Nation-Building and Contested Identities

A most impressive and welcome collection of original, his- Nation-Building and Contested Identities torically informative, and theoretically compelling contribu- tions to understanding the nature, dynamics, and tribulations Romanian & Hungarian Case Studies of national identities in East-Central Europe. Focusing on issues related to nation-building, minorities and majorities, and regional identities in Romania and Hungary, the essays collected in this path-breaking volume should be read by all those who want to explore the complexities of national and political memories, symbols, and aspirations in the region. The authors, young scholars driven by the desire to overcome stereotypes and dogmas, have succeeded wonderfully in their ambitious and timely endeavor. Vladimir Tismªneanu Professor of Government and Politics, University of Maryland Editor, East European Politics and Societies An enriching collection of case studies on the modern and contemporary history of Hungary and Romania. The authors young historians and social scientists from those countries and their fresh, non-ideological approaches to nation-building and national identities are a sign that the post-communist transition is under way. The bibliography of the last decade of Hungarian and Romanian works on relations between the two countries is invaluable for specialists. Irina Livezeanu Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian Case Studies BOOKS EGIO R REGIO BOOKS EDITURA POLIROM EDITURA POLIROM NATION-BUILDING AND CONTESTED IDENTITIES: ROMANIAN AND HUNGARIAN CASE STUDIES Edited by: Balázs Trencsényi, Dragoº Petrescu, Cristina Petrescu, Constantin Iordachi and Zoltán Kántor Regio Books (Budapest) Editura Polirom (Iaºi) 2001 The publishing of this volume was supported by the Department of History of the Central European University, the Civic Education Project and the Teleki László Institute: Cultural Foreign Policy and National Identity Project Copyright © Regio – Teleki László Foundation © Editura Polirom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical without prior permission in writing from the publishers. “Identity is a Moving Target.” Cover illustration by Adam POX after a photograph in the Museum of the Romanian Peasant, Bucharest. ISBN 963 00 8714 6 CONTENTS FOREWORD / LÁSZLÓ KONTLER/ INTRODUCTION Searching for Common Grounds: National Identity and Intercultural Research in an East-Central European Context 3 PART 1. MODERNITY AND NATIONAL IDENTITY: APPROACHES, DILEMMAS, LEGACIES MÓNIKA BAÁR The Intellectual Horizons of Liberal Nationalism in Hungary: The Case of Mihály Horváth (1809–1878) 21 KINGA KORETTA SATA The Idea of the “Nation” in Transylvanism 42 BALÁZS TRENCSÉNYI The “Münchausenian Moment”: Modernity, Liberalism and Nationalism in the Thought of ªtefan Zeletin 61 MIHÁLY SZILÁGYI-GÁL The Nationality of Reasoning: Autochthonist Understandings of Philosophy in Interwar Romania 81 RÃZVAN PÂRÂIANU National Prejudices, Mass Media and History Textbooks: The Mitu Controversy 93 PART 2. NATION-BUILDING AND REGIONALISM IN A MULTI-ETHNIC CONTEXT CONSTANTIN IORDACHI “The California of the Romanians”: The Integration of Northern Dobrogea into Romania, 1878–1913 121 CRISTINA PETRESCU Contrasting/Conflicting Identities: Bessarabians, Romanians, Moldovans 153 5 CONTENTS ZOLTÁN PÁLFY The Dislocated Transylvanian Hungarian Student Body and the Process of Hungarian Nation-Building after 1918 179 MARIUS TURDA Transylvania Revisited: Public Discourse and Historical Representation in Contemporary Romania 197 PART 3. NATIONALIZING MAJORITIES AND MINORITIES BARNA ÁBRAHÁM The Idea of Independent Romanian National Economy in Transylvania at the Turn of the 20th Century 209 IRINA CULIC Nationhood and Identity: Romanians and Hungarians in Transylvania 227 ZOLTÁN KÁNTOR Nationalizing Minorities and Homeland Politics: The Case of the Hungarians in Romania 249 DRAGOº PETRESCU Can Democracy Work in Southeastern Europe? Ethnic Nationalism vs. Democratic Consolidation in Post-Communist Romania 275 AFTERWORD / SORIN ANTOHI/ More Than Just Neighbors: Romania and Hungary Under Critical Scrutiny 302 APPENDIX / NÁNDOR BÁRDI – CONSTANTIN IORDACHI/ Selected Bibliography: The History of Romanian–Hungarian Interethnic, Cultural and Political Relations (1990-2000) 307 NOTES ON AUTHORS 373 6 FOREWORD It is surely an understatement to say that understanding and empathy, let alone a meeting of minds and a common frame of reference, have fea- tured rather poorly in exchanges between scholars of different national background concerning their mutual predicament in Central and South- eastern Europe; and perhaps nowhere has this been so conspicuously the case as among Hungarians and