Past Abstracts
1,037 abstracts found
Moving Silences: Holocaust Trauma Memory in Hungarian Women’s Poetry
Language/LiteratureThe 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.
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.
Mozgástér és kényszerpálya. Az erdélyi magyar képzőművészeti nevelés jelenlegi helyezete és kilátásai.
Cultural Studies/ArtsElőadásomban 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.
Multicultural Literacy Movement in the United States and in Hungary
Education/Social SciencesEducation in the United States is in a critical period of change. Cultural pluralism is influencing our educational institutions. Multiculturalism and pluralism are terms in education that provide a framework of strategies developed to assist teachers in promoting democracy while responding to the issues created by the changing demographics of students. Cultural pluralism and globalization focus on the integration of people, backgrounds, and trends. Pluralism is often used in distinctive ways, across a wide range of topics, and to denote a diversity of views and stands in opposition to one single approach of interpretation. The philosophy and ideology of pluralism is not new, yet the time has come for its actualization. Cultural pluralism may be the answer to the need of different cultural components of a society in order to express themselves in a variety of ways such as cultural collectivity and patrimony, redistribution of incomes, and the economic, social and political development that revives competition between rival groups that are competing for new services provided by the government. The multicultural literacy movement openly advocates a curriculum liberated from the dominance of Eurocentric culture in the United States and incorporates the cultural experiences, languages, and histories of all students in the school system. Just as the United States is in a state of transformation, Eastern European countries, such as Hungary, are also contending with the trials of pluralism. In Hungary, The Educational Act of 1985, which was revised in 1990, continues to strive towards developing pluralism in education.
Multilingual Soliloquies: The unaccompanied voice in the works of György Kurtág
Music/Folklore 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.
Multiperspective Competence in the English and Hungarian Regulatory Documents and Textbooks
Education/Social SciencesThe focus of my PhD. research is a student competence of the 21st century, the multiperspective and controversial viewpoints. Multiperspectivity is a firm basis for the improvement of Historical literacy and Historical thinking, thus it has a significant role in the nurturing and training process of the critically thinking, individually reflecting citizens of the future.
The crucial role of the multiperspective competence was firstly declared by the History didactics professional community at two important programs in the year of 2000. The professional association of EUROCLIO and the International Society for History Didactics (ISHD) also organised a conference in Oslo and Lisbon from which both program emphasized the viewpoints of parallel and controversial Historical narratives as a key competence of students which promotes self-confidence and supports the recognition of analogies and alternative points. The student competence was firstly introduced for the Hungarian History didactics life by Professor Ágnes F. Dárdai who influenced many researchers like László Kojanitz (2015), József Kaposi (2015), Barnabás Vajda (2018) who also promotes collectively the aforementioned student competence.
My research has a threefold set of questions and aims, so the applied didactic analysis has three methods as well. First of all, I studied the relevant papers of international authors, like Maurice Halbwachs (1950), Jan Assman (2004), Robert Strandling (2001), the advisory documents of the European Union the OECD and the national educational regulatory documents of two European countries, the United Kingdom and Hungary. It is evident from the comparative research that the two nations followed very different scientific and educational development models (which are often referred to as the anglo-saxon and continental) but similarities can also be identified in their comparison. Secondly, a quantitative and qualitative comparison of English and Hungarian History textbook diagnoses similarities in the different composing parts of the textbooks. By the detailed analysis of the authorial text and the complementary verbal and visual didactic modules/tasks/activities, the multiperspectivic viewpoint is differently depicted, but firmly present. The last aspect of my research is an attitude test about the analysed element of Historical thinking. In the study I investigate the approaches, beliefs and perspectives of History teachers, the facilitators of the educational process.
The crucial role of the multiperspective competence was firstly declared by the History didactics professional community at two important programs in the year of 2000. The professional association of EUROCLIO and the International Society for History Didactics (ISHD) also organised a conference in Oslo and Lisbon from which both program emphasized the viewpoints of parallel and controversial Historical narratives as a key competence of students which promotes self-confidence and supports the recognition of analogies and alternative points. The student competence was firstly introduced for the Hungarian History didactics life by Professor Ágnes F. Dárdai who influenced many researchers like László Kojanitz (2015), József Kaposi (2015), Barnabás Vajda (2018) who also promotes collectively the aforementioned student competence.
