Matzo Hussars & Creative (Anti)Semitism: Jewishness & Popular Culture in Post-Communist Hungary
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Abstract
This article argues that a new understanding of “Jewishness” is emerging in post-communist Hungary, most clearly and visibly in the realm of popular culture. Global images of “Jewishness” and their local interpretations, which have become part of public culture since the fall of communism and especially with wider access to the internet, have shaped both popular discussions of “Jewishness” and Hungarian Jewish self-representations. These, in turn, are challenging the traditional Hungarian understanding of the meaning and place of “Jewishness” in Hungarian public life. Following a brief historical outline to help situate the current debate, I analyze four interpretations of “Jewishness” in contemporary Hungarian popular culture: an animated film, a blog, and two restaurants. I argue that they break with long-standing Hungarian discursive and political traditions and suggest a new, more open take on “Jewishness” based on the notion of “ethnic culture.”
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Volume/Issue
34(3)
Page Number / Article Number
1-27
DOI
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Link to article in JSTOR, Matzo Hussars & Creative (Anti)Semitism: Jewishness & Popular Culture in Post-Communist Hungary
PDF (via academia.edu), Matzo Hussars & Creative (Anti)Semitism: Jewishness & Popular Culture in Post-Communist Hungary
PDF (via academia.edu), Matzo Hussars & Creative (Anti)Semitism: Jewishness & Popular Culture in Post-Communist Hungary
Bibliographic Information
Matzo Hussars & Creative (Anti)Semitism: Jewishness & Popular Culture in Post-Communist Hungary. 2016: 1-27. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.5703/shofar.34.3.0001
