UNUSUAL COUNTER-URBANISATION? FOREIGN RESIDENTS PLACE AND ROLE IN THE BARANYAI-HEGYHÁT

Abstract

The processes forming Hungarian rural spaces in the last decades changed landscape and society most in the cases in a negative way. These changes including demographic shrinking, the loss of former functions and the marginalization of deprived groups degraded rural areas, both inner and outer peripheries into depression areas, where it became a challenge as well to cope with finding a job, building a community, or simply the everyday shopping necessities. Rural restructuring gives a theoretical frame to these phenomena, also explains the changing processes of society, the differentiating settlements or new roles of small villages.

Counter urbanization strongly takes part in rural restructuring processes. With the new inhabitants with different background, including the urban habitus, a higher financial status or simply a new kind of lifestyle comparing with traditional rural values empowers the fragmentation of local society. In a post-socialist context, differences are increasing due to cultural and language dissimilarities and the huge financial gap between locals and newcomers. Our aim in this paper is to investigate foreign inhabitants in a Hungarian rural area, the Baranyai-Hegyhát, which struggles with the crisis caused by demographic shrinking and rural restructuring. The main question of this research is, how do foreigners modify these small communities, how could they cope with integration issues, and also, if they have a role in the fragmentation of local societies.