Where is Home? The Identity and Language Use of Hungarian-American Ethnic Return Migrants (Accepted)

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
This paper explores a topic that has not yet been well-researched, that is, the “return” of second and third-generation Hungarians to the ethnic homeland. My presentation will focus on a qualitative study that formed part of my Ph.D. dissertation. It involved 10 participants who were born or raised in New Jersey and who decided to return to Hungary for an indefinite period of time. My informants were either born in New Brunswick or grew up in the Passaic community; nevertheless, all of them had a strong connection to New Brunswick. Based on this case study, I will try to answer the following research questions: what means “home” for these returnees, and to what extent could they integrate into the homeland? Did the participants experience a shift in their ethnic identity? Was there any change in their language use, especially in the family, with their children? My findings fit into the scholarly literature on diasporic return migrants and point to the general disillusionment that people experience upon moving to the land of their ancestors.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Katalin Pintz received her MA degrees in American Studies and Italian Language and Literature at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in 2010 and 2014. In 2010 she was a recipient of a joint scholarship granted by the Foreign Ministries of Hungary and Italy to examine the sociolinguistic aspects of the dialect spoken in Padua, Italy. In the same year, she began her doctoral studies at the American Studies program of ELTE. She has taught courses in American History and Civilization at ELTE and Károli Gáspár University. In September 2021, she defended her Ph.D. thesis on the identity maintenance and transnational relations of Hungarian-Americans living in New Brunswick, NJ.