Past Abstracts
1,037 abstracts found
Panel proposal: The 1956 Hungarian Refugee Crisis. I. The Post-1956 Refugee Crisis and Hungarian Émigré Communities During the Cold War: A New Project
History/Political ScienceA new project will be introduced that (1) maps and processes little explored relevant émigré archival collections, (2) synthetizes existing scholarship and links researchers in the field to enhance scholarly exchange, (3) publishes a handbook of the post-1956 refugee crisis in print and (4) extensive basic datasets on Hungarian refugees in an accessible digital format to provide further aid for researchers. (5) It also sets up an online portal that serves as a gateway to the Hungarian émigré world and invites the Hungarian diaspora to contribute on the life trajectories of former 1956 refugees with a public profile. A georeferenced (GIS) linked database of Hungarian refugees, émigré communities and related infrastructures in the Benelux states from 1956 to 1989 will be set up as a pilot project. This map- and graph-based database will visualize migration paths and general data on migrant communities; record individuals and their life stories based on currently accessible data; and register émigré institutions (organizations, publishing houses, printing presses). Introducing the project in an early stage provides an opportunity for potential users, that is scholars in Hungarian Studies, to give feedback and shape the project according to their needs. The ultimate objective is to achieve a breakthrough in the research of 1956 refugees and their international legacy and redefine the Hungarian revolution in the context of world history.
Panel proposal: The 1956 Hungarian Refugee Crisis. II. Austria 1956: Catholics and Jews Together and Apart
History/Political ScienceThe Hungarian refugee crisis was a decisive stage in the emergence of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and his agency as international coordinator of refugee relief. Far less known is the role of refugee affairs in the evolution of relations between the Catholic Church and the Jews from the Holocaust to the renunciation of anti-Semitism in the declaration Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Some Austrian and Hungarian Catholics acted against the persecution of the Jews, but a greater number took an ambiguous or complicit stance. The role of the Holy See was complex and remains controversial. The postwar leaders of Catholic refugee relief in Germany and Austria, Alois Eckert and Leopold Ungar, belonged to the small group of Catholic leaders who engaged in the Catholic-Jewish dialog in their countries. Ungar’s newly appointed archbishop in Vienna who became prominent in Vatican II, Franz König, facilitated the interconfessional collaboration of the relief agencies during the 1956 crisis and measures to reduce tensions that included separate emergency housing and Kosher food services. These men were attentive to Christian-Jewish tensions in the camps and expressed concern about incidents publicized by the JDC and the press.
Documentation for this paper includes the records of the Deutscher Caritasverband (Freiburg), the Caritaszentrale Wien (Vienna), and the Joint Distribution Committee (New York).
Documentation for this paper includes the records of the Deutscher Caritasverband (Freiburg), the Caritaszentrale Wien (Vienna), and the Joint Distribution Committee (New York).
Panel proposal: The 1956 Hungarian Refugee Crisis. III. Worker, Writer, Student, Spy: Hungarian Refugees in the UK, 1956-1959
History/Political ScienceAfter the Soviet army suppressed the Hungarian revolution in November 1956, approx. 200,000 Hungarians left the country. More than 20,000 of them travelled to Britain between November 1956 and May 1957 as the British government offered to accept all refugees without limit. The Hungarian refugees had different social backgrounds. Most of them were workers who found jobs in Britain relatively easily. 5,000 Hungarians were recruited and trained to be coalminers, although, given the resistance of British miners, only few of them found jobs in the pits. There were some “intellectuals” among the refugees, university professors, writers, artists, many of whom made successful careers in the UK. Hundreds of Hungarian students could continue their studies at British universities and polytechnics. The overwhelming majority of Hungarian refugees successfully integrated into British society in the following decades. The British society welcomed the Hungarians with enthusiasm and sympathy. The refugees were given accommodation, clothes, and food. Free language courses, information booklets and even a Hungarian-language weekly newspaper were offered to them in the refugee camps. Although there were some occasional conflicts between the refugees and the locals, most Brits accepted the Hungarians. The paper will show how the British government, together with various charity organizations, helped the Hungarian refugees and how the refugees of different social background were integrated into the British society.
