities: the online media on the one hand and the mainstream political system on the other hand. A closer insight may highlight the following aspects of this process: 1. the overall political importance of the media presence of the national-radical scene has proved to be more significant than its direct political representation; 2. moreover its direct political representation is already an outcome of its previous online emergence; 3. this particular political development the national-radical scene has achieved in the online media seems to be more lasting than its success in the mainstream forms of political representation; 4 this newly emerged political scene has proved to be competitive to the mainstream politics itself in its influence upon the overall political development of the country.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Mihály Szilágyi-Gál (Kolozsvár, 1971) is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Art Theory and Media Studies, ELTE Universty of Sciences Budapest. He studied philosophy and political science in Budapest, Debrecen, and Tübingen and received his PhD in philosophy in 2007 from the University of Debrecen. His research interest embraces topics ranging from modern political philosophy to media ethics with special interest to freedom of expression. Besides his professional publications Mihály Szilágyi-Gál has published many articles in the Hungarian press about politics and media.




T. Szabó, Levente

Babes-Bolyai University

Rival Ethnicization of Hybrid Identities in the First International Journal of Comparative Literary Studies

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The reception of the Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum (1877-1888), the first international journal founded in Cluj / Kolozsvár / Klausenburg (formely in Hungary, today in Romania) by Sámuel Brassai and Hugo von Meltzl / Meltzl Hugó, has always suffered from a certain "methodological nationalism”. While it has always stressed the transgressing of national boundaries and the transnational network of scholars around the new idea of the comparative method in literature, it has also recurrently emphasized the ethnic and national "belonging” of both of the founders and the collaborators. Hugo von Meltzl has been portrayed as the civilizing "German” who founded the journal after returning from its "Western” studies. The other founder, Sámuel Brassai was largely neglected as he was viewed as "the Eastern figure”, "the Hungarian” who had never been abroad, and in contact with "the West” before. Many of the extremely large network of scholars were mainly thought of as clear-cut figures of a single ethnic group. For instance, Dora d’Istria came to be viewed mostly as an "Italian”, and less as a "Romanian” or „Macedonian”. Ludwig-Adolf Simiginowicz-Staufe has been regarded as a "German”, even though his identity could not be simply described in such clear-cut ethnic terms.
Even though the first international journal foregrounds many culturally hybrid figures among the founders or permanent collaborators, the reception of the journal in the last century reshaped them into changing, and often biased clear-cut ethnic identities. My paper will reassess several ethnically biased narratives through which the founders and the hybrid, cosmopolitan international collaborators of the first international comparative literary journal were ethnicized, monopolized and appropriated.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Associate professor in nineteenth-century Hungarian and comparative literature at Babes-Bolyai University (Cluj, Romania). Specialized and PhD in literary sociology and the social history of literature. Author of two successful books and several papers on models of nineteenth-century Hungarian literary modernization, respectively the construction of the national space in nineteenth-century Hungarian literature, literary professionalization and comparative literary nationalisms. Currently working on an English-language book on the history of the first international journal of comparative literature. http://hunlit.lett.ubbcluj.ro/en/professors/t-szabo-levente




Tánczos, Vilmos

Babes-Bolyai Tudományegyetem

Defining Factors of the Ethnic and Linguistic Identity of the Moldavian Csángós -- A moldvai csángók etnikai és nyelvi identitásának meghatározó tényezőiLinguistic Identity of Moldavian Csángós

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The presentation will outline the main components of the ethnic and linguistic identity of the Moldavian Csángó Catholic community (comprising approx. 186 000 people living in seven counties, of which roughly 40 000 speak also Hungarian). It will pose the following questions: which are the factors which determine this complex identity structure within the conditions of postmodernity (e.g. amid the presence of new ideologies, the phenomenon of migration, the use of electronic media, etc.), given that this identity is not uniform even within this community. The factors influencing linguistic and ethnic identity will be discussed separately, although these two areas of communal identity is interrelated, in fact they can be regarded as parts of a single cognitive system. Regarding the linguistic and ethnic identity of the Moldavian Csángós the Hungarian and Romanian intellectual elite have formulated their own, diverse ideological constructions beginning from the middle of the 19th century, and new ideologies have emerged more recently in the international scientific and political life, as well. The presentation will show how these ideologies influenced and shaped the self-awareness and identity of the Moldavian Csángós.

