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

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


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