Panel proposal: The 1956 Hungarian Refugee Crisis. IV. Global UN Press Campaign for the Hungarian Refugees
History/Political ScienceThe great wave of Hungarian migration which followed the suppression of the 1956 Hungarian revolution by the Soviets, and the international rescue movement organised for its reception, is an outstanding chapter in the history of migrations in Hungary and the world alike. The provision of the some 200 thousand people was a conspicuous success of the international organisation of migrant assistance service, in which the institutions of the UN family played a decisive role. This paper examines the role that the UN played in providing the financial means on which this miraculous series of events was based. According to the author’s conclusions, through the coordination of money-raising efforts, sanctioned by international law (that is, the decisions of the UN General Assembly), the professional and trustworthy documentation of humanitarian needs and activities, as well as the equally professionally organised and coordinated media campaign in order to support the money-raising efforts, the institutional network of the UN contributed considerably to the formation of a unity of opinion on the part of the Western governments and to its practical implementation. The present paper is based on documents from the archives of the UN itself (New York, Geneva) and the UNHCR Archives (Geneva).
Paprika, East and West
Science/EconomicsIn 1937 the Nobel prize for “Physiology or Medicine” was awarded to Albert Szent-Györgyi, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Szeged in Hungary. For the first time, he and some colleagues, including the American Joseph Svirbely from the University of Pittsburgh, were able to isolate Vitamin C, ascorbic acid. Notwithstanding Linus Pauling (another Nobel prize laureate) and Szent-Györgyi himself, vitamin C may not cure or prevent the common cold, but it certainly cures the vitamin deficiency known as scurvy or scorbutus (hence “ascorbic” acid) which plagued English (and other) sailors of yore deprived of fresh fruit and vegetables during their long voyages. Vitamin C is also a major anti-oxydant.
It took Szent-Györgyi a while to find the most economical raw material for his experiments and for producing the vitamin, until he hit upon the idea of using the product, or produce, for which the Szeged region of southern Hungary is so famous, namely paprika, or red pepper.
Paprika (capsicum annuum), our topic, can be approached from various angles. In Korea the spicy paste prepared from red pepper is called gochugaru (고추가루), often added to bibimbap (비빔밥). Paprika or chili is also the key ingredient in kimchi, which in turn is a key dish in the Korean diet. Instead of a trip to Japan or Hongkong, taken by most of my comrades in the military, I remember spending my R and R (Rest and Recuperation) on a beach on the Eastern coast of the Korean peninsula. Our hotel room was a cabin with an outhouse, and our meals consisted of rice for breakfast, rice for lunch and rice for dinner. The same was true about the diet of most Koreans in those days, preceding the boom of the South Korean economy. What made the fare palatable, balanced and nutritious, what relieved the monotony of white rice, was precisely kimchi-- in other words, paprika.
It took Szent-Györgyi a while to find the most economical raw material for his experiments and for producing the vitamin, until he hit upon the idea of using the product, or produce, for which the Szeged region of southern Hungary is so famous, namely paprika, or red pepper.
Paprika (capsicum annuum), our topic, can be approached from various angles. In Korea the spicy paste prepared from red pepper is called gochugaru (고추가루), often added to bibimbap (비빔밥). Paprika or chili is also the key ingredient in kimchi, which in turn is a key dish in the Korean diet. Instead of a trip to Japan or Hongkong, taken by most of my comrades in the military, I remember spending my R and R (Rest and Recuperation) on a beach on the Eastern coast of the Korean peninsula. Our hotel room was a cabin with an outhouse, and our meals consisted of rice for breakfast, rice for lunch and rice for dinner. The same was true about the diet of most Koreans in those days, preceding the boom of the South Korean economy. What made the fare palatable, balanced and nutritious, what relieved the monotony of white rice, was precisely kimchi-- in other words, paprika.
Parallel Processes in Canadian/American-Hungarian Language Contact Situation
Language/LiteratureLanguages 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.
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.
Parallels in Difference – A Typological Comparison of Isaac Babel and Károly Pap as Two Cases of Jewish Writing in Different Languages
Language/LiteratureIn 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.
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.
Partners, allies or enemies? Asymmetrical dependencies and the fate of the German and Jewish minorities in Hungary, 1918-1947.