Az előadásban a moldvai csángó katolikus közösség (hét megyében kb. 186 000 fő, ebből magyarul is beszélő kb. 40 000 fő) nyelvi és etnikai identitásának legfontosabb összetevőit mutatom be. Arra kérdésre keresem a választ, hogy melyek azok a belső tudati tényezők, amelyek ezt az összetett és a közösségen belül sem egységes identitásszerkezetet a posztmodernitás viszonyai (pl. új ideológiák, migrációs jelenségek, elektronikus médiumok stb.) között meghatározzák. Külön tárgyalom a nyelvi identitásra és az etnikai identitásra vonatkozó tudati összetevőket, noha a közösségi identitásnak ez a két területe szoros kölcsönhatásban áll egymással, olyannyira, hogy voltaképpen egyetlen tudati rendszer működéséről van szó.
A moldvai csángók nyelvi és etnikai identitásáról a magyar és a román értelmiségi elit a 19. század közepétől különféle ideológiai konstrukciókat alakított ki, és újabban a nemzetközi tudományos és politikai közegben is megfogalmaztak ilyen ideológiákat. Az előadás bemutatja azt is, hogy ezeknek az ideológiáknak milyen hatásuk volt a moldvai csángók tényleges közösségi identitástudatára.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Tánczos Vilmos egyetemi tanulmányait a kolozsvári Babeş-Bolyai Tudományegyetemen végezte, magyar nyelv és irodalom-orosz nyelv és irodalom szakon; doktori diplomajat 1999-ben etnológia szakon kapta. 2001 óta egyetemi előadótanár a kolozsvári BBTE Bölcsészettudományi Karának Magyar Néprajz és Antropológia Tanszékén. Kutatasi területe: vallásantropológia, archetipikus szimbolizáció a folklórban; népi vallásosság: szövegek és rítusok a moldvai csángó népi kultúrában; népi vallásosság Erdélyben – források és elemzési módszerek; a belső képek antropológiája – elméletek és elemzési módszerek




Tuza, Csilla

Magyar Országos Levéltár

The Peregrination and Migration of the Guild-Fellows in the Carpathian Basin in the 18th Century

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
About the turn of the 17th–18th century, after the Ottoman wars Hungary’s territory became reunified. The rare populousness of the middle region and the undeveloped industry offered great opportunities to the migrants.
In the middle of the 18th century the fellows, who did not get a place in the local guilds, migrated to the middle regions of the country in order to find a job and living. We can follow based on several examples of migration from the Northern parts to the Southern regions and a running from the Western to the Eastern settlements at the same time. So we can define some main routes: fellows march from Buda in the direction to Szeged and Pécs, meanwhile they come to Buda and Pest from Pozsony. Altough the migration from Austria, especially from Vienna with its over 60 000 craftsmen to Pozsony and the counties Vas and Moson is less important, but considerable.
The migration in the Northern part of Hungary shows very interesting directions, whereas the fellows moved earlier to Krakow and Lemberg they run now south- and westwards. Compared with the catchment area of Buda we can set out, that the migration through Pest-Buda to the Southern regions ran its course without any inhibitions, while Kassa that held almost every Northern guilds under its influence aimed to put off the migration or it tried to keep the migration in its own catchment area.
We need to the analysis of the migration processes because of the special capabilities of the guild-resources (quantity, quality and type of the documents, variegation of the document keeping institutions etc.) particular methods. To this end a new guild-database is presented which can be a brilliant help beyond its other useful functions also to the migration-examinations because of its international compatibility even in international projects. The examples mentioned in the presentation are already the results of the research carried out with the help of this data-base.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Csilla Tuza is Archivist at the National Archives of Hungary. She received her Diploma in education in History and German at the Eötvös Lorand University in 1993. She attended the Doctoral School of History, Early Modern Hungarian History Program 2001-2006. Her fields of research include the history of the Hungarian guilds, historiography, and history of the economy in the 18th century in Hungary.




Várdy, Steven Béla and Várdy, Ágnes Huszár

Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA

Hungarian Gymnasiums in Postwar Germany

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Following the end of World War II, between ten to fifteen million refugees found themselves in Postwar Germany. Although scattered all over in the remnants of Hitler’s empire, most of them congregated in southern Germany. The majority of these refugees consisted of Germans, who either fled from the invading Soviet hordes, or were expelled from their homelands by the new settlers. These refugees consisting of about twenty different nationalities, among them Hungarians, who constituted about 10-12 % of the total.

