Perspectives of diaspora existence

Migration and diaspora studies have been emphatically present in social science discourse for decades. One of the aims of this present collection of studies is to shed light on the conceptual dichotomy of 'diaspora' vs. the Hungarian term 'szórvány', the differences in their content, use and historical interpretation, presenting the way in which this uniquely Hungarian diaspora concept was historically constructed in the Carpathian Basin, how it was integrated into grand national discourses and what current meanings and reception contexts it has today.

A conference, titled 'Regionality, Community Building, Diaspora Maintenance – International Cooperation in the Diaspora Issue' was held in Zsobok (Jebucu) in Kalotaszeg, a Transylvanian small region in Romania between June 8 and 11, 2006. Beyond conceptual clarifications of the diaspora problem in social sciences, the conference also aimed at presenting the various findings of different humanities disciplines in the field of diaspora research. The present volume hopes to provide a faithful representation of the comprehensive and inter-disciplinary dialog of the conference through this selection of studies based on lectures delivered at Zsobok.

The book contains the proceedings of the Conference 'Regionality, Community Building, Diaspora Maintenance – International Cooperation in the Diaspora Issue,' held in the Bethesda Calvinist School and Orphanage in Zsobok (Jebucu, Kalotaszeg region, Transylvania, Romania) on 8-11 June, 2006, organized by the Institute of Ethnology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Research Institute of Ethnic and National Minorities of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the János Kriza Ethnographic Society of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

The book funded by The President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Research Institute of Ethnic and National Minorities of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Institute of Ethnology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

  

The book can be ordered from the publisher: www.akkrt.hu

  

  

TARTALOM

  

Balázs Balogh - Zoltán Ilyés
Foreword

  

I.
Historical and Theoretical Contexts of the Reception of Hungarian Diaspora Issues and Its Pragmatic Perspectives

  

Gábor Biczó
Transnational Dimensions of the Diaspora Issue and Hungarian Diaspora Research

Zoltán Ilyés
Researching and Interpreting Diaspora - Remarks on Social Science Research into the Diaspora Communities of the Carpathian Basin

János Péntek
Certainties and Doubts at Kalotaszeg (Zona Cãlatei)

Barna Bodó
Diaspora, Strategy - Nation

  

II.
Demographic, Ethnographic, and Folkloristic Approaches toward the Hungarian Diaspora Issues within the Carpathian Basin

  

Pál Péter Tóth
Diasporisation and Population Development

Tamás Kiss
Interethnic Marriages and Assimilation in Demographic Models

Balázs Borsos
Cultural Affiliation of Diaspora Settlements in Transylvania in the Light of the Computerisation of the Maps of the Atlas of Hungarian Folk Culture

Vilmos Keszeg
Autobiographical Representations of Diaspora Existence

Zoltán Magyar
Folklore as Historical Memory in the Diaspora

  

III.
Case Studies

  

Balázs Balogh - Ágnes Fülemile
Turning inward or Forging New Ties - Social Strategies in Diaspora Communities on the Periphery of the Historical Hungarian Region of Kalotaszeg (Zona Cãlatei) in Transylvania

Edit Kádár
Ethnolinguistic Vitality in Diaspora. Oltszakadát (Sãcãdate)

Virág Hajnal - Richárd Papp
The Cultural Anthropology Lessons of a Study of a Hungarian Community in the Szerémség (Srem)

Authors