History/Political ScienceAustria-Hungary was a multiethnic empire, in which the dominant ethnic groups, the Germans in
the Western half of the Monarchy (Austria) and Magyars in the East (Hungarians) constituted
less than 50 percent of the population. Regarding political power, wealth, job opportunities, life
chances and social status, there existed a strict hierarchy: in Hungary, the Magyar elite and
middle class dominated state and society before 1918. The two favored minorities, the Jews and
ethnic Germans were welcome as businesspeople and professionals. According to an unwritten
assimilations social contract, the members of these minorities could make money and achieve
fame and fortune as manufacturers, bankers, doctors, lawyers, engineers and other free
professionals; however, unless they switched their language from German to Hungarian;
converted (in the case of Jews) to Catholicism or Protestantism and altered their names and
identities (i. e. they had fully assimilated), even Jews and Germans could not easily gain access
to high-status jobs, such as army officers and civil servants. Lower on the ethnic and “racial”
scale, Serbs, Slovaks and Romanians had to accept their fate as physical laborers or small
merchants and put up with their continued exclusion from political life.
My presentation will examine how this ethic and “racial’ hierarchy, underpinned as it was by
asymmetrical dependencies in the economic, social cultural and political realms, changed after
the First World War. For the first time in it long history, Hungary came to resemble an ethnically
homogeneous nation state after 1918. My presentation will explain how the relationship between
the two surviving minorities (Jews and ethnic Germans) on the one hand, and the dominant
Magyar group, on the other hand, changed in the interwar period. The conference paper will
focus on job opportunities and life chances, as well as on the increased hostility towards these
two groups, as manifested in the numerus clausus law of September 1920, and the anti-Jewish
laws of the late 1930s and early 1940s, as well as in the intense press campaign against ethnic
Germans after 1933. The final part of the presentation will look at the shared ideological and
political origins of the Jewish genocide in Hungary in 1944 and the expulsion of ethnic Germans
in the country in 1946.
the Western half of the Monarchy (Austria) and Magyars in the East (Hungarians) constituted
less than 50 percent of the population. Regarding political power, wealth, job opportunities, life
chances and social status, there existed a strict hierarchy: in Hungary, the Magyar elite and
middle class dominated state and society before 1918. The two favored minorities, the Jews and
ethnic Germans were welcome as businesspeople and professionals. According to an unwritten
assimilations social contract, the members of these minorities could make money and achieve
fame and fortune as manufacturers, bankers, doctors, lawyers, engineers and other free
professionals; however, unless they switched their language from German to Hungarian;
converted (in the case of Jews) to Catholicism or Protestantism and altered their names and
identities (i. e. they had fully assimilated), even Jews and Germans could not easily gain access
to high-status jobs, such as army officers and civil servants. Lower on the ethnic and “racial”
scale, Serbs, Slovaks and Romanians had to accept their fate as physical laborers or small
merchants and put up with their continued exclusion from political life.
My presentation will examine how this ethic and “racial’ hierarchy, underpinned as it was by
asymmetrical dependencies in the economic, social cultural and political realms, changed after
the First World War. For the first time in it long history, Hungary came to resemble an ethnically
homogeneous nation state after 1918. My presentation will explain how the relationship between
the two surviving minorities (Jews and ethnic Germans) on the one hand, and the dominant
Magyar group, on the other hand, changed in the interwar period. The conference paper will
focus on job opportunities and life chances, as well as on the increased hostility towards these
two groups, as manifested in the numerus clausus law of September 1920, and the anti-Jewish
laws of the late 1930s and early 1940s, as well as in the intense press campaign against ethnic
Germans after 1933. The final part of the presentation will look at the shared ideological and
political origins of the Jewish genocide in Hungary in 1944 and the expulsion of ethnic Germans
in the country in 1946.
Pass it On – The Challenges of Passing on Ethnic Identity to the Next Generation: A Look at the Hungarian American Community
Education/Social SciencesThe challenge of passing on strong ethnic ties to the next generation is one that all cultures deal with in the United States. For three decades, U.S. Census data showed fewer 2nd and 3rd generation Hungarians claiming their ethnic identity every ten-year cycle. From 1990 to 2000, the number of people claiming Hungarian ancestry fell by more than 200,000, reducing the Hungarian American population to 1.4 Million. In 2012, for the first time, the American Community Survey actually showed a small uptick in Americans of Hungarian ancestry to more than 1.5 Million. We look at the meaning behind the data and propose new ways to segment our community as we work to profile each group.