The situation changed in the fall of 1945 when about 90% of the Hungarians repatriated, and their numbers in Germany declined to 122,000. At the same time elections were held in Hungary, which was won by the ant-communist Smallholders Party. It collected 57% of the votes, versus the Communist Party that received only 17%. As Hungary was under Soviet occupation, the communists did not take their defeat easily. They started a campaign against all rival political parties, whose leaders were accused of being American spies. This lead to their arrest, conviction, and deportation to the Gulag. This also produced a new wave of refugees from Hungary.

Those Hungarians who remained in Germany were put into refugee camps, where they had to survive for years. They established various political and cultural institutions to make their lives tolerable. Most important among these were their Gymnasiums (eight–year preparatory schools) that were to perpetuate their original way of life. The first and most important among these camp schools was the Hungarian/Gymnasium of Passau/Waldwerke. Founded by Prof. Béla Csejtei as a coeducational school, it functioned from the fall of 1945 trough the fall of 1951, while after 1951 it absorbed virtually all of the smaller schools. By 1958 almost all of the remaining schools had been merged into the Passau/Waldwerke Gymnasium. The school was transferred to a permanent location in the fortress of Burg Kastl in the vicinity of Munich. There it remained until its dissolution in 2006.




Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Steven Béla Várdy is a McAnulty Distinguished Professor of European History at Duquesne University, longtime Director of the University's History Forum, and former Chairman of the Department of History. He is the author, co-author, or editor of two dozen scholarly books, well over one-hundred scholarly articles, and nearly one-hundred encyclopedia articles and book reviews.

Prof. Ágnes Huszár Várdy, Ph.D., is a former professor of English and Communications at Robert Morris University, is now Adjunct Professor of Comparative Literature at Duquesne University. She is the author, co-author, or editor of nearly a dozen books, and close to a hundred articles, essays and reviews. Prof. Ágnes Huszár Várdy is also the author of two historical-social novels, Mimi and My Italian Summer.






Varga, Adriana

Butler University, Indianapolis

Dezső Kosztolányi, Miroslav Krlezsa and Mateiu Caragiale: Modernist Perspectives on the European East and West

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Two stories written by Modernist authors who are representative in their respective cultures (Hungarian and Croatian) describe the complex and complicated relationship between the European East and West. The two stories I am referring to are Kosztolányi’s “Bandi Cseregdi in Paris” and Krleza’s “Hodorlahomor the Great.” I would like to begin my presentation by discussing the challenges of translating “Bandi Cseregdi in Paris” into English, and then moving on to contrast the abovementioned stories. Furthermore, I will compare Krleza’s approach to the East-West relationship to that of Kosztolányi as well as to that of a third Modernist, the Romanian Mateiu Caragiale, who was a contemporary of both Kosztolányi and Krleza. The goal of this presentation is to further explore the ways in which three representative Modernist authors understood and negotiated the relationship between the European East and West, through language, aesthetics, and politics.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Adriana Varga teaches English and global and historical studies at Butler University, Indianapolis.




Varga, Zsuzsanna

University of Glasgow

The Politics of Textuality: Fenyő Miksa’s Wartime Memoirs in 1946 and 1986

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
My proposed paper aims to present the textual and publishing history of Miksa Fenyő’s wartime diary Az elsodort ország ( A Country Adrift). Fenyő, a founding editor of Nyugat and manager and contributor to the periodical for its whole lifespan, suffered persecution after the German occupation of Hungary in 1944: both for his earlier condemnation of Nazi Germany and also for his Jewishness. Whilst sheltered by friends and also by complete strangers in Budapest in 1944-45, he kept a detailed journal of his daily experiences, political views, musings about history and his hopes for the post-war future. Fenyő survived the war, did not emigrate until 1948, and saw through the first publication of his complete diary in 1946 by the Révay . The memoir did not see a second edition until 1986, when Magvető brought out again, under the epithet javított (improved) edition, whilst, in 2014, Park Publishers brought it out again, reverting to the original, 1946 version, which is also the basis of its first English translation, to be published by Helena History Press, US in 2015. The present paper intends to provide a close examination of the first, 1946 edition in comparison with the 1986 edition, which, defying the adjective ’improved,’ was in reality abridged and bowdlerised. The differences between the two texts offer meanig ful insights into political sensitivities and taboos of the Kádár regime.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Z.Varga studied at ELTE of Budapest, and the Edinburgh and Strathclyde Universities. She has taught Hungarian Studies at Glasgow University since 2008.




