Dr. habil Ágnes BIRTALAN

Professor, head of the ELTE Department of Inner Asian Studies
Head of the PhD program in Mongolian Studies

E-mail: birtalan.agnes@btk.elte.hu
Office:Múzeum körút 4. “B” 212
Phone: 06 (1) 411 6500/2952
Office hours: MONDAY

Studied at ELTE University (1979–1985) Mongolian philology – Russian Language and Literature – History. Carried out postgraduate work in Manchu and Tibetan studies at Seminar für Zentralasiatische Studien und Sprachwissenschaft Universität Bonn (1991) and on Korean language and religious studies in Seoul (Yonsei 1996, 1997 sponsored by the SEOUL Peace Prize Fellowship.
Received Humboldt Fellowship (Universität Köln, Institut für Völkerkunde, ethnological studies 2001) and Széchenyi Fellowship (2001–2003). Academic degrees: CsC in the field of linguistics, 1991 (Genres and Language in the Vladimircov-Collection), Habilitation, 2001 (Mongolian Folk Religion and Shamanism). Teaching experience: Various fields of Mongolian linguistics and culture at BA, MA, PhD levels: Buddhism and Shamanism of Mongolian ethnic groups, Traditional nomadic culture, Mongolian dialects, Analysis of written and oral sources, etc. and Korean religions. Carries out research in the following fields: Leading the field research activity of the Hungarian-Mongolian Expeditions (since 1991-), Studying various aspects of Oirad and Kalmyk languages (including Szentkatolnai Bálint Gábor’s manuscripts), Analysing oral and written texts of Mongolian shamanism and folk Buddhism, Studying the genres of Mongolian folklore. Awarded several prizes for research activity: Kőrösi Csoma Díj 2000 (award of the Csoma de Kőrös Society), Prize of the President of Mongolia for Mongolian Studies (2005), Certificate of Merit of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (2010), Order of Kubilai Khan of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (2011), Polar Star Award of the President of Mongolia (2014), Award of Merit of the Rector of the Eötvös Loránd University (2016), Award of Pro Ingenio ELTE (2017)

Fontosabb publikációk:
• Die Mythologie der mongolischen Volksreligion. In: Wörterbuch der Mythologie 34. Ed. Egidius Schmalzriedt – Hans Wilhelm Haussig. Stuttgart, Klett-Cotta Verlag 2001. pp. 879–1097;
• Oirat. In: The Mongolic Languages. (Routledge Language Family Series) Ed. Juha Janhunen. London – New York, Routledge 2003. pp. 210–228;
• Kalmükök – Egy európai mongol nép. (TEXTerebess 1.) Budapest, Terebess Kiadó 2002. 263 p. [The Kalmyks – a European Mongolian Nation] (in cooperation with Rákos Attilával);
• Material Culture (Traditional Mongolian Culture I.). Materielle Kultur. (Traditionelle mongolische Kultur I.). A mongol nomádok anyagi műveltsége. (Hagyományos mongol műveltség I.). Ulam¤lalt mongol soyol. Szerk./Ed./Hrsg. Ágnes Birtalan. Wien – Budapest, IVA-ICRA Verlag – ELTE, Belső-ázsiai Tanszék 2008. (DVD);
• Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna, A Romanized Grammar of the East- and West-Mongolian Languages. With popular Chrestomathies of both Dialects. Ed and Introduced: Ágnes Birtalan. (Budapest Oriental Reprints: Series B 3) Budapest, Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Csoma de Kőrös Society 2009. 222 p.;
• Kalmyk Folklore and Folk Culture in the mid-19th Century. Philological Studies on the Basis of Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna’s Kalmyk Texts. (Oriental Studies 15) Budapest, Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – Elista, Kalmyk Institute of Humanitarian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences 2011. 380 p.
• The Open-hearted People of Chingis Khan. Life and Work of Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna, the First Hungarian Mongolist, and his Materials Collected in 1871–1873 on the Language and Culture of Mongols and Kalmyks. Чингис хааны цагаан сэтгэлт ард түмэн. Унгарын анхны монгол судлаач Сэнткатолнагийн Баалинт Гааборын амьдрал ба үйл ажиллага, түүний 1871–1873 оны хооронд халх монгол ба хамилмаг хэл соёлын тухай цуглуулсан материал. Ulaanbaatar – Улаанбаатар, Embassy of Hungary in Mongolia – Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Mongolian and Inner Asian Studies – Mongolian National University of Education, Mongolian Studies Centre – Унгар Улсаас Мoнгол Улсад цуугаа Элчин Сайдын Яам – Өтвөш Лораандын нэрэмжит Их Сургууль, Монгол ба Төв Ази Судлалын Тэнхим – Монгол Улсын Боловсролын Их Сургууль, Монгол Судлалын Төв 2016. 229 p. (ISBN 978-99973-943-9-2) (the Mongolian part was prepared in collaboration with: Ts. Önörbayan – A. Oyuntungalag – R. Sarangerel – Attila Rákos)
• Veszett farkas a hátasod, tűzkígyó az ostorod. A mongol sámánizmus történetének hiányzó láncszeme. In: Birtalan, Ágnes (ed.): Őseink nyomán Belső-Ázsiában VI. Budapest, L’Harmattan – Equinter 2015. 279 p. [Your Mount is a Rabid Wolf, Your Whip is a Fiery Snake. In: On the Traces of Our Ancestors]