Lauer Learning created the ”Pass It On” project as a way to reach out to the next generation. It proposes ways to reach the youth and help families strengthen ties to their roots. It deconstructs ethnic identity, identifies ways to strengthen each component, proposes ways to target “at-risk” communities and reach out to new communities. It is a blueprint for our community to work together as we find the most effective ways to pass on love of Hungarian heritage to the next generation.
Lauer Learning created the ”Pass It On” project as a way to reach out to the next generation. It proposes ways to reach the youth and help families strengthen ties to their roots. It deconstructs ethnic identity, identifies ways to strengthen each component, proposes ways to target “at-risk” communities and reach out to new communities. It is a blueprint for our community to work together as we find the most effective ways to pass on love of Hungarian heritage to the next generation.
Pelcz Katalin – Szita Szilvia: MagyarOK tankönyvcsalád bemutatása és értékelése a korszerű magyar mint idegen nyelv tanítás követelményei szerint
Education/Social SciencesMagyar mint idegen nyelvet oktató tanárok körében általánosan elterjedt vélemény, hogy máig nem készült modern, a tanulói és tanári igényeket egyaránt kielégítő, hatékonyan használható, élvezetes tankönyv.
Ennek következtében a tanárok arra kényszerülnek, hogy megalkudjanak egy félig-meddig használható tankönyvvel, amelyet aztán mintegy irányadóul használva csak, igyekeznek azt óráról órára kiegészíteni, színesebbé, teljesebbé, diákjai céljainak megfelelőbbé tenni saját maguk által készített feladatokkal.
Pelcz Katalin – Szita Szilvia MagyarOK című tankönyvcsaládja a legújabb kiadvány a magyar mint idegen nyelvi tankönyvpiacon. A tervezett négy kötetből, mely a Közös Európai Referenciakeret kezdő (A1) szintjétől a haladóig (B2) hivatott eljuttatni a nyelvtanulót, 2017 elejéig az első három kötet látott napvilágot. A Pécsi Tudományegyetem kiadásában megjelenő tankönyvcsalád a honlappal együtt 2013-ban elnyerte az innovációért járó Európai Nyelvi Díjat.
A magát erősen kommunikációközpontúnak nevező tananyag ígérete szerint “minden készséget egyformán fejleszt, és szilárd grammatikai alapokat ad a továbbhaladáshoz”.
Dolgozatomban arra keresem a választ, hogy a MagyarOK tankönyvcsalád, számos elvitathatatlan innovatív megoldásán túl (tanári kézikönyv, nyelvtani összefoglaló, interneten elérhető hanganyag stb.), segít-e, és ha igen, hogyan, a magyar mint idegen nyelvi tankönyvpiac hiányosságain?
Milyen mértékben jelent előrelépést az általánosságban vett magyar mint idegen nyelvi tananyagfejlesztésben, és miben marad adós a tanulókkal és tanárokkal szemben?
1. A tankönyvcsalád felépítésének, szerkezetének bemutatása
2. Az eddig megjelent három kötet értékelése...
a. egyrészt a korszerű nyelvoktatás jellemzőinek tükrében: élményszerűség, kooperativitás, kommunikativitás, infokommunikációs technológiák használata, osztálytermi és órán kívüli tanulás szerves kapcsolata, projektmunka stb.
b. másrészt módszertani megoldásai alapján, különösen ami a nyelvészeti résztudományok legutóbbi eredményeinek alkalmazását vagy azok hiányát illeti.
3. Alkalmazhatósága idegen nyelvi környezetben, azon belül is észak-amerikai kontextusban.
Ennek következtében a tanárok arra kényszerülnek, hogy megalkudjanak egy félig-meddig használható tankönyvvel, amelyet aztán mintegy irányadóul használva csak, igyekeznek azt óráról órára kiegészíteni, színesebbé, teljesebbé, diákjai céljainak megfelelőbbé tenni saját maguk által készített feladatokkal.