Várnai, Pál

Carleton University, Ottawa Canada (Retired)

Identitások határon innen és túl

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
A témát, a határon túli identitást én egy tágabb kérdésnek tekintem. Identitásaim s annak változásai összefüggnek életem és sorsom alakulásával. 1944-ben származásom miatt, családommal együtt, deportáltak, a határon túlra. Zsidóságom, kisebbségi helyzetem is határokat húz, lehetek egyszerre kívül és belül. 1956-ban elhagytam Magyarországot s ismét a határon túlra kerültem. Sok éve időm jelentős részét Magyarországon töltöm, a határon innen. Ahogyan korábban megírtam, az a véletlen, hogy hol élek s nem az, hogy hol születtem.

Megkísérlem elemezni a magyar - zsidó, zsidó – magyar problematikát, a másságot, amely szintén kapcsolódik a határhelyzethez, akár egy kisebbség, akár az emigráció kontextusában, akár az azt megelőző, vagy azt követő, a szülőhazában töltött időszakokkal összefüggően. Az identitás időnként változhat is. A határon belüli és kívüli identitásnak fontos kritériuma nyelv.

Lehet több identitásunk is, amely összefügghet a nyelvvel, amelyet használunk s az országgal, ahol élünk. A nyelv is meghatározhatja, hogy határon kívül vagy belül élünk. Az emigráns író, aki továbbra is az anyanyelvén ír, megint külön kategória, egy másfajta határhelyzet. Én 1956-ban elmentem Magyarországról s a következő évtizedekben több nyelven kommunikáltam, dolgoztam, miközben igyekeztem megőrizni anyanyelvemet is, melyet tanítottam is. Hosszú idő óta főleg csak magyarul írok, publikálok, magyar közegben élek. Mégis, mint kettős állampolgár, de mindenütt kisebbség, egyszerre élek határon belül és kívül.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
1935-ben születtem Kiskunhalason. 1944-ben, a németek bevonulása után gettóba kerültünk, majd a következő évet egy mezőgazdasági munkahelyen és számos koncentrációs lágerben töltöttük. A kiskunhalasi református (állami) gimnáziumban érettségiztem, majd a budapesti (ELTE) Egyetemi Orosz (Lenin) Intézet orosz-magyar műfordítói szakára jártam három évig. 1956 decemberében elhagytam az országot. 1959-ben M.A.diplomát-szereztem a l’Université de Montreál Szláv és Kelet-Európai Intézetében. PhD diplomamat a University of Michigan, Ann Arbor-ban kaptam, 1970-ben. 1964 és 1995 között az ottawai Carleton University-n orosz és kelet európai irodalmat, valamint magyar és orosz nyelvet tanítottam. Irodalmi, illetve kulturális publikációim kanadai, amerikai és magyar folyóiratokban jelentek meg. Munkám fontos része volt a magyar, később a magyar-zsidó irodalom külföldi népszerűsítése. Az általam szerkesztett Hungarian Short Stories c. fordítás kötet 1983-ban jelent meg Torontóban. Az utóbbi, mintegy húsz évben főleg magyarul írtam és publikáltam. Írásaimat (interjúk, recenziók, személyes írások) elsősorban a budapesti Szombat folyóiratban közlöm. 2012-ben, Életeim címmel jelent meg tizenöt önéletrajzi írásom.




Wéber, Katalin

University of Pécs

Identities Between the Lines

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In my presentation I will focus on some guided compositions of students with Hungarian background and trace how their identity is implied between the lines of their essays.

The ECL language exam system offers language assessment of Hungarian as a foreign language. Candidates from all over the world try to pass this exam evaluating the candidates’ communicative competence of Hungarian. One of the exam skills is an essay to be written by the candidate. The length of the text is varying according to the level (A2, B1, B2 or C1 levels are offered). However, on each level in the assignment 4-5 topic elements are provided to make prompts about what to be written thus guiding the candidates to reach a certain degree of content complexity required by the level. That is to say it is a relatively free writing task framed by the restrictive prompts.

