This paper will give a view on the present situation (Autumn 2005) of the Identity Management (IM) of the Hungarian Minorities’ Cultural Societies in the Croatian Slovenija/Baranya and the Lendava area in Slovenia at the border between Slovenia and Hungary.
The Hungarian ethnic group is not an enclave in Croatia and Slovenia, but a group of mixed culture. There is mutuality between the autochthonous Hungarian minority and the majority population in these countries. There are even mixed marriages. People are bilinguals.
The main focus will be on the present mechanism(s) of self organisation (IM from the inside) on the one hand, and how organisations link to the Slovenian, Croatian und Hungarian governments (IM from the outside) on the other hand. It further will be shown how these associations express and trully represent the identity as well as the cultural needs of the minority.
This paper will compare these two above named areas, show differences and similarities from an ethnological point of view.