Pelcz Katalin – Szita Szilvia MagyarOK című tankönyvcsaládja a legújabb kiadvány a magyar mint idegen nyelvi tankönyvpiacon. A tervezett négy kötetből, mely a Közös Európai Referenciakeret kezdő (A1) szintjétől a haladóig (B2) hivatott eljuttatni a nyelvtanulót, 2017 elejéig az első három kötet látott napvilágot. A Pécsi Tudományegyetem kiadásában megjelenő tankönyvcsalád a honlappal együtt 2013-ban elnyerte az innovációért járó Európai Nyelvi Díjat.
A magát erősen kommunikációközpontúnak nevező tananyag ígérete szerint “minden készséget egyformán fejleszt, és szilárd grammatikai alapokat ad a továbbhaladáshoz”.
Dolgozatomban arra keresem a választ, hogy a MagyarOK tankönyvcsalád, számos elvitathatatlan innovatív megoldásán túl (tanári kézikönyv, nyelvtani összefoglaló, interneten elérhető hanganyag stb.), segít-e, és ha igen, hogyan, a magyar mint idegen nyelvi tankönyvpiac hiányosságain?
Milyen mértékben jelent előrelépést az általánosságban vett magyar mint idegen nyelvi tananyagfejlesztésben, és miben marad adós a tanulókkal és tanárokkal szemben?
1. A tankönyvcsalád felépítésének, szerkezetének bemutatása
2. Az eddig megjelent három kötet értékelése...
a. egyrészt a korszerű nyelvoktatás jellemzőinek tükrében: élményszerűség, kooperativitás, kommunikativitás, infokommunikációs technológiák használata, osztálytermi és órán kívüli tanulás szerves kapcsolata, projektmunka stb.
b. másrészt módszertani megoldásai alapján, különösen ami a nyelvészeti résztudományok legutóbbi eredményeinek alkalmazását vagy azok hiányát illeti.
3. Alkalmazhatósága idegen nyelvi környezetben, azon belül is észak-amerikai kontextusban.
Perception and Reality : the vision of America in Hungary over the centuries
History/Political ScienceThe rather utopian image of a strange, abundant and free new state over the ocean, called United
States of America has experienced significant transformations and distortions in narrative and
perception over the last half century in Hungary as well as among the Hungarians living in the
Carpathean-basin. The intellectual idolization of the ’New World’ had started from a rather revolting
and inspiring road-diary written by a seemingly unknown Hungarian traveler, a self-educated scholar
from Transylvania named Sándor (Alexander) Bölöni Farkas. Shortly after his book Travels in North
America was published first in 1834, Bölöni Farkas actually ignited a spiritual revolution in the early
19th century Hungary. Naturally, the alarmingly reformist books of Bölöni Farkas and that of Aléxis
de Tocqueville, too, were soon after restricted or shadow-banned by the Habsburg authorities. The
image of America as the haven of freedom and democracy persisted and shone even brighter
through the 20th century among the Hungarians, especially at the time of the flight of ’48-er
veterans, and Kossuth’s campaign in the USA up until the descent of the Iron Curtain and, then the
dawn of the American era after the fall of the ’Red Block’ in 1990. However, the 21st century ushered
in a paradigm shift in mentality and political views, with the looming demise and gradual tarnishing
of the image of „ideal” American democracy among Hungarians.
States of America has experienced significant transformations and distortions in narrative and
perception over the last half century in Hungary as well as among the Hungarians living in the
Carpathean-basin. The intellectual idolization of the ’New World’ had started from a rather revolting
and inspiring road-diary written by a seemingly unknown Hungarian traveler, a self-educated scholar
from Transylvania named Sándor (Alexander) Bölöni Farkas. Shortly after his book Travels in North
America was published first in 1834, Bölöni Farkas actually ignited a spiritual revolution in the early
19th century Hungary. Naturally, the alarmingly reformist books of Bölöni Farkas and that of Aléxis
de Tocqueville, too, were soon after restricted or shadow-banned by the Habsburg authorities. The
image of America as the haven of freedom and democracy persisted and shone even brighter
through the 20th century among the Hungarians, especially at the time of the flight of ’48-er
veterans, and Kossuth’s campaign in the USA up until the descent of the Iron Curtain and, then the
dawn of the American era after the fall of the ’Red Block’ in 1990. However, the 21st century ushered
in a paradigm shift in mentality and political views, with the looming demise and gradual tarnishing
of the image of „ideal” American democracy among Hungarians.