The guided composition task gives an opportunity for the writer to write about his/her personal life, opinion and view of the world segment defined by the prescribed topic. In an analysis of compositions of higher levels (B2, C1) I intend to reveal the students’ (of Hungarian origin) clear-cut references to their Hungarian identity and how these identity elements are mingled with the cultural features of their homeland they are presently living in. As an outcome I am going to show what are the most frequent areas of life where their Hungarian identity is utterly manifest.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Katalin Wéber currently works as a test developer in ECL Language Exam Centre, University of Pécs. She graduated in 1992 (Hungarian and English major), earned her doctorate in linguistics in 2012. Her major research fields are the Hungarian conjugations, language acquisition, foreign language assessment. She translated several books from English and Polish and worked as a literary editor.




Zach, Lili

National University of Ireland, Galway

Irish Images of Hungarian National Identity in the Interwar Years

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
Late 1918 saw the complete transformation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, from a Dual Monarchy into a number of independent, self-declared “nation-states”. Drawing on contemporary Irish newspapers, journals and diplomatic accounts, this paper aims to investigate the formulation of national identity in interwar Hungary, as perceived by the newly independent Irish Free State, since both small states shared border-related challenges after gaining independence following the end of the Great War. Tracing what factors defined the Irish image of independent Hungary, in contrast to Hungarian self-image, is of primary importance, in addition to determining the impact of Hungary’s historical past on Irish opinion. This paper concentrates on the changing identities in Central Europe from a transnational perspective, with special attention to Hungary, arguing that investigating Irish perceptions of Hungary may provide insights into not only the transformation of Habsburg Central Europe, but also into the development of Irish national identity. Altogether, the paper aims to add to our current understanding of Hungarian identity in the interwar era, providing an additional dimension to the Hungarian self-image built around resenting the “truncated” nature of the independent small state, in contrast with the perceptions of the small Irish state in the early 1920s.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Lili Zách received her Masters Degrees in English (Irish Studies specialisation) and History at the University of Szeged, Hungary, in 2006. She completed a Diploma in Irish in 2010 at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and is currently undertaking a PhD in History. Her research interest lies in the field of Irish foreign policy and intellectual history, focusing on Irish links with Central Europe before 1945. At present she is investigating the role of small nations in Irish political discourse from a transnational perspective, with special reference to the successor states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 1914-1945.




Zsemlyei, Borbála

Babes Bolyai University

Crossing Language Borders – as shown by the Historical Dictionary of the Hungarian Language in Transylvania

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Transylvania has always been a space of multiculturalism which is reflected in the fact that the Hungarian regional standard contains more Romanian and German elements than the central standard. And that is not only characteristic to the present state of the language but it is a historical phenomena.
During the process of editing the Dictionary, Attila Szabó T. and his co-workers realised that the language material gathered from Transylvanian archives contain a number of Hungarian words of Romanian origin that the literature has no knowledge of. Thus came the idea of a smaller dictionary which would present the Romanian loanwords of Hungarian spoken in Transylvania in the period of the 16–19th centuries. By the mid 1980’s the editorial work was finalized, however it has never been published, the material is kept at the Department of Hungarian and General Linguistics, Babes–Bolyai University, Kolozsvár.
In my paper I attempt to present the words of Romanian origin listed in the Historical Dictionary of the Hungarian Language in Transylvania which the general literature of loan words has no knowledge of in the context of crossing borders in the sense that neighbouring languages always have huge impact on each other even if they are genetically completely different.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Dr. Zsemlyei Borbála is currently a teaching assistant at the Department of Hungarian and General Linguistics, Babeș‒Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She completed her university degree in Hungarian language and literature and English language and literature at Babeș‒Bolyai University in 2000. She continued her studies at the same university and received her master’s degree in Hungarian linguistics in 2002. In 2009 she defended her PhD thesis with the title Diminutive Suffixes in Old Hungarian in Transylvania. Her main field of research is the old Hungarian language used in Transylvania. She presented the results of her research in numerous national and international conferences. She is one of the editors of the Historical Dictionary of the Hungarian Language in Transylvania (Erdélyi magyar szótörténeti tár).