A History of Hungarian Studies as Reflected in Forty-Seven Years of Scholarship: Hungarian Studies Review, 1974–2020

Surveying forty-seven years of Hungarian Studies Review, this editorial essay examines some of the major scholarly trends within Hungarian Studies, an interdisciplinary field that took hold in North America after World War II. Energized by the contributions of émigré scholars who fled Hungary in the wake of the 1956 revolution, Hungarian Studies was later shaped by the collapse of state socialism in 1989. Tracing the evolution of the field across different generations of scholars, the essay reflects on the various contributions that Hungarian Studies Review and its precursor The Canadian-American Review of Hungarian Studies have made over the last five decades, not only to discussions of Hungarian politics and history but also to the study of art, literature, and culture, as well as life and community in the diaspora. Highlighting ways in which contributors have pushed the boundaries of the field, the essay also looks at how the journal has provided a forum for scholarship on women and gender, and for studies that, for political reasons, have not always been possible to pursue in Hungary itself.