Above: Banhegyi in Berlin, East Side Gallery, 2007

Szoloto Bilingual Educational Foundation - Budapest, Hungary

Educational Background

• M.A., 2002, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest
• M.A., 2003, Central European University, Budapest
• Ph.D., History, 2012, Southern Methodist University

Dissertation Title: "Where Marx Meets Osceola: Ideology and Mythology in the Eastern-Bloc Western"

At one curious junction in the intricate network of cross-Atlantic cultural exchange, the popular appeal of frontier mythology converged with the aims of Communist ideology to result in an eastern-bloc rendering of the western genre. Although the intended effect of highlighting the connections between state ideology and an established mythology largely failed to register with audiences more interested in Wounded Knee than what Karl Marx had to do with Osceola, the films had a lasting cultural impact on the perceptions of Native Americans in the collective consciousness of Central Europe.  Focusing largely on the so-called Indianerfilme (“Indian Films”) of the German Democratic Republic’s famed film production company DEFA, and in particular the process that rendered the face of actor Gojko Mitic the preeminent image of the Indian in the region, Banhegyi will examine the convergence of frontier mythology and cold-war ideology in eastern-bloc westerns produced throughout the period that extends loosely from the building of the Berlin Wall to its downfall. 

"Where Marx Meets Osceola: Ideology and Mythology in the Eastern Block Western." Roundtable participant, Western History Association, St. Louis, 2006.

"Torn Birds: Resistance and Alienation in 1980s Hungarian Heavy Metal Subcultur3e." Underground Arts and Alternative Publicity--Intellectuals and Punk/Rock Music in 70s-80s Hungary.  Pecs, Hungary, November 2002

Last updated May 2012.