My research has a threefold set of questions and aims, so the applied didactic analysis has three methods as well. First of all, I studied the relevant papers of international authors, like Maurice Halbwachs (1950), Jan Assman (2004), Robert Strandling (2001), the advisory documents of the European Union the OECD and the national educational regulatory documents of two European countries, the United Kingdom and Hungary. It is evident from the comparative research that the two nations followed very different scientific and educational development models (which are often referred to as the anglo-saxon and continental) but similarities can also be identified in their comparison. Secondly, a quantitative and qualitative comparison of English and Hungarian History textbook diagnoses similarities in the different composing parts of the textbooks. By the detailed analysis of the authorial text and the complementary verbal and visual didactic modules/tasks/activities, the multiperspectivic viewpoint is differently depicted, but firmly present. The last aspect of my research is an attitude test about the analysed element of Historical thinking. In the study I investigate the approaches, beliefs and perspectives of History teachers, the facilitators of the educational process.
Multispecies Events in the Zoopoetics of Géza Szőcs
Language/LiteratureAnimals are ubiquitous in the poetry of Géza Szőcs. After “carrying” meaning as tenors in the tropes of his early poetry, they reappear in his later poetic output in a wholly novel form, as independent actors resisting the process of metaphorization. The presentation discusses a selection of poems as zoopoetic texts that are, in the definition of Kári Driscoll and Eva Hoffmann, “predicated upon an engagement with animals and animality.” These poems reflect on their own language and textuality by performing the re-embodiment of language through a peculiar partnership between the poetic self and the animal. It will argue that the zoopoetic texts of Szőcs capture the experience of radical otherness in “multispecies events” (Aaron Moe’s term). Such events open new horizons of meaning which would not exist without the shift between human and animal perspectives. The subversion and deconstruction of the human-centered worldview occurs, in the poetry of Szőcs, through encounters with animals, thinking through animals, and becoming animal. These moments of human-animal encounter are also an integral part of the identity politics of Szőcs as a Transylvanian poet.
Music for Everyone
Music/FolkloreTwo 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.
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.
Musicological and pedagogical aspects of the International Society for Research & Promotion of Wind Music from a Hungarian Perspective
Music/FolkloreThe International Society for Research and Promotion of Wind Music (IGEB) explores all the aspects of wind music in multiple ways, e.g. international congresses, virtual lectures and a series of publications. IGEB was founded in 1974, and now it has over 300 members from more than 20 countries. Its president is Damien Sagrillo, who was the consulting professor of two music pedagogical projects of the Hungarian Academy of Science between 2016 and 2020.
In my presentation I focus on the Hungarian aspects of the IGEB from the beginnings. The 11th IGEB congress was organized in 1994 by Bihari János Music School in Abony, Hungary, where Sprightly Tunes by Frigyes Hidas was premiered. I present the art of Zoltán Falvy, a well-known Hungarian musicologist who was awarded honorary membership of IGEB in 2004 due to his contribution to the history of wind music highlighting his collaboration with Raoul Camous, professor emeritus of music, and honorary member of the IGEB. László Marosi a famous conductor and IGEB member since 1992 works among others with Hungarian soloists and composers, including the tuba player Roland Szentpali. He has premiered several compositions by Frigyes Hidas, Kamilló Lendvay, László Dubrovay for orchestras and wind ensembles. Zsuzsa Buzás and László Marosi’s joint article on Hungarian wind music composers, traditions and wind music education to be published in the Oxford Handbook of Wind Music by the IGEB will also be introduced.
In my presentation I focus on the Hungarian aspects of the IGEB from the beginnings. The 11th IGEB congress was organized in 1994 by Bihari János Music School in Abony, Hungary, where Sprightly Tunes by Frigyes Hidas was premiered. I present the art of Zoltán Falvy, a well-known Hungarian musicologist who was awarded honorary membership of IGEB in 2004 due to his contribution to the history of wind music highlighting his collaboration with Raoul Camous, professor emeritus of music, and honorary member of the IGEB. László Marosi a famous conductor and IGEB member since 1992 works among others with Hungarian soloists and composers, including the tuba player Roland Szentpali. He has premiered several compositions by Frigyes Hidas, Kamilló Lendvay, László Dubrovay for orchestras and wind ensembles. Zsuzsa Buzás and László Marosi’s joint article on Hungarian wind music composers, traditions and wind music education to be published in the Oxford Handbook of Wind Music by the IGEB will also be introduced.
Myth and Reality in Efforts to Rescue Hungarian Jews in 1944
History/Political ScienceBecause the Nazi deportations of the Jewish population in Hungary proceeded in secret, a crucial question is: How and when did knowledge about this unprecedented campaign reach leaders not only in Hungary but also in the West? As it turned out, the efforts to stop the deportations succeeded only after that knowledge had reached Hungary and the Allies simultaneously.
