Country of residence

Hungary

Brief introduction

Lecturer, Budapest Business School

Education

PhD Comparative Literature, 2011, Rutgers University, NJ, USA

Academic profile

My main line of research is a comparative approach to cross-cultural ethnic studies, making use of the rich critical literature on African American writings and on the genre of autoethnography to better understand Hungarian Roma literature, primarily autobiographies. I focus, on the one hand, on how authors of literary writings grapple with ways to understand and (re)present their own cultures, and, on the other hand, on the equally complex portrayals of experiences of contacts with the majority cultures. I look for both well-known and neglected accounts of Roma life experiences written in Hungary and abroad, for example in Britain. My comparative studies are aimed at better understanding the frequently misunderstood or not yet rigorously researched texts, as well as popularizing unknown or neglected writings. I make use of the latest developments in theoretical writings about the genre of autobiography, particularly autoethnography, in order to search out and study writings that break generic boundaries so as to voice their unique minority experiences. Studies of African American autoethnographies are particularly useful in doing research on the boundary lines of ethnography, sociology, and literature. I have advised several dissertations at Pázmány Péter University on related topics, and am currently involved with university research, too.

Publications

• Demény Tamás: Hungarian Roma and African American Autobiographies. MÁS KOR Books 19. Balaton Akadémia Kiadó, 2011.
• Tamas Demeny. "Self-Representation in African American and Gypsy Autobiographies." In: BAS Journal. British and American Studies / XVI. konferencia kiadványa. University of Timisoara. Temesvár, 2007.
• "Autoethnographic Impulses and Intercultural Encounters in Hungarian Roma and African American Autobiographies." Annual Meeting of The Gypsy Lore Society, Graz, Austria, 2011. szeptember 1-3

Keywords

Hungarian Roma, African American Literature

Contact

demeny_tamas@yahoo.com browse members list