Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Land Use Changes on the Puszta Agricultural Estates in the Works of Two Hungarian Writers: Gyula Illyés and Ervin Lázár (original) (raw)

n order to provide a solution to the environmental problems, it is increasingly clear that an understanding of the intimate relationship between the environment and society and the involvement and empowerment of local communities in rensearch activities and nature conservation measures is of fundamental importance (Roué-Molnár 2017). The lack of a living memory or existing practices make the learning of the former and current situation, problems, and values of the landscape more difficult (Biró et al. 2014). In this paper, I introduce the traditional ecological knowledge and land use history of an abandoned area based on literature sources. This region is situated in Central Hungary, Transdanubia, where the Mezőföld and the Tolna hills meet, on the borderland of the Sió and Sárvíz river valleys with Völgység. Land use in this region was typically and historically organised around the manorial headquarters of large manorial estates-puszta (pusta)-starting from the 17 th and 18 th centuries (Demeter-Lukács 1980, p. 15). The authors Gyula Illyés (1902-1983) and Ervin Lázár (1936-2006) spent their childhood on two pustas at a mere distance of 3 kilometres from one other-Felsőrácegres and Alsórácegres (Komáromi 2011, p. 27). In addition to the inspiration from the motherland and landscape, their oeuvres are also connected also by the fact that they grew up on the pusta. The preservation of the memory of it bears an important role in their writings (Vadas 1984, p. 3; Komáromi 2011, p. 7; Emőd 2012). Consequently, these writings easily lend themselves to be used as contemporary historical sources.