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

Nationhood and Identity: Romaniansand Hungarians in TransylvaniaIRINA CULICThe production of identity is a process organized by, and, at the sametime, organizing our experiences and interactions. Two of the maincomponents of identity-construction on which the present study pondersare ethnicity and citizenship. Ethnicity, as a cultural concept, and citizenship,as an organizational concept, both affect the way we conceive of ourselves,the way we present ourselves, and the way we relate to other individualsand to various situations. Similarly, others’ representation andperception of our ethnicity, as well as the value-judgments they assign toour citizenship, structure the identity-image we attach to ourselves. It isexactly this process of self-identification and identification of the otherthat constitutes the incentive for writing this study.The structure of the process is dual. One set of rules applies both tothe mechanisms of self-identification and to the mechanisms of identifyingthe other. Relations of neighborhood, work, friendship, competitionand everyday interaction reveal peculiarities attributed to “the other,” andobjectify one’s own self-image. Another set of rules animates mechanismsof identification in terms of “us” and “them,” 1 which are often formalizedthrough institutionalized notions of belonging, such as nationality and citizenship.2 These mechanisms are often symmetric – that is, they follow thesame logic, but produce opposite results. One can objectify the structureof these concurrent processes in many instances: in the discourse constructedabout our own identity, the evaluation of elements of our ownculture, the interpretation of historical episodes of one’s people, maritalstrategies, linguistic practices, and so on.This study is not intended to exhaust the topic of identity production.Instead, it examines a number of key issues, as they have been revealed inempirical investigations. My analysis employs a constructivist view on thenation, as elaborated by the theorists of nationalism, who associate it withaspects of modernization. 3 Though I am reluctant to acknowledge the actualityand compelling quality of a “community of history and destiny” that essentialistsprofess, 4 I nevertheless admit the social and emotional reality ofnations, as basic operators in a widespread system of social classification. 5 Theidea of the nation is naturalized in the form of durable dispositions, of structuredand structuring structures that function as practices and representa-227