Performance Art, a possibility to enhance concert pedagogy – Its identity in Hungary
Music/FolkloreThis research explores the history of performance art in Hungary from a pedagogical view. The topic of my research was suggested by my artistic work, during which I noticed a special situation in Hungary.
The presence of performance art on European stages dates back to Hugo Ball in 1916. Since then, "performance art" has acquired a philosophical, artistic, and concert pedagogic meaning. "Performance is (...) just a series of questions. It asks the participants how art relates to everyday life and wider social situations?"
The flux movements' ("Fluxus") American and European influences filtered into Hungary in the 1960s. Such events were, for example, Altorjay-Szentjóby-Jankovics' "The lunch" and Szentjóby-Najmányi's "Who is artist?"(sic). However, performance art has been unable to achieve its socio-pedagogical purpose. It has disappeared and has been relegated to the background to this day. It continues to live by importing foreign ideas and seems to be giving up on pedagogical goals. Meanwhile, we perceive the strengthening of cross-over performances from the 70s, in which today's performances are integrated, inheriting features of their concert culture. In this way, a unique intergenerational process develops in Hungary, the beginning of which is connected to cultural and pedagogical policy aspirations.
From these observations, we can extract several questions: What is the fate and history of performance art in Hungary? How can we use its renaissance in concert pedagogy, and what contemporary examples do we see? Can we awaken its social-sensitizing effect in pedagogical and socio-pedagogical situations?
The presence of performance art on European stages dates back to Hugo Ball in 1916. Since then, "performance art" has acquired a philosophical, artistic, and concert pedagogic meaning. "Performance is (...) just a series of questions. It asks the participants how art relates to everyday life and wider social situations?"
The flux movements' ("Fluxus") American and European influences filtered into Hungary in the 1960s. Such events were, for example, Altorjay-Szentjóby-Jankovics' "The lunch" and Szentjóby-Najmányi's "Who is artist?"(sic). However, performance art has been unable to achieve its socio-pedagogical purpose. It has disappeared and has been relegated to the background to this day. It continues to live by importing foreign ideas and seems to be giving up on pedagogical goals. Meanwhile, we perceive the strengthening of cross-over performances from the 70s, in which today's performances are integrated, inheriting features of their concert culture. In this way, a unique intergenerational process develops in Hungary, the beginning of which is connected to cultural and pedagogical policy aspirations.
From these observations, we can extract several questions: What is the fate and history of performance art in Hungary? How can we use its renaissance in concert pedagogy, and what contemporary examples do we see? Can we awaken its social-sensitizing effect in pedagogical and socio-pedagogical situations?
Personal Letters as Historical Data Sources
History/Political ScienceTwenty 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.
Personal Values and Sports Consumption of Hungarians – At Home and in the USA
Cultural Studies/ArtsBetween 1985 and 2005 several surveys had been conducted – by the Hungarian State Offices and EU institutions – to monitor changes in consumer values of Hungarians following the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Sport is an organic part of culture as well as its strong ties to social, educational, political, ideological and economic developments of a country. Similar studies had also been carried out in the US with a specific focus on minorities’ and ethnic groups’ sports participation and consumption.
While sport symbolizes some values of individualistic character such as success, health, achievement, and performance, it also represents values of social belongingness and collective achievements. If personal values serve as ‘path to meaning’ (Powell & Royce, 1978), a promising approach for studying sport behavior is to investigate the linkage between personally held values and their contribution to participating in sport and physical activity under the specific timeframe.
The aim of this presentation is twofold. First, it aims to give an overview of change in personal values in Hungary during the transition period, specifically those related to sport consumption. Second, it compares and contrasts these findings with the results of the research conducted on Hungarian-Americans’ sport consumption and behavior.
While sport symbolizes some values of individualistic character such as success, health, achievement, and performance, it also represents values of social belongingness and collective achievements. If personal values serve as ‘path to meaning’ (Powell & Royce, 1978), a promising approach for studying sport behavior is to investigate the linkage between personally held values and their contribution to participating in sport and physical activity under the specific timeframe.
The aim of this presentation is twofold. First, it aims to give an overview of change in personal values in Hungary during the transition period, specifically those related to sport consumption. Second, it compares and contrasts these findings with the results of the research conducted on Hungarian-Americans’ sport consumption and behavior.
