HUNGARIANS IN VOJVODINA: IDENTITY IN THE FOCUS OF DEMOGRAPHY, POLITICS AND CULTURE

Abstract

The object of the author's study is Hungarians in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina of the Republic of Serbia at the present stage of history. The aim of the article is to identify the qualitative parameters of the maintenance and development of the identity of this ethnic group in the conditions of living outside the "parent" state. The study focuses on several thematic blocks as important indicators of the functioning of ethnicity in this sector of the population. It provides a demographic portrait of Vojvodina Hungarians, highlights legislative guarantees of ethnic minority rights and other forms of state support in the country of residence, and provides information on the social and political activity, as well as cultural, educational and awareness-raising activities of Hungarians in Serbia, primarily in Vojvodina. Particular attention is paid to the peculiarities of the autonomous structure of the province. The socio-anthropological analytical approach to the analysis of empirical material allows one to reach the level of theoretical generalization, to identify the role of state borders as a factor of influence not only on the civil identity, but also on the formation of cultural and everyday features of diaspora groups as a result of constant contacts with ethnically foreign neighbors. The author provides evidence of the high level of development of Serbia's legal framework in terms of maintaining cultural diversity in the country, creating a wide range of social and domestic conditions necessary to maintain and develop ethnic identity among national minorities, including Hungarians. At the same time, the data from the censuses of various years in Serbia show a gradual decrease in the number of Hungarians in recent decades. The negative trend is explained by their low fertility, as well as by the migratory mobility of the inhabitants of Vojvodina, for economic and other reasons, which are often not directly related to identity issues. Moreover, Hungarian identity becomes an additional resource in the choice of the most promising life strategies of the younger generation.