Hungary and Romania Beyond National Narratives - Comparisons and Entanglements

This volume explores bilateral relations between Romania and Hungary and examines the entangled history of their two peoples. Going beyond traditional nation-centred narratives, the contributors approach the shared pasts of Romanians and Hungarians within a transnational research framework.
Writing the history of Romania and Hungary within a unitary framework, rather than in isolation, allows for a more complete illustration of the complex history of the East-Central European region. This volume attempts to transcend the overlapping and often conflicting narratives of these two nations by looking for common theoretical and methodological ground on which to write the rich history of Romanian-Hungarian relations. The volume also seeks to test the relevance of the paradigm of transnational history for the study of Central Europe. The contributors employ recent theoretical and methodological tools provided by various forms of transnational research, such as the history of transfers, shared or entangled history, and histoire croisée. By offering a multi-perspective insight into the entangled histories of Romania and Hungary, this volume acts as a test case for comparative history, on a par with the better-known case of the shared past of France and Germany. It therefore contributes to the broader effort to re-think and re-narrate East-Central European regional history, and also all-European history, from an integrated transnational perspective.

List of contents

Contents: Anders E. B. Blomqvist/Constantin Iordachi/Balázs Trencsényi: Introduction - History Writing on Hungary and Romania: Beyond National Narratives? - Sorin Mitu: Hungarians and Romanians: How Were Two Images of Hostility Born? - Judit Pál: 'The Struggle of Colours': Flags as National Symbols in Transylvania in 1848 - Keith Hitchins: Accommodation or Separation: Notes on the Romanians and Hungarians of Transylvania, 1867-1940 - Anders E. B. Blomqvist: Entanglements of Economic Nationalizing in the Ethnic Borderland of Transylvania, 1867-1940 - Barna Ábrahám: Modernization and Ethnicity: Slovaks and Transylvanian Romanians in the Dualist Period - Gábor Egry: A Crossroad of Parallels: Regionalism and Nation-Building in Transylvania in the First Half of the Twentieth Century - Tom Kowol: Thoughts on the Social Dimension of Romanian-Saxon Political Relations in the Early Twentieth Century - Marius Turda: Imagined Geographies of Race: Hungary and Romania, 1900-1940 - Zoltán Pálfy: Nationhood Reasserted: Transylvanian Educated Elites before and after the 1918 Change of Sovereignty - Lucian Nastasa: The Dilemmas of a Hungarian University in Cluj - Eric Beckett Weaver: 'Truly Devilish Material': Hungary's Entanglement with History and the League of Nations - Ottmar Trasca: Romanian-Hungarian Relations from the Soviet Ultimatum until the Second Vienna Arbitration (June-August 1940) - Holly Case: Between States: A Journey from Social to Transnational History - Katalin Miklóssy: The Helsinki Process from Small States' Perspective: Cold War Strategies of Hungary and Romania in Comparison - Balázs Trencsényi: Afterlife or Reinvention? 'National Essentialism' in Romania and Hungary after 1945 - Martin Mevius: Defending 'Historical and Political Interests': Romanian-Hungarian Historical Disputes and the History of Transylvania - Csaba Zahorán: Rival National Narratives: A Comparative Analysis of Secondary School History Primers from Romania and Hungary - Levente Salat: A Rapprochement without Reconciliation: Romanian-Hungarian Relations in the Post-Communist Era - Michael Shafir: Reconciliation at the Wrong End - Constantin Iordachi: From Disentanglement to Interdependence: State Citizenship in Romania and Hungary, 1945-2012.

About the author

Anders E. B. Blomqvist is a doctoral student at the Baltic and East European Graduate School (BEEGS) at Södertörn University. His research interests include the historiography and modern social and economic history of East-Central Europe, with a particular focus on Hungarian, Romanian and Transylvanian economic nationalism.
Constantin Iordachi is Associate Professor of History at Central European University, Budapest, and co-director of the Pasts Inc. Center for Historical Studies. His research and teaching focuses on comparative approaches to historical research, totalitarianism and mass politics, and nationalism and citizenship in Central and South-East Europe.
Balázs Trencsényi is Associate Professor in the Department of History at Central European University, Budapest, and co-director of the Pasts Inc. Center for Historical Studies. His main field of interest is the history of political thought in East-Central Europe.

Report

«This work is a critical contribution in attempting to move forward discussions about Romanian and Hungarian history. It is a vital starting point for anyone interested in the region. Moreover, the breadth of contributions means that its value stretches beyond the regional focus to entangled histories throughout the world.»
(Daniel Brett, Spiegelungen. Zeitschrift für deutsche Kultur und Geschichte Südosteuropas 2/2017)

Product details

• Assisted by: Anders Blomqvist (Editor), Anders E. B. Blomqvist (Editor), Constantin Iordachi (Editor), Balazs Trencsenyi (Editor), Balázs Trencsényi (Editor)
• Publisher: Peter Lang
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.01.2013
• EAN: 9783034309356
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3430935-6
• No. of pages: 847
• Dimensions: 150 mm x 45 mm x 225 mm
• Weight: 1220 g
• Series: Nationalisms across the Globe; Nationalisms across the Globe
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > History > 20th century (up to 1945)