Pilgrims in a Foreign Land: A Survey of Hungarian Catholic Shrines in the United States and Their Relation to Other Ethnic Shrines
Cultural Studies/ArtsAmerican Catholicism has been and continues to be molded by immigration and ethnicity. Much scholarly attention has been devoted to the religious and social functions that nationality parishes have played in serving Catholic immigrant communities and their descendants, but considerably less attention has been given to the unique regional forms of popular piety practiced in these ethnic parishes. Among these manifestations of popular piety was the rich tradition of pilgrimage to sites commemorating particular saints, apparitions, or miraculous images that were so closely connected to the immigrants' national identities. While many ethnic parishes and other ethnic Catholic associations continued practicing this tradition in their new homeland by sponsoring pilgrimages to existing shrines that had primarily been established by long-assimilated Irish, French, and German Catholic groups, some ethnic Catholic communities developed their own shrines with replicas of these objects of popular devotion from their homelands. Hungarian Catholics were no exception to this natural progression in the development of religious life in exile. This paper will present the history of several Hungarian shrines in America, ranging from narthex shrines to wayside shrines and diocesan shrines, and will examine parallels between them and the shrines established by other ethnic groups in America. With the recent designation of America's oldest Hungarian Roman Catholic church as the Shrine of St. Elizabeth in August 2023, the present moment is a fitting time to begin initial investigations into the legacy of Hungarian pilgrimage traditions in America.
Pittsburgh-based Global Learning: Local Communities as Resources and Partners (Panel Discussion)
Education/Social SciencesPanelists from the University of Pittsburgh will share examples of education programming that involves regional ethnic communities and engage participants in discussion on how local community can facilitate global learning. The mission of the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchanges Program (NRIEP) is sharing stories of regional ethnic communities past and present through inspirational spaces and intercultural experiences. The program’s legacy to preserve and share cultural knowledge through classrooms representing cultural heritage and associated volunteer committees contributes to building empathy through local to global connections. Academic centers at Pitt invited K-12 teachers and community college educators to participate in the “Global Eurasia: Silk Roads through the Nationality Rooms” program. The cohort “travelled” a simulated path of the Silk Roads by visiting four preselected Nationality Rooms, which served as pretext and context for the faculty presentations that explored how the trade of goods, exchange of ideas and knowledge impacted the communities living and traveling along these routes. The success of this session is the inspiration for further place-based, experiential learning units for the K-16 classrooms. The Transnational Pittsburgh courses were developed to facilitate the exploration of the experiences of the African American, East European, and Latinx diasporic communities in Pittsburgh while helping students gain skills in archival, interview, and field-site specific methods of research. This presentation will provide an overview of the Transnational Pittsburgh initiative to share a model for advancing place-based global learning in undergraduate education.
Planning for the Future: the István Deák Visiting Professorship at Columbia University
Education/Social SciencesThe István Deák Visiting Professorship in East central European Studies at Columbia University pays tribute to the eminent historian István Deák and his distinguished legacy of scholarship, teaching and cultural engagement. The Deák Chair brings distinguished scholars and teachers from East Central Europe to Columbia. Normally the stay is one semester; visiting scholars are selected through the joint collaboration of the Blinken European Institute, the East Central European center, and the Harriman Institute who host the Chair. At Columbia, the visitors teach, share their research and more generally, dedicate themselves to raising awareness about the history and society of Hungary and East central Europe.
For a few of years now I have been making efforts to stabilize the financial foundations of the István Deák Visiting Professorship. Currently we are trying to widen the scope of activities supported by the István Deák Endowment. In addition to the visiting professors we also would like to offer scholarships and prizes to students and would like to have more public events: film shows, conferences, book launches etc. In this work we receive help from the Hungarian Consulate General and our Cultural Center New York. I suggest that we organize a fund raising session for the activities connected to the endowment named after him. My point is to call the attention to the István Deák Endowment.
For a few of years now I have been making efforts to stabilize the financial foundations of the István Deák Visiting Professorship. Currently we are trying to widen the scope of activities supported by the István Deák Endowment. In addition to the visiting professors we also would like to offer scholarships and prizes to students and would like to have more public events: film shows, conferences, book launches etc. In this work we receive help from the Hungarian Consulate General and our Cultural Center New York. I suggest that we organize a fund raising session for the activities connected to the endowment named after him. My point is to call the attention to the István Deák Endowment.
