Klára Nagy THE EIGHTH OF BUDAPEST CREATING NEW NARRATIVES FOR A STIGMATIZED DISTRICT MA Thesis in Cultural Heritage Studies: Academic Research, Policy, Management Central European University CEU eTD Collection Budapest May 2017 THE EIGHTH OF BUDAPEST CREATING NEW NARRATIVES FOR A STIGMATIZED DISTRICT by Klára Nagy (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Cultural Heritage Studies: Academic Research, Policy, Management. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ Chair, Examination Committee ____________________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ____________________________________________ CEU eTD Collection Examiner ____________________________________________ Examiner Budapest May 2017 THE EIGHTH OF BUDAPEST CREATING NEW NARRATIVES FOR A STIGMATIZED DISTRICT by Klára Nagy (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Cultural Heritage Studies: Academic Research, Policy, Management. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Reader CEU eTD Collection Budapest May 2017 THE EIGHTH OF BUDAPEST CREATING NEW NARRATIVES FOR A STIGMATIZED DISTRICT by Klára Nagy (Hungary) Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in Cultural Heritage Studies: Academic Research, Policy, Management. Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU. ____________________________________________ External Supervisor CEU eTD Collection Budapest May 2017 I, the undersigned, Klára Nagy, candidate for the MA degree in in Cultural Heritage Studies: Academic Research, Policy, Management declare herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any person’s or institution’s copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree. Budapest, 29 May 2017 __________________________ Signature CEU eTD Collection Abstract District VIII, a central yet stigmatized district of Budapest is in a visible transformation these days. The redrawing of the district’s inner boundaries, urban redevelopment programs, tourism development concepts, newly emerged walking tours and other local events all show a growing interest in changing the bad reputation of the district. Considering these parallel and sometimes interweaving processes, the aim of this study is to define and compare the newly formulated narratives of District VIII, looking for similarities and missing components in terms of the favored cultural narrative. Research questions include what role does cultural heritage play in the urban redevelopment programs and touristic projects in the district and to what extent the different initiatives contribute to the objectives of increasing tolerance and social cohesion in the community of the district and beyond. The analysis of the stated problems was undertaken by using the conceptual framework borrowed from anthropology. The dichotomic notions of hosts – guests and front stage – backstage helped to position the narratives of District VIII regarding their scope and target audience. The main findings of this study include that the interpretation of District VIII is very much fragmented between different stakeholders. Furthermore two apparent characteristics of the outer units of the district, the immigrant and Roma culture, were found to be rather neglected in almost every discussed means of interpretation. The study also reflects on possible directions to enhance the cohesion of the parallel narratives. CEU eTD Collection i Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to Péter Inkei for being my supervisor, for his assistance and expert advice throughout the writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank Professor Gerhard Jaritz for his valuable help, quick feedback and remarks in the last phase of writing. Furthermore, I would like to thank Professor Tamás Régi for introducing me to the field of tourism anthropology, which was a great inspiration for this thesis. The research would have been impossible without the help of experts from various fields. I would like to thank Viktor Annus, Eszter György, Bálint Kádár, Dávid Merker and Melanie Smith, who made themselves available to discuss my ideas concerning my research. I would also like to thank the members of the Cultural Heritage Studies Program, faculty and fellow colleagues, who made my two years at CEU very inspiring and memorable. CEU eTD Collection ii Table of contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1 – Conceptual framework ........................................................................................... 6 1.1. Heritage & tourism in the City .................................................................................... 6 1.2. Main concepts ........................................................................................................... 10 Authenticity...................................................................................................................... 11 The gaze ........................................................................................................................... 11 From the backstage to the front stage .............................................................................. 12 Hosts and guests and in between ..................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2 – An Introduction to District VIII ........................................................................... 16 2.1. Perceptions .................................................................................................................... 17 2.2. New borders – new identities? ...................................................................................... 21 2.3. Redevelopment programs ............................................................................................. 23 Palotanegyed, the Downtown of Europe – Culture-based redevelopment ...................... 24 Magdolna negyed – The socially sensitive rehabilitation ................................................ 25 Corvin negyed – The brutal rehabilitation ....................................................................... 26 CEU eTD Collection Chapter 3 – The narratives of tourism ..................................................................................... 28 3.1. Mainstream tourism – the front stage ........................................................................... 28 3.1.1. Budapest ................................................................................................................. 29 3.1.2. District VIII ............................................................................................................ 37 iii 3.2. Alternative tourism – the backstage .............................................................................. 43 3.2.1. Budapest ................................................................................................................. 44 3.2.2. District VIII ............................................................................................................ 46 Chapter 4 – Reflections ............................................................................................................ 58 #1 Making extraordinary out of ordinary – the city-level.................................................... 58 #2 Crossing the invisible borders – the municipality-level ................................................. 60 #3 Promoting cultures by and for the locals – the citizen level ........................................... 63 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 69 Reference List .......................................................................................................................... 72 CEU eTD Collection iv List of Illustrations 1. Figure: Map of Budapest ..................................................................................................... 16 2. Figure: Map of District VIII with the quarters..................................................................... 23 3. Figure: Mikszáth tér in Palotanegyed .................................................................................. 24 4. Figure. Mátyás tér in Magolna negyed ................................................................................ 25 5. Figure: Corvin negyed in the making .................................................................................. 26 6. Figure: Walking tour itinerary - Beyond Budapest .............................................................. 50 7. Figure: Walking tour itinerary - Hosszúlépés ...................................................................... 52 8. Figure: