Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2026, 27 (1): 164-177 | DOI: 10.13060/gav.2026.012

Re-Imagining Hungarianness: Re-Interpreting Archival Films in the Context of Hungarian Folk Dances

Anisha Anantpurkar ORCID...
Independent researcher

This essay examines the role of archival ethnographic films of Hungarian folk dance and music in the production of cultural memory. Drawing on short-term, immersive ethnographic fieldwork in Hungary, I delineate the role of these films in preserving folk culture and cultivating national identity. I argue that archival ethnographic films function as a technology through which an ‘imagined Hungarianness’ is constructed, embodied, and transmitted. Through examples of contemporary folk dancing, I demonstrate how archival media continues to enforce a fixed notion of authenticity deeply intertwined with ethno-nationalism, heteronormativity, and cultural purity. However, by engaging with these archival materials through a queer lens, dancers generate forms of counter-memory that disrupt institutional narratives. Focusing on historical footage of male intimacy, contemporary choreographic reworkings of gendered dance vocabularies, and alternative, queer readings of historical recordings, I illustrate how queer and feminist dance practices question and subvert the heteronormative interpretations that dominate the field. Ultimately, this essay argues that these creative reinterpretations disrupt the archive’s regulating power, transforming it into a site of possibility where practitioners can construct counter-memories to challenge  dominant narratives of what it means to embody Hungarian identity.

Klíčová slova: cultural memory, Táncház, Hungarian folk dance, queer studies, nationalism, authenticity

Vloženo: 31. říjen 2025; Revidováno: 26. červenec 2026; Přijato: 3. srpen 2026; Zveřejněno online: 8. září 2026; Zveřejněno: 9. září 2026  Zobrazit citaci

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Anantpurkar, Anisha. 2026. "Re-Imagining Hungarianness: Re-Interpreting Archival Films in the Context of Hungarian Folk Dances." Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 27(1):164-177.
Sdílet...
Stáhnout citaci
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Zobrazit celý článek

    Reference

    1. Ács, S., I. Halmos, G. Martin, F. Pesovár, B. Sárosi, P. Sztanó, R. Víg, M. Waigand. 1968. Felső-Tisza vidéki pásztorbotoló (Upper Tisza Region Shepherds' Stick Dance, 1968) [Film]. Recorded 13 October 1968. Published online 29 September 2016. Budapest: Hagyományok Háza, MTA Zenetudományi Intézet Archive. Retrieved 22/4/2026 (https://hagyomanyokhaza.hu/hu/archivum).
    2. Anderson, B. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition. London: Verso.
    3. Assmann, J. 2011. Cultural Memory and Early Civilization: Writing, Remembrance, and Political Imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    4. Carbó-Catalan, E., D. Roig-Sanz. 2022. Swinging Between Culture and Politics: Novel Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Pp. 1-20 in E. Carbó-Catalan, D. Roig-Sanz (eds.). Culture, as Soft Power: Bridging Cultural Relations, Intellectual Cooperation, and Cultural Diplomacy. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    5. Dubois, V. 1999. La politique culturelle: Genèse d'une catégorie d'intervention publique (Cultural policy: the genesis of a category of public intervention). Paris: Belin.
    6. Felföldi, L. 1999. Folk Dance Research in Hungary: Relations among Theory, Fieldwork and the Archive. Pp. 55-70 in T. J. Buckland (ed.). Dance in the Field: Theory, Methods and Issues in Dance Ethnography. Houndmills, UK: Macmillan Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    7. Hagyományok H. 2020. Akkor és most - Tyukodi asszonyverbunk (Then and Now - asszonyverbunk (recruitment dance) from Tyukod). [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved 22/4/2026 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zcllk2mGbs).
    8. Halbwachs, M. 1992. On Collective Memory. Edited and translated by Lewis A. Coser. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    9. Hooker, L. 2008. Performing the Old World, Embracing the New: Festivalization, the Carnivalesque, and the Creation and Maintenance of Community in North American Hungarian Folk Music and Dance Camps. Hungarian Studies 22 (1-2): 89-101. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    10. Kőszeghy, F. 2023. A Story of Hegemony: The Folk Dance Movement in Hungary (I). LeftEast. Retrieved 23/4/2026 (https://lefteast.org/story-of-hegemony-folk-dance-movement-hungary/).
    11. Losonczi, M. 2023. PM Orbán at CPAC Hungary: 'The Antidote to the Woke Virus…' Hungarian Conservative, 5 May. Retrieved 23/4/2026 (https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/current/viktor_orban_cpac_hungary_2023_antidote_woke_virus_trump_ukraine/).
    12. Muñoz, J. E. 1999. Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
    13. Pálfi, C. 1970. A Gyöngyösbokréta története (The history of the Pearl Bouquet Movement). Pp. 115-160 in Z. Dienes, L. Maácz. Tánctudományi Tanulmányok 1969-1970. Budapest: A Magyar Táncművészek Szövetsége Tudományos Tagozata.
    14. Sárosi Bálint. 1993. Hungary and Romania. Ethnomusicology, Historical and Regional Studies. Edited by Hellen Myers, 187-96. New York: W. W. Norton/Grove
    15. Szilvay, G. 2021. Világátalakítás: ez a baj az LMBTQ-táncházzal (World transformation: this is the problem with the LGBTQ folk dance house). Mandiner, 10 November. Retrieved 10/11/2021 (https://mandiner.hu/cikk/20211110_lmbtq_tanchaz_szilvay).
    16. Taylor, M. N. 2008. Does Folk Dancing Make Hungarians? Táncház, Folk Dance as Mother Tongue, and Folk National Cultivation. Hungarian Studies 22 (1-2): 9-29. Retrieved 23/4/2026 (https://mte.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Taylor-Mary-N.-Does-folk-dancing-make-Hungarians.pdf). Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    17. Taylor, M. N. 2021. Movement of the People: Hungarian Folk Dance, Populism, and Citizenship. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    18. Thièsse, A.-M. 1999. La création des identités nationales (The creation of national identities). Paris: Seuil.
    19. Trafó Gallery. n.d. Dominika Trapp. Retrieved 23/2/2026 (https://trafo.hu/en/trafo_gallery/dominika_trapp).
    20. Varga, N. 2020. Leányos. [Film] Vimeo. Retrieved 23/4/2026 (https://vimeo.com/401305961).

    Tento článek je publikován v režimu tzv. otevřeného přístupu k vědeckým informacím (Open Access), který je distribuován pod licencí Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), která umožňuje nekomerční distribuci, reprodukci a změny, pokud je původní dílo řádně ocitováno. Není povolena distribuce, reprodukce nebo změna, která není v souladu s podmínkami této licence.


    Zpět na obsah