Luke Larson Presenting his Paper at the AHEA Conference in New Brunswick, NJ
Luke Larson, Budapest Fellowship Program Alumnus presented his paper, ‘Home Across the Border: Subcarpathian Hungarian Immigration to Northeastern Hungary’, at the AHEA Conference in New Brunswick, NJ.
Established in 1974, the American Hungarian Educators Association (AHEA) is a vibrant organization promoting academic and cultural exchange between Hungary and the United States.
The organization gathers a network of professors from both sides of the Atlantic, dedicated to advancing educational partnerships and research on all aspects of Hungarian society, history, and culture as well as American-Hungarian connections. Their conference is highly interdisciplinary, and it provides a wonderful opportunity to network with colleagues from a wide range of institutional backgrounds.
Luke’s presentation was a summary of his research paper on Subcarpathian Hungarian immigration to Hungary which appeared in the latest edition of the Hungarian Journal of Minority Studies. Luke gave an overview of the Subcarpathian Hungarian population and the minority rights issues that exist there. Most of the talk consisted of findings from his interviews with the immigrants. He touched on reasons for immigration, the transition to life in Hungary, the identity of Subcarpathian Hungarians, and their thoughts on the future.
The presentation generated a lot of interest. One of the conference organizers commented that she was impressed by how Luke’s presentation dealt with a difficult and controversial issue in an objective and fair way.
By attending the event, Luke gained speaking experience, had a great chance to network, picked up more knowledge about Hungarian issues
“The AHEA conference was a valuable opportunity to build connections among other scholars and writers who research Hungary-related topics. Some of these were Hungarians from Hungary, but many were Hungarian-Americans. I plan to remain in the loop on all things Hungarian after moving back to the United States. The connections I made at AHEA will help strengthen that bond.” – Luke Larson