Why Democlipse?
If you are wondering what the acronym “Democlipse” stands for, just think about the newest demographic data from the 2020s censuses in Central European countries: It shows the DEMOs on an eCLIPSE path – hence the title of our conference. Sixteen researchers from eight countries will discuss the phenomenon to understand it better.
Panel in English
We are concerned about the “eclipse” of all nations and ethnic groups in the region, so at least one panel will convene in English to discuss the situation in non-Hungarian-speaking communities.
Panels in Hungarian
Some panels will be conducted in Hungarian as most presentations are planned to be given in that language. Depending on interest expressed by attendees, some of those can be switched to English.
Remote Participants
Some researchers we have invited could not physically be present so we plan to allow Zoom-based participation as well. Register on Zoom to view the conference.
Featured Talks & Speakers
Meet some of the participants below and learn about their research interests.
Stefan Messmann
Germany
Former Vice-President of CEU and Dean of its Law School. Cofounder of the Press Freedom Foundation. Served as Deputy CEO of Shanghai-Volkswagen (SVW) in China.
Damir Josipovič
Slovenia
Social geographer and demographer, researching interdisciplinary aspects of migration, borders, and labor markets.
Katalin Kovály
Ukraine
Geographer researching the social and economic geography of Subcarpathia and Ukraine, focusing on socio-economic transnational processes.
Tamás Kiss
Romania
Sociologist, researching ethnic politics, minority institutions, ethnic inequalities, and the situation and identity strategies of Roma communities.
Tamás Korhecz
Serbia
Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Union University, Belgrade. Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia. Former President of the Hungarian National Minority Council in Serbia.
Irén Gábrity Molnár
Serbia
Ret. Professor, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Subotica, University of Novi Sad. Research area: human resources development, economic, educational, and minority sociology.
Nándor Bárdi
Hungary
Head of Department, Minority History and Ethnopolitics, Social Science Research Center Minority Research Institute, Budapest. Research areas: History of Hungarian minorities, history of the Hungarian minority in Romania, ethnopolitics, Hungarian politics, minority politics.
Oleksiy Kononov
Ukraine
Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Luxembourg. Legal professional and academic specializing in economic transition & legal reforms, European Union Law, Business Law, legal translation.
Péter Vataščin
Slovakia
Ethnologist at the Forum Minority Research Institute. Research interests: forced migration, ethnic/national identity, and local religious and other communities; local social changes and fault lines of the early 1950s in the context of Hungarians in Czechoslovakia.
Valér Veres
Romania
Associate Professor, Department Chair, and President, Max Weber Foundation for Social Research, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, Babeș–Bolyai University. Research interests: national minority identity, social stratification, transformation of population structure and the cause of population decrease in Transylvania.
Krisztina Rácz
Serbia
Researcher, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade. Research interests: language, multilingualism, multiculturalism, ethnic minorities and education; social memory, gender and migrations, applying ethnographic methods which build on contemporary theoretical perspectives.
Árpád Papp
Serbia
Ethnographer, coordinator of the Ethnographic Atlas of Vojvodina Hungarians, at the Subotica City Museum. Member of the Baroque in Vojvodina working group To live together – Živeti zajedno – Centuries of Serbian-Hungarian historical and culture-historical relations
László Józsa
Serbia
Founding President of the Interim National Council of the Hungarian ethnic minority in Serbia. Manages his own law firm in Subotica and also serves as Vice President of the Vojvodina Bar Association, Novi Sad. President and Attorney of the Board of the Press Freedom Foundation.
Patrik Tátrai
Hungary
Sr. Research Fellow, Institute for Geography, Research Center for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Budapest. Research interests: macro-level ethnic processes in East and Central Europe, shaped by micro-level identification and categorization phenomena. Exploring how politics and the visualization of place names interrelate in multiethnic settings.
Róbert Badis
Serbia
President, Identitás Minority Research Center, Senta/Zenta, researching the demographic situation and social processes of Hungarians in Vojvodina. Sociology teacher at Bolyai High School for the Gifted and Talented, senta/Zenta. Research interests: structure of minority society, minority sampling, and national identity.
Tibor Purger
United States
Convener of the Democlipse Conference and cofounder of the Press Freedom Foundation. Formerly at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, currently conducting political-science research at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Areas of interest: populism, international relations, the European Union, and minority conditions.
Census Data from the Region
Serbian Census 2022
Hungarian Census 2022
Romanian Statistics (no census data available)
Slovakian Census 2021
Registration
The public will be able to follow the conference and ask questions after each panel through Zoom. Registration for the Zoom Webinar opens November 11.