Romanians and Hungarians form one of the most important imagological couples of the European continent. However, an integrated, comparative and transnational approach of the reciprocal Romanian-Hungarian images is still absent in the topic’s bibliography. The present project has two major objectives. The first one is represented by the study of the mutual Romanian-Hungarian images prevalent in these groups over a long timespan, namely throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, that is to say in the period of their formation, development and maturation. We will consider the entire evolution and all the transformations suffered by these images in the specific context of each historical period, so that in the end we will be able to provide a complete history of the Romanian-Hungarian imagological dynamics between 1699 and 1918, because, as of yet, this topic has not been tackled from an overall perspective. Secondly, the project aims to analyse this complex issue by bearing in mind all its connections and ramifications Romanians’ self-image; Hungarians’ self-image; Romanians’ image of the Hungarians; Hungarians’ image of the Romanians. As a result, we will tackle all these four topics over a period of two hundred years. But the project’s chief stake is not represented by a separate analysis of each of these four images. What we intend to reveal is the complex way in which these images have influenced each other, evolved together, confronted and blended.
L’Image de l’Autre (The Image of the Other) represents a classic research topic, cultivated in an interdisciplinary manner by historical imagology, cultural anthropology, social psychology and comparative literature. Furthermore, studying the Romanian-Hungarian mutual images within it is especially interesting because Romanians and Hungarians form one of the most important imagological couples on the European continent. Therefore, the nuanced comprehension of the symbolic interactions between the two cultures can significantly contribute to the writing of a national and regional history as well as of a global and transnational history of the contemporary world. The project Romanians about Hungarians, Hungarians about Romanians: Two Centuries of Mutual Mirroring (1789-2007) aims to be an original and substantial contribution to the subject, offering a possible escape route out of the ideological polemic around it and covering a wide time-line in order to (re)construct the significant history of Romanians and Hungarians from Transylvania.
The project is relevant for at least three obvious reasons. Firstly, the relations between and mutual images of Romanians and Hungarians throughout the modern and contemporary eras, marked by their historical competition, had a profound impact on their historical evolution; even at European level, the imagological encounter between these two ethnic communities is also significant. Secondly, this important topic has not yet benefited from a monographic approach able to contribute significantly to international research. Thirdly, the project leader and his team would have the opportunity to complete a decade’s worth of research work on this topic and to optimise their expertise reflected in the numerous partial studies on the Romanian and Hungarian relations as well as self and mutual images.
The topic’s main elements of difficulty are: (1) covering a significant period of time, namely the 18th-20th centuries marked by ideological modernisation and by changing historical contexts, in order to research the Romanian-Hungarian mutual images in the longue durée; (2) surpassing the traditional paradigm, which emphasised the analysis of national images in the context of their referential cultures, in favour of a transcultural approach that will shed light upon the mutual transfers and interaction of different historical actors; (3) carrying out the comparative analysis, the mediation and integration of Romanian and Hungarian historiographic traditions to obtain an image that would allow for dialogue and mutual understanding.
Certain aspects of the auto- and hetero - images construed by the two communities have been analysed in a number of partial studies devoted to a distinct image over a shorter time period, for instance the Hungarians’ image of Romanians in the first half of the nineteenth century (Mitu, 2014) or in the second half of the same century (Rus, 2008), and the Romanians’ image of the Hungarians in the second half of the nineteenth century (Hegedűs, 2012). Several volumes of studies on the Romanian-Hungarian relations, which also discuss imagological matters, have been published (Nastasă, 1999; Trencsényi et alii, 2001; Karády and Török, 2008; Blomqvist et alii, 2013).
Nevertheless, when studying the topic of mutual Romanian-Hungarian images, one can notice the absence of an integrative, comparative and “crisscrossed” approach in terms of a paradigme de croisement (Werner and Zimmermann, 2004). The single ethnicity perspective on this issue has not yet been surmounted. Most existing works either concern only the Hungarians or the Romanians or reflect solely the stance of a single historiography on this topic. Frequently researchers are affected precisely by the national preconceptions they are studying.
In this historiographic context, we intend to study Romanians’ and Hungarians’ self-images, as well as the images of the Other from the eighteenth through the twentieth century in a monographic manner, in accordance with the methodology specific to entangled history. The research topic is sized according to the available human and financial resources and so that it can be concluded within the scheduled time frame. The period in question is long but, given that partial studies that cover certain parts of the research already exist, it is possible to successfully tackle the entire topic.
