The Land of Storms and the region where the country´s heart beats: changing images of peripherality in Hungary

Abstract

Processes of peripheralisation have over the past years been studied from structuralist and discursive angles alike. There is at the same time a growing awareness that the two need to be studied together. This paper makes an att empt by showing how socio-material and discursive processes can co-constitute centre-periphery relations, on the example of Hungarian regions. Particular focus is given to Békés County as well as to Central Hungary. The empirical sources consist of sociographic books and popular scientifi c articles writt en mostly by geographers. The former show that images of peripheral areas have signifi cantly altered over time. While the "Land of Storms" -an epithet associated with Békés County -for instance has typically stood for toughness and combat-readiness up until the 1950s, it has been connected more with passivity and tardiness since the 1980s. Despite the changing nature of these images they have curiously always been att ributed to the region´s peripherality, even though a rising spirit for instance has not been a typical feature of peripheries in Hungary. The analysis of popular scientifi c articles reveals that they are usually writt en from the centre´s perspective, targeting the centre´s audience. Further, certain places are peripheralised by being depicted as forgott en or remote; the natural endowments of rural and sparsely populated areas are not rarely exotifi ed and romanticised. Such descriptions may make so-called peripheries more interesting for readers (in the centres), yet they also maintain old images of such areas that can considerably aff ect their development potentials.

Foreword

“…Moreover, the long term co-existence of 'modern' and 'traditional' within CEE societies shaped political discourses and ideologies in which 'progress', 'modernity' (mostly, related to West European models of industrialization and state building) and national identity were interlinked ambiguously and often conflictually -leading to the alternative interpretations of 'western' political categories and the rise of tribal nationalism and political extremes during the crises of capitalism from the late 19 th century (Berend, 2005;Boatca, 2006;Balogh, 2015) .…”

Peripheralisation: The Missing Link in Dealing with Demographic Change?

“…Balogh (2015), Lang (2015) or Paasi (1995) view peripheries and peripherality as socially constructed. Peripheralisation as the act of (re)producing peripheries is hence the result of socio-material and discursive processes (Balogh 2015).…”

“…(2) Peripheralisation is a social process, not a geographical fact. Discourses and images play an important role in this context (Balogh 2015;Bürk 2013). 3Peripheralisation is dynamic and reversible.…”

Rural as Periphery Per Se? Unravelling the Discursive Node

“…Despite both terms often being used interchangeably or occurring together, this equation is not self-evident. Research on rural representations including the critical debates on the social construction of peripheral ruralities and peripheralities (Cloke 2003;Cloke et al 2006;Copus 2001;Halfacree 2007;Paasi 1995), followed by a series of empirical studies (Balogh 2015;Burdack et al 2015;Miggelbrink and Meyer 2015;Timár and Velkey 2016;Plüschke 2015;Pospěch 2014;Steinführer 2015, and others), have scrutinized the rural and called its predominant association with the peripheral into question. As the cultural turn in social sciences revealed, such ascriptions are neither innocent nor neutral (Lefebvre 1974;Meyer and Miggelbrink 2013).…”