Importance of Context in Remembrance Research

Abstract

I have been dealing with the collective remembrance of Nyésta village (Hungary) since 2004, and I think it is essential to talk about the research methods which can be used effectively in this field. The area I mentioned before is called Cserehát, which can be found in the northern part of Hungary. This is an aging settlement in such an area of the country, which is very poor. There is very little state support, no working opportunities, and only a few infrastructural facilities can be found. Despite these circumstances, Nyésta is a fascinating field for a cultural anthropologist. The buildings have reserved their typical features, which you can find only in this area of Hungary, besides they have got an exceptional communication net which I examined during my earlier studies at West-Hungarian University; namely, they do not like visiting each other as it is traditional in the villages in general. However, they are fond of talking and meeting in the cemetery, church, and field, which can be found in the middle of the village. This field has a name: "the meadow of the priest," It has such a symbolic meaning that the dwellers call themselves living on one side and the other. Considering the age of the people living in Nyésta, every memory connects to that historical period when Mátyás Rákosi and János Kádár dictated and affected not only the political and economic processes but the lives of poor people as well. The results and memories of this political period appear in the remembrances of the individuums. That trauma that affected them decades ago also has excellent control over their lives. My research work can prove that value can be reached by changing the context in examining the remembrance of a little community like a village, and a statement can be made about a life event in which kind of circumstances determined that and how much it can be the part of the social life of the community. The life stories lead from one point of the lifeways to the other; by interpreting these, the collective remembrance can be described and understood. As Jacques Derrida writes, human life begins with remembering and not birth, and the interviews carried out in Nyésta village can prove this statement. Researching the remembrance of the village started long years ago. I am using the typical research methods of cultural anthropology like field work, lifeway interviews, group interviews, and photo anthropology, but I am introducing a new one: I apply context-based research. It means I change the interview context in two ways: If I have the interviewee tell the life story in that place used to happen or in the company of his or her family and friends. After the second talking, I checked and analyzed the new information, gestures, and thoughts.