Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian ...
Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian ...
Nation-Building and Contested Identities: Romanian & Hungarian ...
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IRINA CULICTABLE 8. The definition of <strong>Romanian</strong> identity by <strong>Hungarian</strong>s in Romania, <strong>and</strong>of <strong>Hungarian</strong> identity by <strong>Romanian</strong>s. The figures represent the cumulatedanswers for the question: “In your opinion, what are the most important threethings for someone to be considered (<strong>Romanian</strong>/<strong>Hungarian</strong>)?”<strong>Romanian</strong>s <strong>Hungarian</strong>sabout <strong>Hungarian</strong>s about <strong>Romanian</strong>s(% of cases) (% of cases)1. to be born in (Romania/Hungary) 48.5% 11.5%2. to hold (<strong>Romanian</strong>/<strong>Hungarian</strong>) citizenship 37.4% 17.0%3. mother tongue is (<strong>Romanian</strong>/<strong>Hungarian</strong>) 52.2% 75.5%4. to be baptized by a (<strong>Romanian</strong>/<strong>Hungarian</strong>) church 23.8% 20.6%5. to live in (Romania/Hungary) 16.3% 9.0%6. to honor the (<strong>Romanian</strong>/<strong>Hungarian</strong>) flag 9.9% 12.4%7. to belong to (<strong>Romanian</strong>/<strong>Hungarian</strong>) culture 25.3% 37.9%8. to consider himself (<strong>Romanian</strong>/<strong>Hungarian</strong>) 41.7% 61.1%9. to respect the traditions of (<strong>Romanian</strong>s/ <strong>Hungarian</strong>s). 24.1% 27.9%10. to speak the (<strong>Romanian</strong>/<strong>Hungarian</strong>)language within the family 19.9% 22.2%Source: Culic, Horváth, <strong>and</strong> Lazãr, Ethnobarometer: Interethnic Relations in Romania.According to Table 8, both <strong>Romanian</strong>s <strong>and</strong> <strong>Hungarian</strong>s are consistentwith their self-definition of identity, though some percentages are ina reversed order. <strong>Romanian</strong>s tend to stress the importance of language<strong>and</strong> to decrease the importance of birthplace when identifying a person as<strong>Hungarian</strong>. Conversely, <strong>Hungarian</strong>s stress more the importance of birthplace,citizenship <strong>and</strong> residence. These slight differences are based on therespective acknowledgment of the features that characterize the relationsof “the other” with the state (territory <strong>and</strong> institutions), the fellow citizens(region <strong>and</strong> ethnic distribution of locality), <strong>and</strong> fellow nationals (culture<strong>and</strong> ethnicity).State, Identity <strong>and</strong> LoyaltyOne of the themes structuring the relationship between <strong>Romanian</strong>s <strong>and</strong><strong>Hungarian</strong>s, which is often constitutive to the process of self-identification<strong>and</strong> identification of the other for the <strong>Hungarian</strong>s, is that of their loyaltytowards the <strong>Romanian</strong> state. In many situations, the <strong>Romanian</strong>s feel entitledto doubt the <strong>Hungarian</strong>s’ loyalty towards the <strong>Romanian</strong> state. Themost trivial situation is that of a football match between the nationalteams of Romania <strong>and</strong> Hungary, when their loyalty can be manifested bysupporting the <strong>Romanian</strong> team. But how should one react when the <strong>Hungarian</strong>ssupport the <strong>Hungarian</strong> team? What is more, in the case of a foot-238
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