The “Auschwitz Report,” the testimony of two escaped prisoners, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, was transmitted from Slovakia even before deportations began. This report presented convincing documentation about the Nazi extermination machine. Although many scholarly accounts are available about the crucial role of the Vrba-Wetzler report, a simultaneous view of the two distinct paths of this report, one to Washington, where the authority and the control of effective bombing missions resided, and the other to the head of state in Hungary, is still lacking.
On the basis of information he had in his possession, Roosevelt warned the head of state in Hungary, Admiral Horthy, that there would be serious consequences if the deportations did not cease. That warning contributed to the halting of deportations. Budapest was spared, but by that time the Jews of the provinces had been taken.
After the revelations of the “Auschwitz Report,” a coded message with the urgent request to bomb the rail lines to Auschwitz reached Switzerland from Slovakia. Because of delays, the message did not reach the president for serious consideration. If those rail lines had been destroyed, as proposed, a more comprehensive rescue could have succeeded.
The “Auschwitz Report,” the testimony of two escaped prisoners, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, was transmitted from Slovakia even before deportations began. This report presented convincing documentation about the Nazi extermination machine. Although many scholarly accounts are available about the crucial role of the Vrba-Wetzler report, a simultaneous view of the two distinct paths of this report, one to Washington, where the authority and the control of effective bombing missions resided, and the other to the head of state in Hungary, is still lacking.
On the basis of information he had in his possession, Roosevelt warned the head of state in Hungary, Admiral Horthy, that there would be serious consequences if the deportations did not cease. That warning contributed to the halting of deportations. Budapest was spared, but by that time the Jews of the provinces had been taken.
After the revelations of the “Auschwitz Report,” a coded message with the urgent request to bomb the rail lines to Auschwitz reached Switzerland from Slovakia. Because of delays, the message did not reach the president for serious consideration. If those rail lines had been destroyed, as proposed, a more comprehensive rescue could have succeeded.
Names of Musical Instruments in 16–18th century Transylvania
Language/LiteratureThe 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.
Narrative Images of Hungary in the Intergenerational Memories of Late Generation Hungarian Americans
Cultural Studies/ArtsIn this paper, I discuss the narrative meaning of images of Hungary as a “geographical site” in intergenerational memory retellings quoted from interview-based life histories of late-generation Hungarian Americans. The term “site” implies the topographically-recognizable place of ethnic identification to which individuals gravitate emotionally and psychologically. The selected narrative samples show how the narrators construct their ethnic subjectivity by emphasizing and interpreting the locations where particular events happened to their ancestors. The analysis distinguishes two types of ethnic subjectivity-related sites, which are the ancestral homeland and the roots trip. References to these “geographical sites” in intergenerational memory narratives appear on two levels. The first level identifies the actual and the possible locations within the narrator’s world, including the here-and-now geography of the interviews as well as any other site of everyday activities in which the interview takes place. The second level concerns the locations of events in the complexity of multiple storyworlds that integrate the sites of intergenerational memories with those of the narrator’s own memory. The family memory narratives shed light on how the linguistic and narrative representation of places and place-related activities prompt agency construction. In many stories, the intergenerational memory and own memory narratives intersect and modify traditional Labovian story structures to ensure telling rights and add new meaning to the places. Code-switching between English and a heritage language, in this case, Hungarian, becomes a platform for constructing the narrators’ sense of place.
Narrative Perspective on the Sites of Subjective Ethnicity
Cultural Studies/ArtsIn this paper, I describe ethnic identity formation as a spatialized process tied to recognizable geographical locations—places that prompt ethnic activities or make the already existing practices memorable. I interpret four interview-based narratives within their discursive and narrative environment to discuss how storytellers relate to their subjective ethnicity against the backdrop of ethnically marked sites and locations. The four stories will highlight four modes of conceptualizing space related to ethnicity: 1) the ethnic neighborhood, 2) ethnic reclamation sites, 3) sites of heritage tourism, and 4) heterolocalism. I probe the space-centered stories in this conceptual matrix of ethnic geography to explore under which circumstances storytellers find ethnically imbued sites meaningful. I also reveal how narrators locate these sites as centers of cultural-social networking and thus a source of symbolic capital. Furthermore, the analysis pinpoints the ways in which investment becomes a necessary prerequisite to community formation and maintenance. I suggest that traditional ethnic identity sites as well as those newly designed cultural geographical formations rooted in the subjectivization of ethnicity gain long-term meaning and become sustainable if they are seen as an investment and their capacity to bring profits as symbolic capital.
