Nation-Building and Contested Identities - MEK

IRINA CULICfrom Hungarians who describe themselves as “Transylvanian Hungarians”in the way they envision Transylvania within Romania. By calling themselves“Hungarians from Romania,” they acknowledge that there is somethingthat can be called an integrated Romanian political community, thatTransylvania as a province has become culturally similar to the rest ofRomania, and that Romanian culture has an important impact on theHungarians’ way of life.The presence of the triadic perspective in the self-identification andidentification of the other on the part of the members of the Hungarianminority is empirically observable in their answers given to questions concerningtheir identity, and also in the discourses of the Romanian politicians. Thisis how the Romanians and Hungarians in Transylvania define themselves, interms of an agreement with statements regarding facts (birthplace, ethnic origin,and residence), cultural factors (language, religion, and tradition) andinstitutions (state symbols and citizenship). 31Table 7 suggests that, experiencing the situation of being subjects toa nation-state built by and bearing the name of another nation, the Hungarianstend to recognize culture as a marker of national identity toa greater degree than the Romanians (44.7% compared to 23.1%).TABLE 7. The definition of Romanian identity by Romanians, and, respectively ofHungarian identity by Hungarians in Romania. The figures represent the cumulatedanswers for the question: “In your opinion, what are the most important threethings for someone to be considered (Romanian/Hungarian)?”Romanians Hungariansabout Romanians about Hungarians(% of cases) (% of cases)1. to be born in (Romania/Hungary) 56.3% 3.0%2. to hold (Romanian/Hungarian) citizenship 37.1% 8.2%3. mother tongue is (Romanian/Hungarian) 41.9% 82.5%4. to be baptized by a (Romanian/Hungarian) church 30.1% 23.5%5. to live in (Romania/Hungary) 18.2% 2.4%6. to honor the (Romanian/Hungarian) flag 14.9% 17.3%7. to belong to (Romanian/Hungarian) culture 23.1% 44.7%8. to consider himself (Romanian/Hungarian) 40.2% 63.8%9. to respect the traditions of (Romanians/Hungarians). 22.5% 23.9%10. to speak the (Romanian/Hungarian) languagewithin the family 14.7% 25.5%Source: Culic, Horváth, and Lazãr, Ethnobarometer: Interethnic Relations in Romania.236