Torsello, Davide - Pappová, Melinda: Social Networks in Movement. Time, interaction and interethnic spaces in Central Eastern Europe - Nostra Tempora 8. (Somorja-Dunaszerdahely, 2003)
Introduction
Introduction 33 trust operates to tie people together and create occasions of organised collective action. Torsello makes use of the notion of “mistrust” to identify patterns of interaction in which networks, ties and the confrontation with village institutions are regulated. People make strategic use of ideas of trust and mistrust in order to deal with the uncertainty and instability of present times. Chapter Three presents a classical ethnographic account of one historical region in southern Slovakia. Danter focuses on the economic practices that have characterised the region of Kisalföld (Podunajská Nížina) in pre-socialist times. History is used by the author to reconstruct practices of economic action and of villagers’ relations to local and translocal markets. The chapter reveals that this region was historically extremely active in market-oriented agriculture thanks to its geographical location on trade routes linking Budapest and Vienna. Because of this favoured position, villagers had been able to structure their strategies and to gain prestige not only in their community but also in the whole region. Chapter Four deals with the historical analysis of the settlement of one village in Slovenia after the end of the Second World War. Muršič pays attention to the dynamics through which village-level relations developed and were transformed under the influence of historical changes. In particular, the involvement of young actors in the local avenues of leisure activities such as dances, sport and above all music is considered as expression of the attempt to maintain active channels of public culture. The changes following the end of socialism are interpreted by the author in critical terms as capitalism and the re-establishment of property rights endanger the existence of these channels and the occasions of social interactions among young dwellers. Section Two deals with the problem of ethnicity and with the spaces in which interethnic relations are constructed and maintained. The four papers of this section all deal with the problem of identifying these spaces and giving them a significance within the practices of local actors.