Romanians. Apart from a few remarkable exceptions, such exchanges have tended to be dialogues of the deaf. For the sake of drawing a contrast with the present undertaking, let me illus- trate this with an example from the not too remote past. Some of the authors of the papers collected in this volume may bare- ly be old enough to recall the full span of the controversy launched by the publication of the three-volume History of Transylvania under the auspices of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1986. Undoubtedly a major scholarly undertaking, that work was at the same time also subtly intended to bring under control, by quelling and satisfying, a specific demand in the Hungarian public sphere to tackle the “national issue”, to which the Transylvanian heritage had much symbolic and factual relevance. The array of denigrating political pamphlets (that is what they largely were, although many of them emanating from the hand of leading Romanian historians) that responded to the History in the immediate aftermath of its publication were not answered in kind, but merely by citing some of the charges levelled in them against the team of authors – “there is no political issue here, comrades”, it was suggested by officialdom in languid and pragmatic, de-nationalized communism (of Hungary) in response to the outburst of communist nationalism (of Romania). After the fall of communism in both countries in 1989, the debate was indeed placed on a more scholarly plane. Evidence was countered by evidence, but in what was still a contest between one national phalanx and the other on issues that both of them regarded as crucial to national fate. They raised incompatible claims which they took, as it were, to adjudication by an impartial arbiter: the case was “tried” at a colloquium in Paris, in the presence of French historians in 1992. Ironically, upon return home both parties reported, rather condescendingly in regard of the opponent, their own “victory” as having been sealed by the arbiters. This probably looks like a caricature, and there was surely a lot of goodwill and true scholarship involved in the process, but as all carica- tures, I believe it contains more than a grain of a realistic portrait. Schol- arship of this kind, even unwittingly, tends to assume a kind of negative 7 relevance, underpinning and potentially amplifying the prejudices and stigmatization already all too prevalent in the reciprocal perceptions of the parties concerned. Romanians and Hungarians have mutually remained “constitutive others” for one another throughout the 1990s, a situation which has not in the least been alleviated by academic discourse, and which has been awkwardly accompanied by ebbs and flows in the reconciliation of decision-making elites. The “basic treaty” of 1996 (an acknowledgement of existing borders and minority rights, also providing for future political partnership) had been preceded by a virtual non-existence of diplomatic relations and followed by the present strain over the law recently passed by the Hungarian Parliament granting a special status (in Hungarian labour relations, education etc.) to ethnic Hungarians from neighboring countries. Against this background, it is particularly important and reassuring that there are several scholars at both sides of the putative frontier, some of them at the very beginning of their careers, who are making efforts to transcend the limitations imposed by traditional patterns of inquiry and communication. It is an especial pleasure to see that the History Depart- ment of Central European University, as it was intended from the very beginning of its existence, is developing as a natural home for such initiatives. Part of the CEU mission is to function as a laboratory in which the most up-to-date experience and achievement in the disciplines represent- ed at CEU is tested against the particular predicament of the region and adjusted according to its needs, and to operate as a catalyst which, through an active engagement with an increasing range of regional partners – such as, in this case, the Teleki Institute –, helps the region to integrate with more universal processes. The architects of this volume and the confer- ence from which it arises, have been active for a few years now in creating networks for a new type of academic socialization while relying on a com- bination of solid theoretical training and broad empirical investigation. It is yet to be seen how successful the admirable ambition to turn all of this to making an impact “above” and “below” – by “policy recommendations on bilateral confidence-building”, as they suggest – will be. Their own independent initiatives as well

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