Local Forms of Everyday Life in Hungary in the Light of Eighteenth–Twentieth-Century Archival Sources: About a New Momentum (“Lendület”) Research Project

Abstract

The novelty of historical ethnographic, micro-historical, and historical anthropological research focusing on locality is that it does not examine the vertical stratification of society and does not consider the thematic knowledge constructions arising from this. Instead, research approaches the horizontal: local cultural patterns, life worlds, and everyday life; the opinion-forming role of local intellectuals (priests, pastors, teachers, clerks, etc.), local power structures, and the coexistence of economic, social, and political interest groups. By using archival and manuscript sources as widely as possible, in addition to the material side of everyday life, folkloristic areas of knowledge (e.g., narratives, gestures, customs, rites, beliefs, religious images and practices) can also be studied and revealed. The problem of religious and ethnic diversity makes these issues particularly relevant. As a final outcome of the research, we expect that with the help of local sampling and “thick descriptions” prepared on the basis of a large-scale source base, intricate shapes of everyday life can be identified. By focusing on historical localities, the research can take a decisive step towards rejuvenating the twentieth-century study of “folk culture” through a more modern approach that broadens the social vertical spectrum.