Nationalism and Orientalism: The Usage of Obituaries in fin-de Siècle Hungarian Jewish discourse

Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentation

Abstract (max. 250 words):
In 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.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Mari Réthelyi is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA. She received her PhD in Jewish Studies at the University of Chicago. Her research interests include modern Hungarian Jewish history and literature, Jewish race theories, Gender Studies, History of Nationalism, and Orientalism.
Louisiana State University, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Jewish Studies 102 Coates Hall Baton Rouge 70803 Email: mrethelyi@lsu.edu