An interview with
András Róna-Tas
Position & Affiliation: Professor emeritus of the University Szeged, Former Chair of the Department of Altaic Studies
Date: June 20–21, 2023 in …, Hungary
Questions by: Anna Sehnalova
Filmed by: Benedek Beöthy-Molnár
Cite this archive
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Oral History of Tibetan Studies project.
Timestamps:
- 0:00 Intro
- 0:22 Childhood & Family background
- 2:05 Education and Beginning of his studies
- 12:42 Studying Tibetan with Lajos Ligeti
- 19:10 Ethnography as second major subject at university
- 23:16 Courses and teachers in ethnography
- 28:32 Mongolian studies with Lajos Ligeti
- 31:23 Research at the National Museum of Ethnography in the 1950s
- 43:08 Travel to Mongolia and applying for a Tibet permit
- 52:25 Second Mongolia expedition in 1958
- 55:01 Working as a research fellow and preparing dissertation
- 1:07:47 Problems with Hungarian State Security
- 1:14:03 Working in the Catalog dept. of the Hungarian National Library
- 1:17:02 Submission of dissertation
- 1:20:36 Travel to Switzerland in 1964
- 1:26:55 Fieldwork trip to Chuvashia
- 1:31:05 The “Iron Curtain” posing challenges for conference participation
- 1:37:09 Joining the Department of Finno-Ugrian dept in Szeged in 1968
- 1:40:46 Visits to Ulaanbaatar and Bonn in 1970
- 1:01:40 Have you yourself actively engaged in art?
- 1:45:16 Attending the Mongolian Congress in Ulaanbaatar and the AAS in New York in 1972
- 1:47:35 Fieldwork in the Volga-Kama region
- 1:48:35 Inception of the Csoma de Kőrös Symposiums
- 1:55:02 Return from fieldwork and extraordinary professorship
- 1:59:07 Visits to Seattle, Vienna, and St. Augustin to establish better connections with Tibetan studies
- 2:07:51 Memories of the first ISYT in 1977
- 2:12:31 Memories of IATS conference in Munich in 1985
- 2:14:18 Meeting HH the Dalai Lama in 1986 in Bonn, Germany
- 2:17:34 Various international conference presentations in 1987
- 2:22:28 Travel to Dharamsala and Tokyo in 1989
- 2:26:35 Becoming the Director of the University of Szeged
- 2:30:33 Memories of Géza Uray
- 2:33:44 Travel to Nepal and Tibet in the 1990s
- 2:39:19 Challenges in establishing Tibetan studies at the University of Szeged
- 2:43:40 Retirement from university duties and recollections of recent academic works
- 2:47:46 Reflections on the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Budapest
- 2:58:03 About the linguistic similarities of Mongolian, Turkic and Hungarian
- 3:01:47 What prompted you to write your most important academic works?
- 3:03:33 Would you share with us some of your memories of peers and colleagues?
- 3:23:30 What has your career in Tibetan studies given to you personally?
- 3:24:06 What did you find most interesting and challenging during your work?
- 3:24:32 In your opinion, what are your most important academic contributions and why?
- 3:25:42 What would you still like to pursue?
- 3:26:11 As we are conducting this project for contemporary and future generations, would you have a message for them?
- 3:39:39 Who were your students?
Additional info
See Paulik, Ágnes, and Béla Kempf. “Publications of András Róna-Tas”, Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 75, 2 (2022): 191–216, doi: https://doi.org/10.1556/062.2022.00005
Curriculum vitae of Professor András Róna-Tas (taken from his personal website)
2009
- Re-elected President of the Societas Uralo-Altaica
2008
- State Order of the Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumurhiyeti Liyakat Nişani)
2006
- President of the Board for Applications of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee
- Doctor honoris causa of the University of Uppsala
2005
- Visiting fellow of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences
2004
- Vice President of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee
- Member of the Advisory Board of Acta Orientalia Hungarica
- Honorary Member of the Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura
2003
- Award Pro Doctorandis
- Officer’s Cross of the Order of the Hungarian Republic (Civil Branch)
2002
- 3 January, retirement from full professorship, University of Szeged
- Elected as foreign member of the Royal Society of Human Studies (Uppsala)
- Professor Emeritus of the University of Szeged
- Ordinary member of the Academy of Saint Steven (Hungary)
2001
- Honorary President of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee
- Member of the Steering Committee of the European Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (ENQA)
- Indiana University Prize for Altaic Studies
- Kuno Klebelsberg Prize of the Szeged University
2000
- Reelected vice-president of the Societas Uralo-Altaica
1999
- Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages, Budapest, CEU Press
- Member of the Steering Committee of the International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) (until 2001).
1997
- Reelected president of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee (until 2001 January)
- Reelected vice-president of the Societas Uralo-Altaica
1996
- Humboldt Forschungspreis
- Editor-in-Chief of the Acta Orientalia Hungarica
1995
- Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Die Inschriften des Schatzes von Nagy-Szentmiklós, Wien, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, (with R. Göbl)
1994
- President of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee
- Vice-president of the Societas Uralo-Altaica
1992
- Chair of the Temporary Hungarian Accreditation Committee
- Albert Szent-Györgyi Prize
1991
- An Introduction into Turkology, Szeged
- Member of the Standing Committee of the European Rectors’ Conference (CRE) (until 1992 July)
1990
- Corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
- Rector of the Attila József University, Szeged (until July 1992)
1988
- Ethnogenese und Staatsgründung. Die türkische Komponente des Ungarntums, Düsseldorf, Rheinisch-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- Mongolisches Lesebuch, Wien
1986
- Language and history. Contributions to comparative Altaistics, Szeged.
1985/86
- Visiting professor, University of Bonn, Zentralasiatisches Seminar
1985
- Wiener Vorlesungen zur Sprach- und Kulturgeschichte Tibets, Wien
- Csoma de Kőrös Prize
1984
- Chair of the newly organized Department of Altaic Studies, Attila József University, Szeged
1982/83
- Visiting professor, University of Vienna, Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies
1982
- President of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (until 1989)
- Studies in Chuvash etymology, Szeged
1974
- Full professor, Attila József University, Szeged
1973
- Epigraphica Bulgarica, Szeged (with S. Fodor)
- Expedition to the Volga region
1971/72
- Visiting professor, University of Bonn, Zentralasiatisches Seminar
1971
- Doctor of Sciences
1968
- Research fellow, Attila József University, Szeged
1967
- Thar-pa chen-po, Budapest
1966
- Tibeto-Mongolica, Leiden
1965
- Expedition to Chuvashia and the Volga region
1964
- Candidate of Sciences (~PhD)
1961
- The Dariganga Dialect, Budapest
1958
- Doctor of University, University of Budapest
1957/58
- Expeditions to Mongolia
1956
- Research fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
1959
- MA in Tibetology, Altaic Studies and Cultural Anthropology
- Published more than 300 items
- 1931 Born in Budapest
- speaks English, German and Russian
- Member of several learned societies. Considers himself a historian who works mainly with linguistic data