Upper Hungary, Southern Slovakia – Variants of Regionality

This study examines the characteristics of the area referred to equally in the Hungarian and Slovak discourse during the Dualism as “Felvidék” (Upper Hungary), and from the end of the 18th century, in the Slovak public perception as Slovakia, in Hungarian as the “Tót” nation. Although the area is not easy to mark out as a region according to a coherent system of criteria, there are some continuously prevailing geographical, cultural, economic, linguistic and ethnic characteristics that have substantiated a kind of a highland identity. In the 19th century, the region became the scene of the beginning of a parallel nation-building process of Hungarians and Slovaks, however, the regional self-image of the two nations aimed often at each other´s displacement, had become a source of conflicts. At the beginning of the 20th century, „Upper Hungary” (Felvidék) had gradually become a proper name confronting with „Slovensko” (Slovakia) used in an ethnic sense, therefore during the dualist period, the national space interpretations became focal points of the debates of Hungarians and Slovaks on the nation-building process, and on the assimilation and modernization processes. This study is attempting to resolve the dilemmas around inter­pretations of space, and, besides presenting the variants of notions connected with space, it also explores the question of regionality.

Anikó Hajdú 323.174(437.6)
Upper Hungary, Southern Slovakia – Variants of Regionality 316.347(437.6)

Keywords: Upper Hungary, Southern Slovakia, Slovensko, regional self-image, interpretation of space