The current popularity of the Far Right in Europe is an alarming but sadly persisting trend. The workshop brings together social anthropologists, sociologists, and historians to discuss how to study the historical context of the Far-Right Revisionism and document the current popular responses to post-truth historical narratives. To what extent does the radical right appropriate or disrupt historical narratives through their forms of revisionism?
While historical accounts were usually constructed by intellectuals affiliated with scientific institutions, recently we see the rise of populist "histories" which often falsify, outwrite, or attack scientifically grounded theories. This proliferation of alternative histories reflects a changing social context. For example, this process is related to the general shift of the working class from the left to the right of the political spectrum. The Far-Right advocates express persistent interest in history, especially various forms of Revisionism.
The Far-Right sympathizers and supporters create multiple versions of historical events and conspiracy theories. This new Revisionism plays a significant role in identity politics that have challenged the previous class politics. The workshop aims to approach from interdisciplinary perspectives such questions as: Why did revisionism become a popular form of the ideological articulation of the Far-Right? Why do historical and pseudo-historical arguments replace traditional political debates? How are the Far-Right revisionisms connected with regional mobilization strategies, and international connections of various Far-Right groups?
The workshop will start with a round table devoted to the question (19.04.2023): Do the radical right appropriate or disrupt historical narratives through revisionism?
The second day of the workshop (20.04.2023) will consist of 3 panels:
Re-enacting Revisionism in Hungary
Multiple Scenes of Revisionism
Revisionism in Labour History
Selected papers presented at the workshop will be published in a thematic issue of the Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe.
For additional information please contact: Eszter Bartha (barthaeszter@hotmail.com) and Tatyjana Szafonova (tvsafonova@gmail.com)
Workshop work program:
Day 1. 19th of April (Room 103, Nador u. 15)
17:00 – 19:00 Round table: Revisionisms Revised. Do the radical right appropriate or disrupt historical narratives through revisionism?
Moderators: Tatyjana Szafonova (IAS, CEU, Budapest (Hungary)), Balázs Trencsényi (CEU, Democracy Institute, Budapest (Hungary))
Juraj Buzalka (Comenius University, Bratislava (Slovakia))
Klaus Neumann (Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur, Hamburg (Germany))
Gábor Egry (Institute of Political History, Budapest (Hungary))
Péter Apor (Research Centre for the Humanities, Budapest (Hungary))
19:00 – 20:00 Reception
20:00 – 21:00 “Turan Road Music” free jazz project, concert
Day 2. 20th of April (Room 106, Nador u. 15)
9:00 – 10:30 Re-Enacting Revisionism in Hungary
Chair: Tatyjana Szafonova (IAS, Budapest (Hungary))
Katrin Kremmler (Institute for European Ethnology, Humboldt University, Berlin (Germany)), “Biological Turanism? The Kurultáj festival as platform for illiberal sciences education in Hungary”.
Aurélie Stern ((Center for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asian Studies)/IFEA (French Institute for Anatolian Studies)), “All descendants of Attila? Ethnography of the Turkish presence at the 'Great Kurultaj' identity festival in Hungary”.
Viola Teisenhoffer (Institute of Sociological Studies, Charles University, Prague (Czech Republic)), "Spiritual Turanism? Contemporary Pagan revival and the Kurultaj festival in Hungary".
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:00 Multiple Scenes of Revisionism
Chair: Klaus Neumann
Eva Svatonova (University of Copenhagen (Denmark)), “Far Right, Neoliberal,
Catholic. Class dimensions of „anti-gender” activism”.
April Reber (Brigham Young University, Provo, UT (USA)), “Alternatively remembering Germany's colonial place names”.
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
13:00 – 14:30 Revisionism and Labour History
Chair: Eszter Bartha (ELTE, Budapest (Hungary))
Adrian Grama (IOS, Regensburg (Germany)), “Labor History and Anti-Communism”.
Paulus Wagner (LIEPP, Paris (France)), “Varieties of Laborism. Social Inclusion and Exclusion in Working Class Visions of the Political Economy”.
Tibor Valuch (Eszterházy Károly Katolikus Egyetem, Eger; Társadalomtudományi Kutatóközpont Politikatudományi Intézet, Budapest (Hungary)), “Between left and right - changes in life strategies, ideologies and politics in modern Hungary”.
14:30 – 15:00 Concluding Remarks
15:00 – 15:30 Coffee Break
Day 3. 21st of April (meeting point: Nador u. 15 entry)
10:00 – 12:30 - “Sites of Revisionism in Budapest” Walking tour (app. 7 km)
Route: Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation, Budapest, Szabadság tér 1;
Monument in memoriam of Red Terror's Victims (Kosuth ter);
Nagy Imre Statue (Margit Hid); Gül Baba Türbe and Rose Garden;
Miraculous Deer Statue, Budapest, Krisztina krt. 15; Castle Hill.