Hungarian poetry, music to set tone for forum on freedom
-
Loading... - Alice Barone
- 17 Feb 2023
- 60 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Imagine, in this age of routine rage, if a poet started a revolution.
That’s what happened in 1848 when the Hungarian Revolution was thought to be inspired by Sándor Petofi, who created poetry for everyday people in a language that gave them voice, especially in his “National Song:”
“Hungarians, get on your feet!/This is the time, this is the need!”
This was pre-Twitter, folks. It wasn’t viewed as a rant.
“He was asking people not to give up, let’s fight for our freedom,” said Grand Canyon University communications instructor Dr. Reka Vicsacsan, a Hungarian. “He was not sitting behind a desk writing poetry; he went out and fought the revolution and that is how he died.”
His work will be performed in song by noted Hungarian guitarist Robert Sinha and vocalist Noemi Sarog as part of “Ethnic Minorities in Europe” at 2 p.m. Friday in GCU’s Sunset Auditorium, a collaboration between GCU and the Hungarian Cultural Association of Phoenix, which Vicsacsan launched. The free event, funded by a grant from Arizona Humanities, includes a discussion of the Hungarian Revolution by Assistant Professor David Dean.
Vicsacsan knows about being an ethnic minority. She grew up in a part of Romania that was Hungary before World War II, so considered herself Hungarian. Her grandmother warned her against ever marrying a Romanian.
“Your identity is given by your culture, not your citizenship,” she said.
“In America, not as much, but there is, like everywhere, the misperceptions and stereotypes about different cultures and the conflicts that arise because of those stereotypes,” she said. “It’s difficult to let go of these stereotypes. It’s human nature, actually. That is how our mind works.”
But in her teachings on intercultural communications at GCU and during Friday’s event, she hopes an understanding emerges of other cultures to counter an instinct to overgeneralize. GCU history professor David Dean also will speak on the Hungarian Revolution. Read More…
