Articles by Initial Letters
Hagyomány, szemiotika, sámánok
Interjú a hetvenöt éves Hoppál Mihállyal
- Issue: 2017/5
- Starting page: 20
- Author: Grozdits Károly
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Tradition, semiotics, shamans – interview with Hoppál Mihály. Hoppál was born in 1942 in Kassa/Košice (Slovakia), where he lived until he was 3 years old. He then spent the rest of his childhood in places like Borsodnádasd and Sárospatak in Hungary’s Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County. His father was a doctor, but in the political atmosphere of the times, rather than go straight to university, he was obliged to first work with the railroad construction brigades. Having thus earned “points” with the authorities, he was allowed to enroll in the university in Debrecen, where
his life as a researcher and ethnographer began. His research and writings have focused mainly on shamanism and folk healing of Hungarians and related ethnic groups. He is a firm believer in the value of semiotics. He worked at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Ethnographical Research from 1967 until 2009. He founded the Institute of European folklore in 1998 and was its director until 2010. In this interview he speaks out on democracy and the importance of family. His list of publications is extensive. By Grozdits Károly.