Paládi-Kovács, Attila: Studies in Hungarian Ethnography for a European Ethnology

This volume contains twenty-four essays by Attila Paládi-Kovács, twenty-three in English and one in French, grouped into thematic units rather than divided into chapters.Attila Paládi-Kovács has authored hundreds of publications to date, including complete volumes, book reviews, and articles.Although a presentation of his extensive academic and scholarly activities goes beyond the scope of the present review, it is important to mention some of the characteristic features and key subjects previously addressed, since to some extent these also provide the basis for this foreign-language selection.In an earlier book (Ethnic Tradition, Classes and Communities in Hungary, Budapest, 1996), he dealt mainly with the characterization of the culture of different social classes (e.g., the lesser nobility and the working class), the social role of ethnic traditions and the elderly, the institution of language exchanges for children, and certain methodological issues (e.g., migration and ethnographic mapping).Paládi-Kovács has always thought in international terms, and this is also one of the key messages of the present volume: the need to disseminate the results of Hungarian ethnography as widely as possible, and to raise awareness among international specialists of Hungarian professional events or of events taking place in Hungary.In this context, Attila Paládi-Kovács regularly writes conference reportshelping to preserve information, data, scholarly observations, conversations, and even debates that would otherwise be relegated to obscurity.This includes both Hungarian conferences, which are thus made accessible to a wider professional audience in either Hungarian or English; or international conferences, thus contributing to the wider recognition of the respective outcomes.The same idea is reflected in this volume, which includes a conference report and a keynote address.