Like the sea in a drop... : Transborder minority identities in the Carpathian basin - Hungarians

Abstract: Ever since nationalism emerged over a century ago, discussions have been lively about its survival or declination. These questions still are actual and in the process of globalisation and internationalisation perhaps even more so. Multiethnic societies grapple with nationalism and ethnic problems all over the world; so also in Central Europe. Nevertheless, the expressions of nationalism are varying; its effects take different turns in different settings. This paper aims at describing expressions of a specific kind of national affiliation: the Hungarian national identity development and preservation situation in the Carpathian basin, where discontinuous, disrupted Hungarian ethnic minorities meet continuous, preserved Hungarian core-identities. Hungarians are presented and categorised in accordance with their geo-political situation governing the formation of their identity during the 20th century, establishing diverging social, cultural and political developments, both for the individuals and for the groups within their respective "homelands". The paper presents some relevant scientific, trans-disciplinary, psychosocial and sociological theoretical and methodological issues that hopefully can provide some guidelines to the understanding of the transborder identity preserving endeavours of the Hungarian peoples. Empiric data from the arsenal of instruments used by Hungarians is plentiful; here I intend to focus on the discourses on the Internet (web), utilised among the variety of Hungarian peoples, arguing for possible positive and negative outcomes of those, related to the desired goal of re-inventing the national unity of a Hungarian nation.