Authors

Zsolt Szilágyi¹;  ¹ Institute of Ethnology, HUN-REN, RCH, Hungary

Discussion

One of the starting points of the Hungarian Oriental research that developed from the middle of the 19^th century was the historical and cultural tradition that connects the Hungarians to the nomads of Central and Inner Asia. In the age of Turanism, the interest in the eastern origin of Hungarians sought to identify the common characteristics of the eastern elements of the Hungarian cultural tradition and the Asian nomadic (Mongol, Kazakh) cultures. This Hungarian perspective recognizes them as kindred peoples related to the Hungarians, and that approach seemed to be usable along economic and political interests. The ideology of Turanism partially survived the historical events of the 20^th century and some of its elements are now again part of official government communication in Hungary. Along the lines of these phenomena, a fairly similar process takes place during the re(construction) of national identities in present-day Mongolia and Hungary. In the two countries, after the political transformation of 1990, the elements of national identity were reformulated, and today through state communication, they serve to indirectly to create the legitimacy of governments. The construction of these constructions takes place in a very similar way in Mongolia and Hungary. In the presentation, I would like to briefly introduce the role that the Hun tradition plays in the (re)contraction of national identity, what kind of counterpoint it represents to the political era before the 1990s. How it is realized in the formulation of the context of "us" and "them", and in the process of formation a new economic and political community of interests.