Browsing by Author "Hyttinen, Anniina"

This thesis examines Hungarian radical right-wing party Jobbik’s gatherings organized during three Hungarian national days in 2013-2014. It studies how the 'Jobbikian nationhood' is constructed, articulated and performed during the gatherings by using visual, ritual and verbal means. The gatherings are approached from a holistic, multisensory and performative perspective, during which collective memory is produced, reproduced and rearticulated. The Durkheimian understanding of national days as rituals claims that they possess an ability to create solidarity. This thesis investigates the accuracy of this claim in the politically fragmented Hungarian society. Previous studies of Jobbik have focused mainly on the rise of the party’s popularity, the characteristics of its electorate and the online networks and subculture it is closely linked to. This thesis, however, approaches the party and the political gatherings with the help of ethnographic methods. The primary method used is participant observation, with special emphasis on visual ethnography. In addition, Jobbik leader Gábor Vona’s speeches are analysed through thematic reading, which focuses on instrumental presentism i.e. conscious manipulation of past for present purposes, building political frontier and change in Jobbik’s rhetoric. The material includes field notes, photos and short videos as well as two transcribed speeches of Gábor Vona. In addition, Hungarian media sources presenting both mainstream and radical-right perspectives are used to support the analysis. The analysis of the field material focuses on the use of visual symbols, slogans and ritualistic elements such as marching, singing, greetings, oaths, balloon release and flag ceremony. Symbols and rituals are first placed into their historical context and then analysed in their current social and performative context formed by the national days. The study reveals that Jobbik supporters participate actively in creating the symbolic and ritual content of the events. The Jobbikian nationhood is constructed simultaneously 'from below' by the supporters and 'from above' by the party elite. The visual sphere is more open for meaning making than the verbal side, which is primarily reserved for the party leadership. The collection of the research material happened during a time, when the party leadership had made a decision to abandon the radical rhetoric, which had an influence on the expressions of nation and national identity. This led to a certain disparity between the verbal and visual expression. Things that cannot be said, can still be shown with the help of ambiguous symbols. The findings of this study show that Jobbik’s gatherings have rich repertoire of symbolic and ritualistic elements, which primarily communicate Hungary’s mythical heroic past and revisionism that is connected to xenophobic and anti-Semitic mentality. Although all Jobbik supporters are unlikely to be deeply aware of the origins of the symbols and the meanings attached to them, they still carry a certain 'historical weight', which is essential part of the nature of the events. The modern rituals I have studied are located somewhere between the 'banal' and 'hot' nationalism, but they have maintained the ability to mobilize people through past events. Jobbik is able to utilize the strong emotional potential condensed in the symbols through ritual enactment. Jobbikian nationalism creates Durkheimian solidarity among the participants and emphasises oneness, but this unity does not mean inclusion and consensus, but drawing the lines between 'us' and 'them' and exclusion.