The Regenerative Void: Avatars of a Foundational Metaphor in Romanian Identity Construction
The Regenerative Void: Avatars of a Foundational Metaphor in Romanian Identity Construction

Summary/Abstract: This paper catalogs a number of Romanian self-images of the regenerative void as a tropical conversion of the void into something beneficial and revitalizing is a compensating mechanism for traumatized cultural identities. It aims to illustrate how in Romanian culture the reversed symbolism of the void is both culturally comprehensive and historically consistent, spanning several historical periods. Though it may be triggered by particular situations of oppression and denied alternatives, the Romanian rhetorical strategy of converting voids into centers of regenerated meaning spills across historical and social boundaries to become a “tradition”. This rhetorical reflex is ubiquous and it has been invoked starting with the nineteenth century as a response to the traumas caused by ethnic, national, social, political or cultural discriminations. Resting on subjective constructivist premises, my effort is part of a category of cultural studies that operates in the framework of discourse analysis and cultural rhetoric. It documents how the internal, discursive mechanisms of identity formation are more resilient then the economic and political contexts or the social and institutional frameworks commonly investigated by nationalism scholars.

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