Constructs of a conflict. Spatial interpretations of the Bős case

Abstract

This article is a case study based on field work regarding the conflict around the Bős (Gabčíkovo)-Nagymaros Dams project. The study ignores the usual approach to the topic (legal, environmental, political). Instead it tries to introduce the subject into the discourse of Bős as a locality. The analyses of all the field notes, interviews and mental maps suggest that the representation of reality might be explained with the help of contemporary theories of cultural studies. Some of these theories include the discontinuities of modernity, spatial representation in late modern society, the separation of space from place, its global and local connection, the metamorphosis of identity, and the metamorphosis of countryside.

The repetitive motives in the recorded interviews provide the guidelines of the discourse of locality. The results show that while Hungary and Slovakia represent two easily described (and totally opposite) constructions of reality regarding the barrage project, the discourse of the locality is anything but unified or easily defined. This type of examination of the conflict reveals those micro-stories and social spaces that have been ignored in the papers written about the topic either in Hungary or Slovakia. It is, however, important for the locals and their relation to the power station defines their construction of reality.

The case examined in the article was a catalyst for the local process of modernization. Although the main topic of this study is Bős, it does not deal with this location only. The processes observed here can happen (and do happen) in other places as well – with or without the hydropower station.