Cornova (Basarabia), la 13 ani de la Unirea cu România: portret sanitar
Bessarabian Cornova, 13 Years after the Union with Romania: A Sanitary Portrait

Summary/Abstract: In the summer of 1931, no less then 55 researchers came to Cornova (Bessarabia) to take part in the seventh sociological monographic campaign organized by Dimitrie Gusti. This paper retraces the state of health of the Bessarabian village at the beginning of 1930s. To that purpose, I use information collected at Cornova by Dimitrie Gusti’s researchers. I am particularly interested in the scholarly articles written by the members of the biological team. The biological data collected by the researchers was used to piece together what was called “the biological frame” of the village. I am, thus, analyzing the studies drafted by D. C. Georgescu regarding nutrition habits of the peasantry and the demographical changes affecting Cornova between 1817 and 1930. The sanitary portrait of the village was also supplemented with detailed information identified in studies written by researchers who, nor in Cornova, nor in other monographic survey campaigns, were part of the biological team. In fact, they were members of the teams which studied the peasant households (Ion Zamfirescu), the family (Xenia Costa-Foru) and spiritual manifestations (Ştefania Cristescu). In their articles I was able to identify essential details concerning the structure of the families, the births and deaths in Cornova, infant mortality, the inhabitants’ illnesses and their lack of confidence in the official medicine (in parallel with the custom of resorting to practitioners of traditional healing), the nutrition regime of the peasants and the role of religious interdictions, personal hygiene and households’ hygiene.

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