Dr. Mátyás BALOGH

Assistant Professor

E-mail: balogh.matyas@btk.elte.hu
Office: Múzeum körút 4. “B” 202
Phone: (36) (1) 411 6500/2141
Office hours: Tuesday 11.30–13.00

Majored in Mongolian studies at ELTE in 2004. After graduation, in 2004-05 he studied Mongolian linguistics and Chinese for one year at Choi Luvsanjav University in Ulaanbaatar. From 2005 to 2008 he attended the doctoral program in Mongolian studies at ELTE and received his PhD degree in 2012. His dissertation is entitled: Contemporary Buryat Shamanism in Mongolia. In the same year he began studying Sinology at his home university, where he started to work as a professor’s assistant in 2005. Since 2015 he has been a senior lecturer (adjunct) in the Mongolian department. Fields of research and interest: between 2003-10 predominantly the shamanic traditions in contemporary Mongolian culture and the dialects of the Mongolian language, and more recently the history of China's northern frontiers.

Main publications:
• “Henan Oirat: A shrinking pool of unique linguistic features.” Internatinoal Journal of the Sociology of Language 245: pp. 37–62. (2017)
• “A xianbeiek sztyeppei jelenléte és a Xiongnu Birodalom bukása.” Távol-keleti Tanulmányok 8:(2) pp. 23–45. (2016)
• “Elszigeteltség és tettetett újjáéledés: egy eltibetiesedett mongol közösség identitásának kérdése.” Távol-keleti Tanulmányok 2015: (2) pp. 7–25. (2015)
• “Contemporary Shamanisms in Mongolia.” Asian Ethnicity 11: (2) pp. 229–238. (2010)
• “Deed Mongol - a practical approach to the dialect.” In: Ágnes Birtalan (szerk.) Oirad and Kalmyk Linguistic Essays. 210 p. Budapest: ELTE Eötvös Kiadó, 2012. pp. 177–196. (Talentum sorozat; 11.)
• “Introduction to the present-day shamanic practices of the Buryats in Mongolia.” In: Hoppál Mihály, Simonkay Zsuzsanna, Buday Kornélia, Somfai Kara Dávid (eds.) Shamans Unbound. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2008. pp. 165–176.
• “Shamanic Traditions, Rites and Songs Among the Mongolian Buriads: Meeting a Shamaness and Her Assistant.” Shaman: An International Journal for Shamanistic Research 15: (1–2) pp. 88–116. (2007)

