Dear AHEA Members and Friends,
As the spring semester winds down and we finally emerge victorious from that never-ending battle with our grading paper stacks, I wanted to share an exciting initiative in the works.
Following our highly successful in-person conference, we decided to also offer an online version of AHEA2023 in November 2023. Virtual conferences have distinct benefits, including increased accessibility and audience reach, and we hope you can join us! Please see the details and the Call for Abstracts below.
Wishing you all a restful summer! Szép nyarat mindenkinek!
Helga Lenart-Cheng |
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| Call for Abstracts:
AHEA 2023 Online Conference |
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AHEA 2023 Online Conference
November 24, 2023
Abstracts due September 15 The American Hungarian Educators Association (AHEA) invites you to its online hybrid one-day conference to be held on Friday, November 24, 2023 concurrently with the Hungarian Association Conference in Cleveland, Ohio in the USA. Presentations may be made in person or online (through Zoom). We welcome participation by academics, independent scholars, educators, and graduate students who are devoted to the teaching, research, and dissemination of Hungarian culture, history, folklore, literature, linguistics, pedagogy, fine arts, and music. This year's conference theme: Dependencies and Alliances. Abstracts are invited that report the results of original research. Abstracts can address a broad range of topics dealing with all aspects of the interaction between Hungarians and others, or Hungarians and Hungarian communities abroad. We also welcome abstracts that combine original research studies and provide direction for future research. Abstracts should consist of a title (no more than 135 characters in length including spaces); 200-250-word abstract, specify the type of presentation (paper, panel, and roundtable discussions); list author(s) on the paper, a brief biography, including degrees and scholarly fields (50-100 words) and email contact information. Kindly proofread before submitting online. Abstracts are reviewed on a rolling basis; the deadline is September 15, 2023. The official languages of the conference are English and Hungarian; abstracts and presentations in either language are welcome. Authors will receive notification of acceptance in early Fall. Authors whose papers are accepted are expected to be current members of AHEA. Information on joining or renewing membership may be found on the AHEA website. Abstracts in the following categories are invited: - Paper Presentation Individual paper presentations describe original research by the author. Fifteen minutes is allotted for the paper and fifteen for discussion.
- Panel Discussion is a forum for an interactive discussion of a topic among a panel of experts. Typically, a panel of two or three speakers makes introductory remarks. The audience is then invited to make comments and question the panel. Panel discussions are scheduled for 60 minutes and run concurrently with other sessions.
- Roundtable discussion Roundtables are 60 minutes in length and are intended for informal discussions of pressing current topics important to scholars in the field and to provide a venue to both share and learn from each other. Each submission should have no less than three participants knowledgeable in the discipline.
Az Amerikai Magyar Tanáregyesület évente megrendezi konferenciáját a magyar kultúra, történelem, néprajz, irodalom, nyelv, pedagógia, szépművészet, zene és más kapcsolódó tudományokból. A konferencia előadói tarthatják előadásaikat virtuálisan (Zoom felületet alkalmazva). Az előadások nyelve angol és magyar, örömmel fogadunk magyar nyelvű előadásokat. Szeretettel várunk konferenciánkra minden kollegát, érdeklődőt. Akik a fenti témához kapcsolódva a jelzett területek bármelyikéről előadást szeretnének tartani, kérjük, hogy absztraktjukat 2023. szeptember 15-ig adják be itt.
Program Committee
Cultural Studies: Mártha Pereszlényi-Pintér, John Carroll University; Mari Réthelyi, Louisiana State University
Education: Viktoria Batista, University of Pittsburgh; Andrea Parapatics University of Pannonia
History/Political Science: Péter Kristián Zachar, National University of Public Service, Budapest; James P. Niessen, Rutgers University
Language/Literature: Ákos Farkas, ELTE; Zsuzsanna Varga, University of Glasgow
Music/Folklore: Sarah Lucas, Texas A&M University, Kingsville; Judith Olson, American Hungarian Folklore Centrum, New Jersey
Science/Economics: Andrew Lee, Northern Virginia Community College; Katalin Voros, University of California at Berkeley
Sponsors
Hungarian Association (Magyar Társaság), Cleveland, Ohio
Bethlen Gábor Alap
Fulbright Hungary
Helena History Press
Contact: info@ahea.net
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AHEA is a scholarly organization connecting a diverse set of educators, researchers, professionals, independent scholars and academics who come from many walks of life. Each month we highlight the academic and professional career of a different AHEA member. |
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| This month's featured member is Balázs Venkovits,
Director of the Institute of English and American Studies
and Canadian Studies Centre, University of Debrecen |
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Please tell us a little bit about your career arc, especially how you came to specialize in the history of Hungarian history to North America?
