MTA-ELTE Momentum (Lendület) "MIXED" Research Group

Overview

The Momentum (Lendület) 2025 project “Mixed Families: Searching for 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, supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. 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.

Research group members

More information about the members on the project page

Keywords

mixed families, intermarriages, sociology of the family, sociology of religion, history of the family, legal history, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Serbia

News and events

News and events: on the page of "Research on Mixed Families in Post-Conflict Societies Supported by the Momentum (Lendület) Programme" project

Facebook page

Contact information (leader)

Karolina LENDÁK-KABÓK
Department of Minority Studies
ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest, Hungary
Address: 1117 Budapest, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A
E-mail: karolina.kabok@tatk.elte.hu