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UCSB-Wisconsin EAPTibor FRANK
Eötvös Loránd UniversityOffice: Ajtósi Dürer sor, #236A
Spring 1995Hours: Tu and Th 4-5:30 p.m.
Ajtósi Dürer sor 19-21Tel: 268-0393 or
"A" Building, #207142-8760

Race, Ethnicity, Nation:
'Otherness' in 'Eastern' Europe

Advanced Course Syllabus

 

Description of Course

 

This course presents a historical and social-psychological survey of racial discrimination, ethnocentrism and nationalism in modern and contemporary 'Eastern' Europe. After considering the key concepts of 'race,' 'ethnicity,' and 'culture,' it gives an introduction into the various forms of racism in 'East' European societies, providing a typology of political, cultural and social animosities and conflicts. The course gives special attention to the rise and patterns of anti-semitism and examines the typical routes of escape 'Eastern' Europeans have reverted to over the past century and a half. Special attention is given to emigration into the United States as a much preferred form of 'East' European escapism.

 

Schedule of Lectures

 

Week I Orientation
The Cultural Landscape: Ethnicity, Religion and Language in Europe
Week II The Anthropology of 'Race'
The Origins of Racial Discrimination
Week III The Human Geography of Europe
'Race' in East-Central Europe
Week IV Perception, Image, Prejudice
Week V The Psychology of the 'Masses'
National Character and Stereotypes
Ethnocentrism, Nationalism, Patriotism
Week VI The Roots of Ethnic Conflict: Religious Intolerance
Week VII

Liberalism, Tolerance, Assimilation
Power Politics 1-2 (Empire Building, Peace Treaties, Changing Borders)

*Mid-Term Examination

(1) Essay questions, (2) IDs: Terms, names, places to be identified, (3) Map quiz: Locate geographically and historically important places

Week VIII Racism in 'Eastern' Europe 'Cultural Superiority' 1-2 (Germans, Hungarians)
Week IX Racism in 'Eastern' Europe 'Hostile Neighbors' 1-2 (Hungarians-Roumanians, Germans-Poles, Serbs-Croats)
Week X Racism in 'Eastern' Europe 'Scapegoats' 1-2 (Slavs, Gypsies, Jews)
Week XI Anti-Semitism in 'Eastern' Europe
1 Jewish Migrations in Europe
2 Patterns and Limitations of Jewish Assimilation
Week XII Anti-Semitism in 'Eastern' Europe
3 The Holocaust
4 Current Trends in Jewish-Gentile Relations
Week XIII Escaping 'Eastern' Europe
1 Emigration, Alcoholism, Suicide
2 Uprising, Revolution, War
Week XIV The Psychological Frontiers of Society
United Europe: Towards Conflict Resolution?
Week XV

***Final Examination

(1) Essay questions,
(2) IDs: Terms, names, places to be identified,
(3) Map quiz: Locate geographically and historically important places

 

 

Course Requirements and Grading

  1. Regular participation in, and preparation for, classes (10% of final grade)
  2. In-class mid-term examination (March 1995, 30% of final grade)
  3. Book-review (Details on separate sheet to follow, due April 1995, 20% of final grade)
  4. In-class final examination (May 1995, 40% of final grade)

Note: Both the mid-term and the final will consist of an essay of 60 minutes, a series of important terms, names, and dates to be identified, and some significant places to be located on a blank map.

Reading for Course (Select Chapters)

I Anthropology and Social Psychology

Gordon W Allport, The Nature of Prejudice
(Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1954)

Maurice L. Farber, 'The Problem of National Character:
A Methodological Analysis.' In J. J. Smelser-W. T. Smelser (eds.), Personality and Social System
(New York: John Wiley, 1963), pp. 80-87.

Arnold Suppan, 'Heterostereotypes in the Dual Monarchy and the Successor States' (Vienna Conference on 'Images of Central Europe,' April 15-18, 1994)

Gustave Le Bon, The Psychology of the Masses

José Ortega y Gasset, The Rebellion of the Masses

George L. Mosse, Towards the Final Solution. A History of European Racism
(New York: Howard Fertig, 1978)

Elazar Barkan, The Retreat of Scientific Racism. Changing concepts of race in Britain and the United States between the world wars
(Cambridge University Press, 1992)

II Ethnic Relations in 'Eastern' Europe

Emil Niederhauser, The Rise of Nationality in Eastern Europe
(Budapest: Corvina, 1981)

Hugh Seton-Watson, The 'Sick Heart' of Modern Europe. The Problem of the Danubian Lands
(Seattle--London: University of Washington Press, 1975)

Robert A. Kann and Zdenek V. David, The Peoples of the Eastern Habsburg Lands, 1526-1918
(Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1984)

Oscar Jászi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy
(Chicago--London: University of Chicago Press, 1929, repr. 1966)

Nationalities Papers, Twentieth Anniversary Issue, Vol 22, No. 1, Spring 1994

III From Empire to Diaspora: Hungary's Minorities and Hungarian Minorities

István Bibó, 'The Distress of the East European Small States' (1946).
In: István Bibó, Democracy, Revolution, Self-Determination
(Boulder, CO: Social Science Monographs, 1991)

Stephen Borsody, ed., The Hungarians. A Divided Nation
(New Haven: Yale Center for International and Area Studies, 1988)

Péter Hanák, 'The Image of the Other (Ethnic Prejudices in Hungarian Society in the Latter Half of the 19th Century)'
published in Hungarian in Péter Hanák, A Kert és a Mühely, (Budapest: Gondolat, 1988), pp. 81-111, 282-286.

Albert Tezla, ed., The Hazardous Quest. Hungarian Immigrants in the United States 1895-1920
(Budapest: Corvina, 1993)

Béla K. Király, Peter Pastor, and Ivan Sanders, eds., Essays on World War I: Total War and Peacemaking, A Case Study on Trianon
(New York, N.Y.: Brooklyn College Press, 1982)

József Galántai, Trianon and the Protection of Minorities
(Boulder, CO: Social Science Monographs, 1992)

N. F. Dreisziger and A. Ludanyi, eds., 'Forgotten Minorities: The Hungarians of East Central Europe', Hungarian Studies Review, Vol. XVI, Nos. 1-2 (Spring--Fall 1989)

IV Anti-Semitism: History, Politics, Psychology

David J. Goldberg and John D. Rayner, The Jewish People. Their History and Their Religion
(Penguin Books, 1989)

Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World. A Documentary History
(Oxford University Press, 1980)

William O. McCagg, Jr., A History of Habsburg Jews 1670-1918
(Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989)

William O. McCagg, Jr., Jewish Nobles and Geniuses in Modern Hungary
(Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1986)

Peter Gay, Freud, Jews and Other Germans. Masters and Victims in Modernist Culture
(Oxford University Press, 1978)

Albert S. Lindemann, The Jew Accused. Three Anti-Semitic Affairs (Dreyfus, Beilis, Frank) 1894-1915
(Cambridge University Press, 1991)

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