Dorj Lkhagvasuren

lektor

E-mail:
Office: Múzeum körút 4. „B” 202
Phone: 06 (1) 411 6500/2041

Dr. Zsolt SZILÁGYI

Research Fellow

E-mail: szilagyi.zsolt@btk.mta.hu
Office Múzeum körút 4. “B” 202
Phone: 06 (1) 411 6500/2041
Office hours: Thursday 16.00–17.00

Zsolt Szilágyi is a senior research fellow of the Institute of Ethnology, Research Centre for Humanities of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He studied history at the University of Miskolc and Mongolian studies at the Department of Inner Asian Studies of Eötvös Loránd University. He obtained MA degrees at both universities in 1999. From 1999 to 2002 he was a student of the Mongolian studies PhD program at the University ELTE, conducting research on the political role of Mongolian Buddhism in the beginning of the 20th century, obtaining his PhD degree in 2005 (summa cum laude). In 2011 he defended his PhD thesis in history (summa cum laude). His main research fields are: Social and political history of Inner and East Asia, History of Inner Asian Buddhism, social and political role of Buddhism in Asia, ethnology of religions.
Since 1999, he has been teaching Mongolian and Early Inner Asian history at the Department of Mongol and Inner Asian Studies of the University ELTE. He is a participant and leader of many research programs. He received several state and scientific awards for his work.

Main publications:
• Khi-Land project. Mongolian – Hungarian Archaeological Research. (Szilagyi, Zs. et al.) Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Centre for the Humanities, Budapest 2017
• “Lingering Nomad Ideology in 21st Century Mongolia.” Acta Ethnographica Hungarica. Vol. 61. No.1. 2016/June pp. 197–212.
• “A buddhizmus Mongóliában.” [“Buddhism in Mongolia”] In: Szilágyi Zsolt – Hidas Gergely (szerk.): Buddhizmus. Magyar Vallástudományi Társaság – L’Harmattan Kiadó, Budapest 2013, pp. 287–316.
• “The Political Role of Mongolian Buddhism After the Transition.” In: Science of Religion in Hungary. Ed. by Mihály Hoppál – Péter S. Szabó. King Sigmund College and the Hungarian Association for the Academic Study of Religion. Budapest 2011, pp. 184–202.
• “Is the Post-Communist Transition Over? Economic and Social Factors Influencing the Mongolian Democratisation Process.” In: Krisztián Csaplár-Degovics, Miklós Mitrovits and Csaba Zahorán (eds.): After Twenty Years. Reasons and Consequences of the Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe. Osteuropa-Zentrum Berlin – Terra Recognita Foundation, Berlin, 2010, pp. 116–141.
• “XX juunii exen üyeiin šašin töriig xosolson Mongoliin töriin tuxai Ungar tailanguud.” In: Čuluun, S. (ed.): Mongoliin tusgaar togtnol ba mongolčuud. Mongol Ulsiin Šinǰlex Uxaanii Akademiin Tüüxen Hüreelin, Ulaanbaatar 2012, pp. 241–246.
• “Short biography of Öndör Gegēn, the First ǰebcundamba xutagt.” In: Birtalan, Á. – Majer, Zs. – Szilágyi, Zs. – Teleki, K. (eds.): Buddhism in Contemporary Mongolia. Traditional Mongolian Culture III. DVD. Eötvös Loránd University, Mongol and Inner Asian Department, Center for Mongolian Studies, Budapest 2015
• “Öndör Gegēn’s Main Scope of Activities, and His Role in the Mongolian Cultural Tradition.” In: Birtalan, Á. – Majer, Zs. – Szilágyi, Zs. – Teleki, K. (eds.): Buddhism in Contemporary Mongolia. Traditional Mongolian Culture III. DVD. Eötvös Loránd University, Mongol and Inner Asian Department, Center for Mongolian Studies, Budapest 2015.
• Manchu-Mongol Diplomatic Correspondence 1635-1896. Treasures of Mongolian Culture and Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism Vol. 1. Ed. by Géza Bethlenfalvy. State Central Library of Mongolia – Research Group for Altaic Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Budapest 2004.