Playing on the Beat: Hungarian Conductors Making American Sound
Cultural Studies/ArtsMy proposed paper focuses on two outstanding orchestra conductors of Hungarian origin, Fritz Reiner (1888-1963) and George Szell (1897-1970), and will discuss their association with what has come to be called “the American sound” in the symphonic jargon. A popular way of defining this particular type of sound by orchestra conductors and musicians has been to say that American orchestras tend to play “on the beat” as opposed to the European practice of playing “after the beat” – the former resulting in a bright, crisp, and energetic sound, while the latter producing more mellow, rounded, and darker timbres, such as those of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. For most part of the twentieth century, the American sound was most emblematically associated with the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Symphony Orchestras, which evolved into world-class ensembles under the direction of Reiner and Szell respectively. Their association with the American sound is all the more intriguing in light of the fact that the musical education of both Reiner and Szell were deeply rooted in the Central European tradition. In my presentation, I propose to discuss this topic in the context of cultural history in general and performance history in particular, rather than in that of musicology proper. Examining specific interpretations by Reiner and Szell of the music of L. v. Beethoven, Richard Strauss, and Béla Bartók, I wish to argue that their performative practice owes as much to the cultural milieu of their chosen country as to the musical heritage acquired in their native Europe.
Polányi Károly és Mihály: együtt vagy külön?
Science/EconomicsPolányi Károly és Mihály: mindkettővel hatalmas irodalom foglalkozik, de eltérő világnézettel. Akik Károly követői, többnyire szocialisták, míg Mihályt főként idealista filozófusok és jórészt protestáns lelkészek követik. Károly szimpatizált a 30-as évekbeli Szovjetunióval, míg Mihály mindig antimaterialista és harcos antikommunista volt. Míg Károly méltatói és követői a montreali Institute of Political Economy által kétévente szervezettt konferenciákon gyűlnek össze, addig Mihály követői az angol Appraisal folyóirat és a British Personalist Forum évenkénti rendezvényein vesznek részt. A két tábor nem vesz tudomást egymásról. Én voltam az első, aki a két Polányiról először tartottam elődást 1992-ben egy montreali konferencián, és 2018-ban publikáltam egy könyvet kettejükről Keserédes testvérség: Polányi Károly és Polányi Mihály címmel. Bár különböző világnézetet és filozófiát vallottak, Károly a gazdaságtörténet és gazdasági antropológia területén működött és egy antikapitalista beágyazott gazdaság mellett érvelt, Mihály pedig egy antipozitivista tudáselméletet dolgozott ki(Personal Knowledge,1957) és híve maradt a szabad piacgazdaságnak, de mindketten egyetértettek az '56-os magyar forradalom nagyrabecsülésében.Továbbá komolyan vették, hogy apjuk Károly gondjaira bízta Mihályt a halálos ágyán. (Előadás magyarul)
Polish-Hungarian economic cooperation in the 1970s
History/Political ScienceIn the 1970s, Polish-Hungarian trade exchange developed in the shadow of the economic reform that was introduced in Hungary at the beginning of 1968. Moreover, events on the Polish coast at the end of 1970 influenced the attitude of the Hungarian communists towards the changes in Poland. These events have again increased the level of distrust towards Polish changes (private sector in Polish agriculture). The Hungarian economy began to become more open to cooperation with Western countries, giving up Poland. There were, of course, sectors that seemed to have good prospects, e.g. cooperation in the production of passenger cars. In the second half of the decade, it turned out that trade between the two countries was uneven and a large trade deficit was recorded on the Polish side. By 1974, Hungary was also showing significant interest in the shipping services provided by Poland. In May 1968, both countries signed a cooperation agreement in the field of shipping. The contracting parties agreed that Hungary would be able to operate the line between Szczecin and western ports using its vessel, the Somogy. The agreement also allowed the use of Polish ports for the Hungarian Hinterland. It was predicted that by 1970, the volume of goods shipped would increase by 30% compared to 1967. In 1970, as much as 41% of all goods passing through Polish ports were Hungarian goods. In 1971, Hungary shipped a total of 2.69 million tons of products by sea, including 1.153 million tons through Polish ports.
