CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Kalotay, Márton |
|---|---|
| Title | Revisionist Visuals in Public Squares: A Symbolic Reframing of Hungarian National Identity? |
| Summary | This study focuses on the recent changes in two of the prominent public squares in Budapest, Kossuth Lajos Szabadság Tér from the period of 2011-2017. In recent years the Fidesz government has made several controversial changes within these two public spaces, namely adding two statues, one former American President Ronald Regan and a statue commemorating the “Victims of German Occupation.”, as well as the return of the Lajos Kossuth square into its pre-1944 form. These changes begs the questions: What kind of memory regime does the changes in Szabadság and Lajos Kossuth squares reveal? How do the monuments, their design and style reflect the socio-political reality, especially in terms of reframing Hungarian national identity? How do these revisionist changes impact Hungary’s communitarian socio-political activity? To answer these questions, it was necessary to use the theories of Banal Nationalism, Memory Politics and Sociology of Architecture. Moreover, Discourse Analysis and methods of Sociology of Architecture were used as tools to analyse the finer details behind the nationalist discourses and the changes in the abovementioned public spaces. Using these theories and methods, the analysis produced the following findings: These new editions of the public spaces have sent shock waves into Hungarian society due to their historical-political significance alongside sending a ‘specific’ state message of historical revisionism and convenient forgetting of Hungary’s complicity in Inter-War period terror and the Holocaust. Therefore, accommodating Fidesz’s ongoing legislative attempts to reinforce a revisionist and irredentist memory regime, thus attempting to reframe the Hungarian national historical identity from the 1920 onwards; which has an eerie similarity to the efforts of the Communist regime in Hungary in relation to the past. Furthermore, the government’s message has the intention to convey the definitive”truth” about the interwar period. However, this forceful conveying of the message is sparking a counter-reaction, since the part of history the government attempts to re-write is a controversial one. In fact, it might be a dividing point in Hungarian society. Finally, the debates indicate that Hungarian nationalism is starting to heat up, so to speak, with the tensions in relation to the issue of national identity reflecting the socio-economical tensions in the country. |
| Supervisor | Miller, Michael Laurence; András, Edit |
| Department | Nationalism Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/kalotay_marton.pdf |
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