Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2000. [Vol. 6.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)
Book reviews - András Tarnóc: Tibor Frank: Ethnicity, Propaganda, Myth-Making: Studies on Hungarian Connections to Britain and America 1848-1945.
hegemonic to minority communities within and without the U.S. The U.S. government sponsored investigation of immigration from AustroHungary achieved mixed results. On the one hand the inquiry reinforced the similarities between the two nations and came to a somewhat arguable conclusion that Hungarians were "the most contented and happy people of all" (115). Also, it reiterated that the principal source of immigration to the U.S. was the Slovak region and the Carpathian Mountains "where the people are the most ignorant and the soil the most unproductive in the country" (115). It is natural that the creator of the projected image preconditioned by its own values and historical experience posited the target country with a similar multicultural framework. This type of hegemonic culture projection offers a blue print or action pattern to which the image creator expects conformity. However, the initiator of intercultural communication, being aware of the limits of this desire, resorts to a conative approach describing the target country in terms it wants it to be seen. Hegemonic culture projection takes place within Austro-Hungary as well demonstrated by the government's insistence on an "indivisible, single, Hungarian nation" (74) and by the assertion of the "superiority of the Hungarian race" (82) Frank reveals the paradox of Hungarian immigration, while considered superior at home, relegated to second class citizenship in the host country (82). The author's research helps to ascertain the efficiency of the culture projection process as well. The goals of immigration restriction legislation, if indirectly and partially, had been realized after all as responding to the nativist outcry Hungaiy began to regulate its own immigration policy screening potential applicants and allowing only "eligible candidates" to leave (117). The argument maintained by U.S. immigration officials that the Hungarian (and Italian) government's policy encouraging temporary immigration over permanent dislocation amounts to a modern day colonization process (117), reveals a unique sense of national self-doubt casting the U.S. in the unlikely role of the colony and offers proof to the assertion that the categorization of the culture projection process, whether it qualifies as hegemonic or counter hegemonic mainly depends on the vantage point of the observer. Syncretization , the fusion of opposing cultural impulses, or the mutual acceptance of the pictures or images projected by two nations or cultures can also be identified in Frank's book. Naturally, this is the 224
