Contemporary Discourses on Central European Identity

A Political or a Cultural Project? Contemporary Discourses on Central European Identity A Political or a Cultural Project? Contemporary Discourses on Central European Identity Impressum A Political or a Cultural Project? Contemporary Discourses on Central European Identity Editor: Ákos Windhager 4 Lecturers: János Boros – Attila Farkas Copy editor: Réka Borbély © Hungarian Academy of Arts Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, 2020 © Editors, 2020 © Authors, 2020 Current volume contains an edited version of the conference lectures taken place at Szigliget Esterhazy-Mansion on 13–15 May 2019, entitled “Contemporary Discourses on Central European Identity”. ISBN 978-615-5869-88-4 Hungarian Academy of Arts Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology 38 Budakeszi út 1121 Budapest, Hungary Publishing rights are reserved for Miklós Kocsis, the director of the Hungarian Academy of Arts Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology. Contents Preface............................................................................................................................................7 The Idea of the Central European Identiy Balázs Mezei: Is there a Common Central European Tradition in Philosophy? ..........................................................................................................................13 5 János Boros: Identity as a Concept of Action..............................................................25 Valerio Severino: The Process of Affiliation – Memberships in Central and Eastern Europe of CIPSH/UNESCO and European Organizations for the Academic Study of Religions...............................................................................35 The Central European Cultural Identity Leon Stefanija: Between Me, You, Us and Them: Glocalization in Music in the Œuvre of Uroš Rojko................................................................................................47 Ivana Medić: Ex-centric Identities in Central Europe: The Curious Case of Snežana Nešić .................................................................................63 Ákos Windhager: An Imaginary Diplomat’s Central Europe–Based on the Novels Protokoll (Protocol) and A legkisebb jégkorszak (The Smallest Ice Age) by János Térey...........................................................................75 The Central European Political Discourses Matthias Funkhauser: Between Fascist Minority Restriction and the Statute of Autonomy – The Development of the Educational System in South Tyrol after the End of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy ......................91 Barnabás Vajda: Historical Pull and Push Factors in Central Europe After 1989..........................................................................................103 Petr Orság: A Political or a Cultural Project? – The New European Empire as “Entropa”, and Central European Traditions and Connections .....................113 Preface The present book: A Political or a Cultural Project? Contemporary Discourses on Central European Identity is the anthology of disciplinary essays of the 2nd Inter national Scientific Workshop in Szigliget of the Hungarian Academy of Arts Research Institute of Art Theory and Methodology, which dealt with the con - temporary cultural aspect of the absolute present. The workshop titled Con - tem porary Discourses of Central European Identity involved a great many issues, emotions and memories. The main discourse focused on the relationship between modern national identities and other regional ones. Both the national and liberal point of views attack the idea of Central Europeanism as being a 7 Trojan horse, although it could serve as a bridge between nations, societies and other groups. Consequently, being Central European means having a special relationship with cultures and traditions, as well as the coexistence of several ethnic groups. Many other discourses dispute the above-mentioned aspects and even their very existence. We can see that the majority of Central Europe’s countries joined the Euro - pean Community in the last two decades. While Austria became part of the EU in 1995, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary joined the political community in 2004, Romania and Bulgaria in 2007, and Croatia in 2013, while Serbia’s accession is under construction. The above-mentioned states had numerous links and still have many common cultural, memorial, institutional and folkloric roots. If the grievances of living side by side unwanted during the Ottoman, Hapsburg and Soviet empires could be replaced with a free, modern common identity, it would be a major achievement. The pros and cons comprise several discourses, as the centripetal and centrifugal forces are both very vivid in the region. While political identities can be born and rapidly replaced several times over, cultural identity has existed for hundreds of years and remains very strong even under persecution. Our indicative questions dealt with the former and contemporary identities, the memorial aspects of the past and the present trials to bridge the region. The applied sciences of the workshop were similar to those in the previous year, thus, besides special aesthetic aspects, there was ideology-research, art theory and cultural anthropology. Finally, the list below can represent the common discourse to find—either to construct or to deconstruct—our identity: • What does it mean to be Central European in respect to culture, cultural memory and the smaller groups’ cohesive community? • How have societies, nations and minority groups adopted the European and Central European identity? • Which Central European phenomenon became relevant or dominant in the discussed period? • What kinds of cultural movements have arisen since 2004? • Do societies have any collective memorial experience of the accession? • How can the Central European idea identify regional, minority and dias - pora cultures? • What is the most acceptable common language of the region’s citizens? The present book’s nine essays answer these questions from many perspec - tives. The papers are divided into three parts: The Idea of the Central European Identity, The Central European Cultural Identity and The Central European Poli - ti cal Discourses. The first part (The Idea of the Central European Identity) involves 8 three theoretic essays by Balázs Mezei, János Boros and Valerio Severino. The Hungarian professor, Balázs Mezei’s paper (Is there a Common Central-European Tradition in Philosophy?) had a strong hypothesis: he claims that there was an authentic and independent philosophical tradition in Central Europe from Ber - nard Bolzano until Ludwig Wittgenstein. He argues through phenomenological examples and the analysis of German language Catholic and Protestant dialo - gues. He shows how Central European philosophy has summarized the most important intellectual outputs and how this kind of philosophy realizes a living bond among thinkers belonging to Central European culture even today. The paper by the Hungarian professor, János Boros (Identity as a Concept of Action) is the most provocative text in the book. He features ethnic conflicts from the point of view of epistemology. The author defines the problem of definition (of a person or a society) via intellectual history and metaphysics. After repre - sen ting the difficulties, he finally suggests an intellectual method to understand the stranger. The paper by the Italian researcher, Valerio Severino (The Process of Affiliation – Memberships in Central and Eastern Europe to CIPSH/UNESCO and European Organizations for the Academic Study of Religions) sums up the previous scholars’ intentions: he explores Central European religious life from the perspective of sociology. He examines the process of European reunifi - cation and Central European identity through the looking glass of the acade - mic/non-confessional study of religions. He claims, through some examples, that the region’s religious life cannot be mentioned in one system, since many of them are structurally different from one another as well as from the Western tradition. The second part (The Central European Cultural Identity) deals with the cul - tu ral aspects of the region’s identity, which was infected by political actions. These three papers by Ivana Medić, Leon Stefanija and Ákos Windhager focus on the topic from the perspective of musicology and comparative literature science. The Slovenian Professor, Leon Stefanija’s essay (Between Me, You, Us Preface and Them: Glocalization in Music in the Œuvre of Uroš Rojko) tells a tense story between professional and amateur music culture. He outlines a short historical sketch of the main Slovenian cultural schism in professional and amateur music life. The contribution focuses on music practices: the radical composer, U. Rojko (1954) is juxtaposed to the ideas of the so-called “autonomous social and cultu ral centres”. He reflects on the composer’s individual technique, the high cultural expectations and his controversial repentance. A similar topic, but with more tragic overtones, is described in the Serbian Professor, Ivana Medić’s paper (Ex-centric Identities in Central Europe: The Curious Case of Snežana Nešić). The paper emphasises the very term “Central Europe” as a variously understood one; some definitions exclude Serbia from this conceptual territory, while others include it, alongside Croatia and Slovenia; this discrepancy raises the issues of identity, placing, belonging, heritage, and inclusion, which are

Load more