I first became interested in the history of Hungarian presence in North America in my undergraduate years and was especially inspired by the classes of Tibor Glant at the University of Debrecen. In a way, all my later projects (my MA thesis, PhD and publications ever since) grew out of this primary interest, always trying to find areas, eras, and topics not yet explored in great detail. My PhD dissertation (defended in 2014) was written about 19th-century Hungarian travel writers in North America and their perceptions and images of Mexico and the United States in a comparative context. One year spent at Texas Christian University as a Fulbright Visiting Student researcher helped me tremendously with my research and also in finding new fields to focus on. I became more and more interested in migration studies and especially Hungarian (and in a broader context Central and Eastern European) immigration to North America, including Canada as well, particularly in the 1920s. My current research focuses exactly on this decade, which also requires an inter-American approach, similarly to my previous projects. Now I am working as an associate professor and director of the Institute of English and American Studies, University of Debrecen which provides an excellent environment for my work with supportive colleagues, many of whom are also working on related topics both at our department and the faculty in general, which also has an International Migration Studies Center (organized by a former AHEA member István Kornél Vida) that brings together scholars from many different disciplines.
How did you find out about AHEA, and what led you to join?
I heard about AHEA for the first time when I became a PhD student. I attended the conference held in Szeged at that time where I delivered a talk on the travels of Pál Rosti. Unfortunately, it was not possible to attend conferences in the US, but I participated in the 2021 and 2022 conferences online (one of the few benefits of the pandemic). I was really glad to be back in person in 2023 and to be able to present my new research to the AHEA community. Having conferences in Hungary also is a great opportunity to become involved and I really hope that we will later on be able to host an AHEA conference in Debrecen. During the conferences I have attended both in person and online, I have come to know a professional and at the same time friendly and inclusive association with members who wish to help others and provide valuable feedback to colleagues and especially young scholars.
What impact has your involvement with AHEA made on your career and/or your work?
As I have mentioned, I have presented at several AHEA conferences already and I am really happy to say that I always received truly helpful and supportive feedback and questions that helped me think of my research from different perspectives, pointed me towards new questions and resources and both directly and indirectly contributed to new publications. As AHEA brings together people from many different disciplines, listening to presentations from both junior and senior scholars have broadened my horizons, together with the discussions at social events of the association. The Helena History Press Scholarship Award brings this type of support to a new level as it enables me to complete my research and present it internationally and I am truly grateful that I was selected as this year's awardee. I also hope that, based on discussions at this year's conference, we will be able to start a migration/oral history project at our university. That way we would be able to introduce our students to Hungarians living in the United States and Canada, and thus they would have the chance to get first-hand experience of Hungarian immigration through interviews and discussions.
Tell us, please, about your current project.
In my current research project, I study Hungarian immigration to North America (primarily Canada and the United States) in the 1920s. This decade brought about major changes in Central and Eastern European immigration to North America (primarily due to the introduction of the US quota regulations in 1921 and 1924) that had both inter-American and transatlantic repercussions: shifting regulations and migration trajectories, changing perceptions of North America and Hungarians, illegal immigration, deportations, etc. When it comes to Hungarian immigration to North America, most scholarly attention has been paid to the decades of New Immigration between the 1870s and First World War or the post Second World War era with special regard to 1956. In my research I focus on a brief but truly exciting period and so far little-studied questions. This requires archival research in both North America (the US and Canada) and Hungary (and also neighboring countries) that I hope will culminate in numerous international publications, a monograph, and hopefully several presentations at future AHEA conferences as well. |
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