Paper short abstract:

I analyse the transition of identity-discourses of the Hungarian community in Australia after the collapse of Communism and demonstrate that the transformation from exile to diaspora is not a single step but a problematic and challenging transition.

Paper long abstract:

This paper analyses the transition of identity-discourses of the Hungarian expatriate community in Australia after the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. It argues that the year 1989 marks the end of the exilic period in the Hungarian expatriate community in Australia. This exilic period was characterised by the lack of institutional connection between Hungary and the Hungarian community in Australia and by reciprocal expressions of animosity. This paper argues that the fall of the Berlin wall indicated a turning point in this relationship by forming a new type of transnational connectedness. More specifically, this historical event indicated the transition from the exilic period to a period of potential diasporization of the Hungarian community in Australia. This paper attempts to demonstrate that the emerging diasporic identity discourse following 1989 implies a different spatial position of the Australian-Hungarian community in relation to Hungary in the imagination of the Hungarian expatriates. The assumption of the East-West opposition as a contraposition of spaces, one of "destruction", the other of "possibility", which occupied a focal point in exilic narratives is revisited and reformulated. For instance, while in the exilic imagination salvation could only happen from outside, the contemporary diaspora continuously expresses its desire for incorporation in the democratization of Hungary. In particular, diasporic discourses aim for the role of the 'diplomat' that mediates between the fresh democracy in Hungary and the well established democracy in Australia. Drawing on such discourses and practices in the Australian-Hungarian community after 1989, the paper demonstrates that the transformation from an isolated exile to a transnational diaspora is not a single step, but a problematic and often challenging transition.