Narrative Style and Gender Relations in the Creative Relationship of Miklós Mészöly and Alaine Polcz
Cultural Studies/ArtsMiklós Mészöly (1921-2001) and Alaine Polcz (1922-2007) as a couple have a special status in Hungarian literature. Mészöly is one of the most important figures of postwar Hungarian fiction. His wife, Polcz, a therapist became an author at the age of sixty nine when her first book, a wartime memoir One Woman in the War (1991) gained attention. Polcz became famous when Mészöly was already past the height of his career and although she has been generally regarded only as an important "writer's wife" (írófeleség) and a middlebrow writer, even a dilettante, by the turn of the century she eventually became more popular than her husband. In this paper I will focus on a novel by Mészöly, Pontos történetek, útközben (Accurate Stories on the Road) published in 1970, based on Polcz’s tape recorded narration of her journeys to her native region, Transylvania, and to the Hungarian countryside, which she gifted to her husband. I pose two questions in the paper: The first is a question of style and narration, and the second is the question of gender. How can we grasp the characteristics of the narrative style of Mészöly by comparing his transcription to the text recorded on the tape made by Polcz? How was it possible for the husband to publish a novel exclusively under his own name from his wife’s ”raw material”, and how did the couple consider their roles as partners in marriage and in artistic creation? The consideration of these questions only becomes possible because of the publication, in 2017, of their four decades of correspondence, which I will discuss in detail.
Nation Concept of the American Hungarian Emigration, with Special Regard to the Situation of Hungarians Living in Romania
History/Political ScienceThe lecture focuses on the nation concept of American Hungarian Diaspora organizations and its leaders who advocated human rights of Hungarians living in Romania in the U.S. during the Cold War, taking into consideration both their relationship to the motherland and their position on Hungarian minorities living beyond the borders of Hungary. Each of the organization and movement established by the different waves of immigration in different periods represented a special community culture and mentality, mostly competing with each other, based on imported values from the motherland, and as a consequence, all of them developed their own special nation concept regarding Hungary, its neighboring countries and their Hungarian minorities. This left a strong mark on their chosen advocacy objectives, lobbying instruments, quality of their networks and of their relationship with the prevailing Hungarian Government. The advocacy activities of four different diaspora organizations will be analyzed along the factors mentioned above: namely the points of view and main features of the American Hungarian Federation, American Transylvanian Association, the Transylvanian World Federation and the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation.
National Identity through Foreign Language Teaching?
Education/Social SciencesThe Hungarian educational scene is dominated by the efforts to improve the foreign language competencies of the people in the country. Adults of all ages, students at all levels of formal education and even families with young children are attempting to acquire foreign language skills, the foreign language mainly being English.
The presenter, a TEFL teacher trainer and a teacher herself, attempts to approach foreign language teacher role and language teaching practices in Hungary from the perspective of the threats to and potentials of developing and strengthening national identity among Hungarian learners. Through a critical approach questions concerning the profession will be raised in order to highlight the major challenges of the current situation, as well as to raise interest in further research into the area of foreign language teaching.
The presenter, a TEFL teacher trainer and a teacher herself, attempts to approach foreign language teacher role and language teaching practices in Hungary from the perspective of the threats to and potentials of developing and strengthening national identity among Hungarian learners. Through a critical approach questions concerning the profession will be raised in order to highlight the major challenges of the current situation, as well as to raise interest in further research into the area of foreign language teaching.
National Self-Defence and Imperialism. The Balkan Policy of István Tisza’s Hungary during World War I
History/Political ScienceMy paper to be presented at the 2017 AHEA conference deals mostly with the political views of Count István Tisza on the Balkans. Count Tisza was the most prominent Hungarian politician of the examined period. From 1913 he was the prime minister of Hungary, the ”strong man” who dominated Hungarian parliamentary life. He also enjoyed the full confidence of the Emperor-King Francis Joseph. Tisza’s views, therefore, can be considered as the official position of the Hungarian government and the political establishment.
His Balkan policy was influenced shaped by a three-pronged consideration: the economic interests of Hungary, rather than Austria-Hungary; the maintenance of Hungarian supremacy in the multi-national Hungarian Kingdom and lastly security of the Dual Monarchy.
