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Paper short abstract:

By revisiting my fieldwork in a flagship institution of Orbán’s fascist rule in Hungary, this paper argues that ethnography in troubled times should engage with the institutions of the re/rising fascist states. It also stresses the urgency to connect such works with larger social crises.

Paper long abstract:

"Hello, Soros agent!" was a standard greeting during my year-long ethnographic research at the Hungarian Academy of Arts, a flagship institution of Orbán's Hungary. As a PhD candidate of the Central European University – founded by the ultrarich liberal philanthropist George Soros – I was considered someone from the other side of the culture wars' battle line. By revisiting this fieldwork, I aim to contribute to the ethnography of troubled times with three points.

First, in the shadow of the re/rise of fascist states, I argue for the importance of understanding such regimes from within. Ethnographies from the bellies of the beasts are rare, but they could be vital in grasping the everyday life of fascist states and the reality in which we are living more and more.

Second, I argue that current culture wars profoundly shape ethnographers' positionality. As I have experienced, my affiliation and over-identification with Soros have heavily structured my fieldwork. By systematizing how right-wing interlocutors' suspicion shaped my research, I argue that the culture wars of troubled times are both objects and formative factors of ethnographic research.

Third, I argue that ethnography from troubled times makes only sense if it feeds into the understanding of larger societal crises. As a result, I claim it's only worth getting swallowed into the belly of a fascist state apparatus if we take them deadly seriously, even if we hate them, because these are integral parts of our world that is falling apart and should be changed.