Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian ...

INTRODUCTIONframeworks and research projects that seek to analyze social conditionsand cultural discourses simultaneously. From this perspective, these twodirections of interpretation are not only compatible, but even inconceivablewithout each other: in order to understand “social conditions” we textualizethem and study them in their discursive setting, while the discoursesare contextualized in view of their social frameworks. By addressing thecultural and historical aspects in order to locate these discourses not onlyin their immediate political context, but also in a broader framework ofthe process of nation-state building in the entire region, this volume representsour first common attempt to reach common grounds of interpretationand mutually acceptable perspectives of research between Romanianand Hungarian scholars. Apart from its peculiar symbolic value, thevolume is also meant to contribute to the formation of a broader frameworkof professional intellectual communication and interaction in East-Central Europe.Since one of the major hindrances to the creation of lasting frameworksof intercultural dialogue in the region is the endemic lack of informationabout each other’s scientific production, our volume is supplementedwith a selected bibliography of books and articles, published after 1989, onthe history of Hungarian-Romanian ethnic, cultural and political relations.The bibliography documents the main directions of academic literature andseeks to provide “local” and “foreign” researchers with a useful guide to theproblems of historiography, nationalism, nation-building, minorities, interethnicrelations, and cultural interchange.This volume could not have been accomplished without the generoussupport of a long list of institutions and individuals. The organizationof the conference and the publishing of the present volume were sponsoredby the Department of History of the Central European University,The Rectorate of the Central European University, the Nationalism StudiesProgram of the Central European University, the Civic Education Projectand the Teleki László Institute. We would like to thank especially ProfessorsYehuda Elkana, György Granasztói, László Kontler, Mária M. Kovácsand Alexandru Zub for their care and support. Steven Green’s help in copyeditingthe manuscript was invaluable. A special thanks is due to SorinAntohi, whose extensive knowledge and irony in view of the national identity-discoursesin Eastern Europe have been an inspiration for many of thecontributors.18