The Momentum (Lendület) 2025 project “Mixed Families: Identity and Belonging in Post-Conflict Societies” (MIXED) is a five-year interdisciplinary research programme hosted at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Minority Studies. It investigates the dynamics of mixed marriages—unions across ethnic, religious, and cultural boundaries—in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with a special focus on Hungary and the territories of the former Yugoslavia. Mixed families have long represented both a challenge and a possibility for societies in the region: they defy nationalist frameworks, complicate identity boundaries, and at the same time carry a strong potential for fostering interethnic trust and social cohesion. While the history of such unions goes back to the introduction of mandatory civil marriage in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1895, their trajectories have been shaped by wars, empire dissolution, kin-state involvement, and state- and church-led nation-building projects. Despite their significance, the role of mixed families in shaping ethnic identity, education, language use, and integration has never been systematically studied across a long historical arc and with comparative depth.
The project aims to fill this gap by adopting a multi-level and intersectional framework:
- Macro-level analysis will trace the evolution of state, kin-state, and religious policies towards mixed families, using archival sources, census data, and legislative texts. Special attention will be given to moments of political rupture and post-conflict periods (1918, 1945, 1989/1991), as well as processes of modernization and secularization.
- Meso-level research will focus on the influence of religious institutions, minority associations, education providers, and experts in shaping public perceptions of mixed families. The project will explore whether these actors promoted integration or reinforced boundaries and assimilation pressures.
- Micro-level research will be based on interviews and focus groups with mixed family members, exploring lived experiences of identity negotiation, language choice, peer pressure, national loyalty, and hybrid cultural practices. Divorce, often disproportionately present in such unions, will also be analysed qualitatively to uncover its specific drivers.
The methodological approach combines historical research (archival, census, legal analysis, diaries, correspondence) with qualitative sociological methods (semi-structured interviews, focus groups, personal archives,). Fieldwork will cover Hungarian regions with significant autochthonous and immigrant minority communities (Baranya, Csongrád-Csanád, Budapest and Pest County) as well as selected areas of former Yugoslavia (Slavonija-Baranja, Vojvodina, and potentially Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Over five years, the project will produce a substantial body of empirical material, including at least 120 interviews, six focus groups, and extensive datasets extrapolated from archival and library research. The planned scientific output comprises journal articles, monographs, training of doctoral students, a special issue in a leading international journal, and the creation of a Mixed Marriages Map (M3)—an innovative digital platform visualising the historical and contemporary trajectories of mixed families across the region.
The project also places strong emphasis on public dissemination. Beyond academic publications, results will be shared via a dedicated website, social media, a podcast, media appearances, and a mid-term international conference. Religious leaders, minority representatives, policymakers, and educators will be involved as stakeholders to ensure that findings contribute to integration strategies, minority rights policies, and intercultural dialogue.
Novelty and Impact: While studies on mixed families are gaining international momentum, no previous research has systematically combined historical and sociological approaches to analyse them in Hungary and former Yugoslavia, both of which are uniquely suited for examination of said phenomena. By juxtaposing personal experiences within long-term policy and social frameworks, the project will generate a nuanced taxonomy of intermarriages, clarify the role of states, kin-states, and churches, and highlight how families negotiated their hybrid identities in hostile or transformative contexts. The findings will have broad relevance: they will enrich academic debates, inform policy-makers on integration and minority issues, and support religious and educational institutions in developing more inclusive practices. Moreover, they will provide novel insights into the complex mechanisms behind state- and nation-building, secularization and minority policies in the region, all of which represent fundaments, and alternative models, of modern political organization.
Ultimately, the project will consolidate ELTE’s role as a regional hub for cutting-edge research on intermarriage and identity by establishing the MIXED research group, ensuring long-term sustainability, international visibility, and preparing the ground for an ERC application.
