Constructing a Post-Communist Identity in English: 'A Small Lane between Optimism and Pessimism.'

This paper explores the concept of post-Communist identity, particularly in the countries that make up what was formerly referred to as the Eastern Bloc. It examines previous work in the field about the development of minority identity through language and provides a historical background about Eastern Europe and Hungary. It describes some of the options for identity formation in post-Communist Eastern Europe and illustrates these options using examples from Hungarian college students' writings and class discussions (the return to nationalism, the realignment with the West, and becoming citizens of the global village). The paper suggests using the notion of minority identity to view a post-Communist society. It concludes that Hungarians are very aware of their need to construct new identities vis-a-vis their relationships to their own history, to both the east and the west, and to the global village. They are also aware of the role that language (both their own language and foreign languages such as English) plays in that identity construction. (SM)