Course title and code: BBNPO00700 National Minority Questions:
Nationalism and Politics
6
Type of course (lecture/seminar) and hours per week/semester : seminar, 2 hours/semester
Method of assessment (exam/practical grade): practical grade
Suggested semester : spring
Prerequisites (if any) : -
Course description:
The aim of the course is to introduce students to the field of nationalism, ethnicity and national minorities and to explain the theoretical framework of the topic. The course concentrates on the major theories and approaches to nationalism.
Each class will start with a short lecture (30 minutes), where I will present the general framework of the given topic. Students will have to present one of the compulsory readings in 10-15 minutes, which will be followed by group discussions.
Course Schedule
1. Introduction. What is nationalism about? Misconceptions on nationalism (Brubaker,
Wimmer, Verdery)
2. Early understandings and approaches of nationalism. The roots (Rousseau, J. S. Mill, M. Weber, E.
Renan, F. Meinecke, H. Kohn, J. Plamenatz, etc.)
3. Modernist approaches (Ernest Gellner, Benedict Anderson, Michael Mann, Liah Greenfeld, Tom
Nairn, E.J. Hobsbawm, Miroslav Hroch, John Breuilly, Michael Hechter, George Schöpflin)
4. Pre-modernist (ethnosymbolist) approaches (Anthony D. Smith, Johns Hutchinson, John
Armstrong) and other approaches (A. Marx, C. Calhoun, Van den Berghe, O. Löfgren, etc.)
5. Ethnicity I. Anthropological perspectives. Culture (Barth, Eriksen, Jenkins, etc.)
6. Ethnicity II. National identity (Cooper-Brubaker, Connor, Smith, etc.)
7. Philosophical approaches (Kymlicka, Tamir, Taylor, etc.)
8. Introduction. Methodology of research on national minorities. The question of definition. Typologies of national minorities.
9. National minorities and the state
10. Ethnic/national movements. Ethnic mobilisation. Ethnic parties. Ethnic conflict and ethnic/national violence
11. Minority rights. Minority protection. Self-determination. Autonomy
12. National minorities in Hungary. The Roma in Hungary
13. Hungarian national minorities in the neighboring states
14. Minorities in Western Europe
Requirements
Active participation and regular attendance (no more than 3 missed classes)
Students will have to read one or two articles or chapters for each class (20-30 pages). Students are encouraged to approach the topics systematically and take an active part in the discussions.
There will be a strong emphasis on the understanding of the theories, and less on their applicability for particular cases. At the end of the semester students are required to submit a paper.
Required and recommended reading:
H
UTCHINSON
, John and Smith, Anthony D. (eds.), Nationalism: critical concepts in political
Science, London & New York, Routledge, (5 volumes), 2000, ISBN 978-0415201094
S MITH , Anthony D., Nationalism and Modernism: a critical survey of recent theories of nations and nationalism, London and New York, Routledge, 1998, ISBN 9780415063418
B RUBAKER , Rogers, Nationalism Reframed: Nationhood and the National Question in the
New Europe , Cambridge University Press, 1996 ISBN 9780521576499

G ELLNER , Ernest, Nations and Nationalism , Oxford UK & Cambridge USA, Blackwell,1983, ISBN
9781405134422
M C C RONE , David, The Sociology of Nationalism: Tomorrow’s Ancestors, London and New York,
Routledge, 1998, ISBN 9780415114592
C ONVERSI , Daniele (ed.), Ethnonationalism in the Contemporary World: Walker Connor and the
Study of Nationalism, London/New York, 2002, ISBN 9780415332736
C ORDELL , Karl - W OLFF , Stefan (eds.), The Ethnopolitical Encyclopaedia of Europe, Palgrave
Macmillan, 2004, ISBN 9780333971246
S ZARKA
, László (ed.),
Hungary and the Hungarian Minorities: Trends in the Past and in Our Time.
Atlantic Studies on Society in Chang e 122. East-European Monographs, DCLVII. Boulder , New Jersey,
Colorado - Atlantic Research and Publications, Inc. Highland Lakes, 2004, ISBN 9780880335560
T ÓTH , Ágnes (ed.),
National and ethnic minorities in Hungary, 1920-2001 ., New York, Columbia
University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-88033-596-6
K ÁLLAI , Ernı (ed.),
The Gypsies/The Roma in Hungarian Society , Budapest, Teleki László
Alapítvány, 2001, ISBN 9789638577467
K ÁNTOR , Zoltán – M AJTÉNYI , Balázs – O SAMU , Ieda – V IZI , Balázs - Iván H ALÁSZ (eds.), The
Hungarian Status Law: Nation Building and/or Minority Protection, Sapporo, Slavic Research
Center, Hokkaido University, 2004.
Lecturers participating in teaching: Zoltán Kántor