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Navigating Two Worlds: The Role of Religious Communities in Preserving the Identity of Hungarians in Vojvodina (Serbia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2010

Angela V. Ilić
Angela V. Ilić*
Affiliation:
Temple University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Angela V. Ilić, Temple University, Anderson Hall, Suite 511, 1114 West Berks Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122. E-mail: angela.ilic@temple.edu
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Abstract

This article explores the current and probable future challenges faced by the Hungarian-speaking religious communities in northern Serbia as they try to navigate two worlds: the past and the present; cultural identification with Hungary and with Serbia. The mostly Roman Catholic and in smaller number Protestant Hungarians living in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina differ in both language and religious affiliation from the majority Serbian (by and large Orthodox Christian) population. The use of the Hungarian language and the strengthening of a sense of Hungarian identity is an important aspect of the activities their churches perform. By analyzing the socio-political and demographic situation of the Hungarians in Vojvodina, I will explore whether there is a middle road between complete assimilation and hermetical isolation in the religious-cultural-linguistic sense, which is of critical importance regarding the survival of these religious communities.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 3 , Special Issue 2: Post-communist Eastern Europe and the Caucasus , August 2010 , pp. 303 - 326
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2010

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