The central aim of the project is to provide an historical account of Romanian-Hungarian mutual images in the longue durée, focusing on contacts and intertwinements between the Romanian self-image, Hungarian self-image, Romanians’ image of Hungarians, and Hungarians’ image of Romanians. This aim translates itself into specific objectives:
(1) Studying the Romanian-Hungarian mutual images in the longue durée, from the eighteenth through the twentieth century, more precisely in the eras covering their elaboration, development and maturation within the framework of modernity’s political culture. We will refer to the entire evolution and to each and every one of the transformations that these images went through in the specific context of each historical period, in order to provide, as an end result of our research, a thorough history of the Romanian-Hungarian imagological dynamic between 1789 and 2007 given that until now this subject has not been studied from a holistic perspective.
(2) The project also aims to analyse this complex topic by considering all its connexions and ramifications. If we dismantle the topic into its constituent parts, we will discover four main elements: the Romanians’ self-image, the Hungarians’ self-image, Romanians’ image of Hungarians, and Hungarians’ image of Romanians. Consequently, we will tackle these four elements over a period of two hundred years. However, the principal stake of the project is not the separate analysis of each of these images: this has already been done in the partial studies we have mentioned. What we aim to reveal is the way these images have influenced each other, have evolved together, have confronted each other and have blended.
(3) To point out the contacts between and intertwinements of the four categories of images in order to construct a coherent and systematic picture of a common imagological dynamic. Instead of the traditional images of the opponent, thus far accentuated by the local and national historical narratives, the project’s results will delineate an interconnected and shared history.
In order to attain these three general objectives, the following specific objectives have been set:
1) To inventory and critical analysis of the historical sources regarding self-image and the image of the Other that permeated the Romanian and Hungarian cultures throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will identify and create a database of the chief Romanian and Hungarian texts that contributed to the articulation of the imagological discourse and that are available in the libraries and archives of Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest and Budapest. These sources will be included in bibliographic databases and collections of texts that will serve as referential working instruments for future research.
(2) To elaborate a theoretical model of the Romanian-Hungarian imagological relations. We will have in view the application and development of the methodology proposed by Blomqvist, Iordachi and Trencsényi (Blomqvist et alii, 2013) in the case of the Romanian-Hungarian mutual images throughout the modern and contemporary eras.
3) To comparatively study the formation of Romanians’ and Hungarians’ self-images, thus emphasising the similarities, differences, transfers and reciprocal influences within the central and south-east European contexts.
4) To study Romanians’ image of Hungarians during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, using as primary sources contemporary historiographic works, travel books, geographical-ethnographic descriptions, press articles and fiction. Moreover, we will also use specialised literature, particularly works of historical imagology published in Romania in the last decades.
5) To study Hungarians’ image of Romanians based on the same principal categories of primary and secondary sources and by taking into account their peculiarities stemming from the fact that the two images had different functions and ampleness as Romanians were habitually more interested in Hungarians than vice versa.
6) To surpass the traditional perspective of the opponent, thus far accentuated by the local and national historical narratives, the project aiming to offer results that will delineate a connected and shared history.
From a methodological viewpoint, historical imagology requires an interdisciplinary approach because the available historical sources are extremely diverse and, as a result, the research methods need to be adapted to the former’s peculiarities. Textual analysis, specific to historiography, the study of collective stereotypes, used by social psychology, and literary comparative analysis, appropriate for texts with a fictional character, are the most important tools that constitute the interdisciplinary framework of an imagological study. The project envisages the development of an original research methodology based on the descriptive and functional analysis of images and stereotypes with an identity-related nature, a methodology that the project leader already formulated in previous studies (Mitu, 2003).
Since this type of research operates primarily with texts, the chief method to be used is qualitative discourse analysis, grounded on critique and interpretation. Depending on the type of texts that will be analysed, we will apply specific reading schemata pertaining to: (1) the history of political ideas and the theory of nationalism for the politically- and ideologically-charged writings; (2) comparative imagology for travel books, ethnographic-geographical descriptions and other accounts of a subjective nature; (3) literary criticism and hermeneutics for fiction; (4) traditional ethnology and ethnography for folkloric texts.
Discourse analysis must be conducted with the methods specific to traditional history, which clearly establishes dates and facts in order to comprehend the political and historical context into which the studied images are inserted. Ethnic images are often influenced by contemporary political events and that is why the latter will be thoroughly and systematically analysed.
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