Margit Feischmidt

The project 'New nationalism in Hungary from a comparative perspective' is devoted to the description of current forms of nationalism as well as to the interpretation of their social and political causes and consequences. As anthropologist my contribution to the understanding of new nationalism is based on fieldwork investigation: we observed the creative agencies, activities and intentions of institutions specialized in the production of nationalists' goods, their respective actions, festivals, concerts, pilgrimages, touristic events, where the communication between the inventors and the followers, and the perceptions, motivations of the participants could be investigated simultaneously. The second data set of our project is based on focus group interviews. Utilizing the above empirical material I wish to complete an edited volume on Everyday forms and radical roots of neo-nationalism in Hungary Currently I work on a comparative paper on the development of nationalist countercultures and the process of their mainstreaming. Using the focus group interviews I investigate the everyday semi-public discourse on nationhood with a special emphasis on how commonality is perceived, and otherness constructed. The second paper I am currently working on is going to be a comprehensive and comparative analysis of the discursive construction of everyday nationalism and neo-nationalism in multiethnic settings of different scale.