It is worth to notice that the Hungarian political elite showed little interest towards foreign affairs before the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 since it was a common assumption that it is useless to deal with international relations as long as problematic issues of domestic politics remain unresolved. This point of view changed rapidly following the outbreak of the Balkan Wars and led to Tisza’s reformulation of Hungarian goals in the Balkans which were backed by most of the Hungarian establishment.
His Balkan policy was influenced shaped by a three-pronged consideration: the economic interests of Hungary, rather than Austria-Hungary; the maintenance of Hungarian supremacy in the multi-national Hungarian Kingdom and lastly security of the Dual Monarchy.
It is worth to notice that the Hungarian political elite showed little interest towards foreign affairs before the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 since it was a common assumption that it is useless to deal with international relations as long as problematic issues of domestic politics remain unresolved. This point of view changed rapidly following the outbreak of the Balkan Wars and led to Tisza’s reformulation of Hungarian goals in the Balkans which were backed by most of the Hungarian establishment.
National Socialist Germany’s East European Allies and Ethnic Cleansing
History/Political ScienceThe topic I seek to investigate concerns the relations between Germany and its numerous East European allies, as well as the relations among these allies. My first argument is that, far from having been powerless satellites, Slovakia, the Czech-Moravian Protectorate, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria were, to a large extent, masters of their own fate. The second argument is that the main wartime goal of the government and the majority population in these countries was to engage in ethnic cleansing, an endeavor in which they were generally successful. In this respect, it did not make any difference whether the East European country emerged victorious or defeated from the war; while all triumphed in their goal of ethnic cleansing, they all paid a heavy price in moral, cultural, and economic setbacks.
National Tragedy and Urban Development: The Influence of the Trianon Peace Treaty on Debrecen
History/Political ScienceThe paper treats the history of Debrecen after World War I, through the prism of new advantages, which were used to rebuild the educational and cultural infrastructure of the city. In the shadow of a national tragedy the city of Debrecen benefited a lot from the new political situation. I will examine that process using the example of University of Debrecen and Deri Museum of Debrecen.
Nationalism and Orientalism: The Usage of Obituaries in fin-de Siècle Hungarian Jewish discourse
Cultural Studies/ArtsIn the late nineteenth and early twentieth century the link between the Orient and Hungarian nationalism was passionately argued with Orient as trope used to highlight the specificity of Hungarian identity in its difference form other Europeans in that it was both Oriental and Occidental simultaneously. The nationalist-inspired Hungarian Oriental Studies served as a background for Jewish Orientalists like their Hungarian colleagues, sought to discover the history of Magyars in Asia, the circumstances of the conquest of Hungary, and the mixing of different peoples in the Orient prior to the Hungarian migration to Europe. Doing so represented Hungarian Jews as true Hungarians. The paper investigates Vámbéry’s obituary by Goldziher. Goldziher claimed Vámbéry’s motive to engage in Oriental Studies was not an abstract scholarly interest but stemmed from very specific personal motivations of Hungarian identity (magyarság). Vámbéry’s personal background and connection to the Neolog Orientalists enabled the Neolog to build on his work and connect Jewish history to Hungarian Oriental Studies in order to show how it was possible for a Jew to be Hungarian. Through this argument Goldziher directed the attention to Vámbéry’s motivation and true passion of Hungarology and fundamentally anchored Vámbéry as a Hungarologist in the obituary, permanently influencing Vambery’s memory and the usage of his memory for nationalist purposes.
Nature in Late Nineteenth-Century Budapest
History/Political ScienceLate nineteenth-century Budapest was one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Contemporaries marveled at its breweries, mills, public buildings, shops, coffeehouses, and crowded streets. The city’s rapid rise evoked powerful, opposing feelings – love and hate, pride and resentment – among much of the population. Yet few doubted that Budapest had become a metropolis, a different world from the countryside. In recent decades, however, historians have paid closer attention to the dynamic relationship between the city and its hinterlands, as well as between Budapest the local landscape and environment. Building on this work, my paper will look at the role of nature in the late nineteenth-century city. This in many ways is a story of dramatic transformations. Although the landscape and environment have powerfully shaped the history of Budapest, the reverse is also true. As the city boomed, its residents dug, dammed, desiccated, deforested, paved, and polluted – in the process drastically altering terrestrial and riverine ecosystems. Similarly, following the work of William Cronon, I will also explore how the city’s growing population and economic muscle affected landscapes and environments far removed from the city itself. The growth of Budapest went hand-in-hand with the emergence of large-scale cereal cultivation in neighboring districts and with deforestation in remote mountain regions. But the paper will end more hopefully, examining the ways in which some people rediscovered and worked to protect nature in the city.
