A Contemporary History of Exclusion:

"This study presents the changing situation of the Roma in the second half of the twentieth century. The authors examine the effects of the policies of the Hungarian state towards minorities by analyzing legal regulations, policy documents, archival sources and sociological surveys. The book offers theoretical background to one of the most burning issues in east Europe. In the first phase (1945-61), the authors show the efforts of forced assimilation by the communist state. The second phase (1961-89) began with the party resolution denying nationality status to the Roma. The prevailing thought was that Gypsy culture was a culture of poverty that must be eliminated. Forced assimilation through labor activities continued. In the 1970s Roma intellectuals began an emancipatory movement, and its legacy can still be felt. The third phase (1989-2010) brought about some freedoms and rights for the Roma, with large sums spent on various Roma-related programs. Despite these efforts, the situation on the ground did not improve. Segregation and marginalization continues, and is rampant.

Texts, Structures and Experiences : The Society of State Socialist Hungary in Historical Perscpective

In the state socialist system sociology could establish its reason for existence and construct its identity by merely emphasizing the objectivity of its scientific investigations (since to the „real” processes even the power had to pay attention). In this role-interpretation – that can be called ‘socialist modernity’ – the missionary zeal of science, its faith in development, scientific objectivity and in the cognizability of social reality concealed the inevitable, indirect effort of the ideology of power. The discipline has built up it myths in accordance with that concealment. The conclusions of historical studies on state socialism – seemingly well grounded and referenced – are often not only based on the phenomena examined but are also coloured by the period’s accepted conceptual framework. Our present knowledge about the society of the era is, to a large extent, based on these concepts, too. It is this lack of conceptual self-reflection with regard to historiography that explains why several historians believe they are discussing social reality, but are in actual fact only interpreting categories formulated in the wake of various party decrees. Unless we are able to uncover the effects of the identity policy that worked to create the virtual reality of state socialist society, unless we recognize the nature and operation of the various discourses of power and science, we cannot reach reliable understanding of the period’s phenomena

Roma nemzetépítés és transznacionális emlékezethelyek

A tanulmányunkban a születőben lévő roma nemzet közös múltjának emlékezethelyeit keressük, és ennek kapcsán a transznacionális emlékezethelyeknek a nemzetépítés folyamatában betöltött szerepét vizsgáljuk. Elemezzük, hogy a nemzetépítésben, vagyis az emlékezetpolitika formálásában a roma aktivizmus különböző nemzeti és nemzetközi szervezetei mellett a transznacionális térben milyen szerepet játszottak/játszanak a nemzetközi kormányközi szervezetek, valamint az Európai Unió intézményei. Kulcsszavak: Roma nemzet, transznacionális nemzetépítés és emlékezethelyek, társadalmi szereplők, agency-