News

How churches make education policy - Eszter Neumann's paper in Religion, State, Society

A paper by Eszter Neumann was published in the Q1 journal Religion, State and Society. The article analyses the educational policy narratives of church policy makers, how they formulate strategies for Christian social mission and how they talk about the impact and role of churches in maintaining and reducing educational segregation.

You can read the open access article here.

Abstract

Since 2010, Hungary’s authoritarian populist government has radically redefined church-state relations, promoting the governance narrative of building an ‘old-style Christian democracy’. Public education has been reconceptualised within a religious framework and outsourced to religious actors. This article explores how key religious organisations engage with the government’s religious populism and govern their expanding school networks. Given the immanent tension between nativist Christian-conservative identity politics and Christian teachings about the church’s social mission, I focus on how Christian church elites have engaged with the education of underprivileged communities. Four characteristic types of strategic involvement are identified based on church education policies and their legitimacy discourses concerning their (lack of) engagement with the social question. Despite using different approaches to navigate political pressures, both the nativist illiberal and inclusive liberal visions of religion and their corresponding policies have reinforced the structures of segregated education and legitimised the government’s education policy.

Fates in communist prisons

Fates in communist prisons

Our colleague, Réka Marchut will give a lecture on September 27, 2024 in Badacin (Romania) at the conference Destine frante in inchisorile comuniste (Fates in communist prisons). The title of her lecture: Procesul lui Iuliu Maniu si anii de inchisoare din perspectiva maghiara (Iuliu Maniu's trial and prison from a Hungarian perspective). The full program is available here.

Consensus and Dissent: Goldziher's Ideas about Reform in Judaism and Islam

Our colleague Tamás Turán will also present on 24th September in Vienna, at a workshop entitled Ignaz Goldziher and the Study of Islamic and Jewish Legal Cultures, organised by the Department of Islamic-Theological Studies at the University of Vienna, the CEU Center for Religious Studies and the CEU Jewish Studies Program. His presentation is entitled Consensus and Dissent: Goldziher's Ideas about Reform in Judaism and Islam.

The political and linguistic rights of Roma in the monitoring procedure of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

On 12 September 2024, Balázs Vizi gave a presentation at the annual congress of the Italian Political Science Association in Trieste on how the political and linguistic rights of Roma are reflected in the monitoring procedure of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The lecture is related to the research project of the Institute for Minority Research (NKIFH) No. K143523, "The parliamentary representation of minorities in international comparison". The Congress programme is available here.

Meeting of researchers and developers for the Hungarian third sector

The HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences and the NIOK Foundation will organise a workshop entitled "Meeting of researchers and developers for the Hungarian third sector" on 9th September 2024 from 13:00, where Margit Feischmidt will give a presentation entitled "Is there a local turn in solidarity? Institutional and policy lessons from NGO assistance to refugees from Ukraine". She will present the recent results of the research project "Work, values, hope in spaces of solidarity. The possibilities and limits of transformative solidarity in Hungary". The programme of the workshop is available here.

The Life and Work of Immanuel Löw conference

The Szeged Jewish Community, the National Rabbinical Seminary – Jewish University, and the University of Szeged are organizing an international academic conference between 4th and 6th September in Szeged titled "The Life and Work of Immanuel Löw." The conference will be held primarily in Hungarian, with some sessions in English. 

Our colleagues, Viktória Bányai and Tamás Turán will also give lectures at the conference.

The conference programme and further information can be found here.

Book presentation is Miercurea Ciuc and Târgu Mureș

The books published by Kriterion Publishing House as part of the research programme of the Institute for Minority Studies of the HUN-REN CSS will be presented on Friday, August 30, 2024, in Miercurea Ciuc, at 18:00 at the Kájoni János County Library and on Saturday, August 31, 2024, in Târgu Mureș, at Teleki Teka, at 11:00.

Gagyi József „Villanyos és közössége. Villamosítás, modernizáció: történet a Nyárád-mentén (1945-1989)

Sárándi Tamás „Függőben. A román kisebbség helyzete Észak-Erdélyben (1940-1944)

Kovács Eszter „»Egy kis figyelmesség«. Informális hálózatok és gyakorlatok a Gyergyói-medencében (1970-1989)

Hullóidő. Székely identitásépítés a 19-20. században

Participants in Miercurea Ciuc: József Gagyi, Sándor Oláh, Tamás Sárándi, József Nagy, Eszter Kovács, Andrea Sólyom, Nándor Bárdi and Lázár László Lövétei. In Târgu Mureș the authors accompanied by Lóránt László, Zoltán Novák and András Vajda.

Annotated bibliography of articles by Beke György: Népi Egység (1944-1948)

With the support of the research programme of the HUN-REN CSS Institute for Minority Studies, an annotated bibliography of articles by Beke György: Népi Egység (1944-1948) was prepared, which is also available online in the Transylvanian Hungarian Databank [Erdélyi Magyar Adatbank].

The research of the daily newspaper of the Hungarian People's Alliance can greatly contribute to the history of Hungarians in Romania between 1944 and 1948.