Absztrakt

Drawing on narrative sources, the study examines the experiences of Hungarian professionals working in Algeria during the 1960s and 1970s. Following a brief overview of methodologies in global history, it explores reports by state security agents and memoirs about the work of Hungarian specialists who lived in Algeria. The analysis demonstrates how narrative sources can broaden the perspective of historiography focusing on the elite’s global navigation, while adding social historical depth to studying the interactions between state socialist countries and the Global South. Solidarity between state socialist countries and the “Third World” was ostensibly grounded in their joint opposition to the West and shared peripherality relative to core states. However, both retrospective personal accounts and reports collected by state security authorities show that this solidarity functioned more as an element of ideologically framed political discourse. Bringing narrative sources into the analysis reveals that Hungarian professionals did not interpret their Algerian experiences through this ideological matrix. Instead, their perceptions were shaped by prior knowledge, as well as their typically Central European life trajectories and identities. Highlighting local experiences, the study adds a hitherto unexplored social-historical layer – shaped by longer-term dynamics – to our understanding of Hungary’s relationship with the Global South.