Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1984 (12. évfolyam, 39-42. szám)
1984 / 39-40. szám
was not conducive to become a solid base for either urbantype artisan activities or for industrialization. The author investigated four Hungarian villages with different ethnic compositions and subcultures and distinguished three different models of village artisan organizations: one which resembled the Hungarian peasant household; another which resembled the German peasant household; and a third, which he identified as a nuclear family household which frequently included co-resident stepchildren, half brothers, and half sisters. The author is affilliated with the Research Group for Historical Statistics at the Library of the Central Statistical Office in Budapest. □ Halpern, Joel Martin and David A. Kideckel,"Anthropology of Eastern Europe.” Annual Review of Anthropology, 12(1983) 337-402. An increasing presence of East Central Europe-related literature characterizes the past 25 years. This survey, including 221 bibliographic references, gives an overview of sociocultural publications concentrating on the work of American authors. With few exceptions, English publications in Western journals are considered. The study reflects on historical development of the anthropological sciences and cites pioneering works such as those by J. Oberbski, Philip Mosely, and Géza Róheim. In discussing contemporary perspectives and contrastive vs. complementary theoretical orientations, the authors call attention to such Hungarian related bibliographic surveys as one by Z. Salzmann; to community monographs such as P. Bell's study of interaction between collectivization, social hierarchy, and individual perception; and to C. Hariri's work on social differentiation in the new rural population. Proper emphasis is given to T. Hofer’s extensive work in the area, as well as to L. Vincze’s study on kinship terminology among Magyars in Romania. The intense sentiments which characterize ethnicity are discussed and reference is made to M. McArthur’s work among Transylvanian Saxons, to C. Reining ’s study of the German minority in Hungary, and to K. Verdery's linking ethnicity to underdevelopment. M. Hollos and B. Maday are cited for their work on transformation of the rural society, and L. Degh's work as an example of studies of Hungarian ethnics abroad. The authors conclude that “if there is to be a viable East Europeanist anthropology, there needs to be integrating perspectives consistently addressed on multinational, regional, and cross-culturally comparative levels.” □ Harcsa, István. “Social Mobility in Rural Hungary.” East European Quarterly 17:4(Winter 1983) 493-502. “The structural transformation of villages has brought rural and urban societies closer together, but there is still a significant difference between them. The study of this difference seems warranted by its enduring character. It may be asssumed that social stratification in the village will continue to differ both from that of urban areas and from that of other villages, as the different economic and social roles or rural areas (enhanced by an increasing regional division of labor) offer their populations differing opportunities. This may lead to varied alternatives in rural development that are likely to be of particular interest in social planning.” The author is on the Staff of the Central Statistical Office. Budapest. □ Hoffmann, Richard C. “Outsiders by Birth and Blood: Racist Ideologies and Realities around the Periphery of Medieval European Culture.” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance NO. 39-40, SPRING-SUMMER 1984 HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER History (annual) 6 (1983) 3-34. “This essay examines racialist or genetic ideas used to interpret social realities in three widely distant peripheries of medieval Europe, theCeltic northwest, the Iberian peninsula, and east-central Europe, exploring the development and application of these in relation to their evolving objective context.” When medieval man used concepts like “birth," “blood,’’“inheritance,’’and “lineage” they signified biological explanations of how the groups came to be. In Scotland, as in Ireland and Poland, culture was equal to race, even if the equation distorted ethnic realities to explain cultural change. Spaniards of the 14th century though of themselves as living in cultural pluralism, yet, racist ideologies defeated reality by maintaining a view of society as comprising genetic units immune to time and human action. A genetic understanding of society in Hungary was initiated in Master Simon of Keza’s Gesta Hungarorum (1282-5). “A mythologized Hunnish history became for Simon both a Hungarian pre-history and a source of models for socio-political ideals in the present.” His “genetic conception of his nation’s identity and internal subdivision became common intellectual currency in late medieval Hungary,” when genetic social myth served to camouflage and legitimize a revolution. The Hun-Hungarian equation is further examined in reference to János Thúróczy’s Chronica Hungarorum (1488) and István Verbőczy’s Tripartitum (1514) and how these works reflected and influenced the development of the concept of the body politic. This essay is important to those interested in Hungarian constitutional history, evaluation of social structure, and ideas of culture and race. The author is assoc, prof, of history at York U. (Toronto). Klugman, Simone and E. Kasinec. “Theses and Dissertations in the Slavic and East European and Related Areas Completed at the University of California, Berkeley: 1918-1979: A Preliminary Checklist.” Mimeo, 72 pages, 1982. This list of 437 entries encompassing theses and dissertation titles, a subject and an author index, is a useful aid for researchers in the Slavic-East Central European culture areas. At least ten entries may be of particular interest: Economics A. Eckstein, Ph.D., 1952. Economic development. L. Mark, M.A. 1947. Inflation. Journalism G.L. Bartel, M.A. 1958. Press survey. History J.A. Kessler, Ph.D. 1967. Turanism. M. Nagy, Ph.D. 1967 Fascism. Political Science A. György, M.A. 1940. Hungary and Poland. Linguistics D.S. Davidson, M.A. 1977. Locative expressions. P.H. Madarasz, Ph.D. 1968. Learning English and Hungarian. S.l. Szabó, Ph.D., 1970. Language structure. Sociology and Anthropology R.H. Billigmeier, M.A. 1939. Minority in Transylvania. The editor seems to have overlooked Susan Gal’s dissertation (1976) on Language Shifts; Social Determinants of Linguistic Changes in Bilingual Austria, which involves language shifts from Hungarian to German. For copies or more information write to Center for Slavic and East European Studies, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. □ (Continued on Page 8) 7
