Identity and Collective Memory in Romanian Space. History, Society and Culture
Identity and Collective Memory in Romanian Space. History, Society and Culture
Contributor(s): Carmen Alexandrache (Editor), Rarița Mihail (Editor), Arthur Viorel Tuluș (Editor)
Subject(s): Anthropology, Cultural history, Sociology, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Sociology of Culture
Published by: CEEOLPRESS
Keywords: Romanian identity; collective memory; national identity; Romanian culture; history; society; interdisciplinary approach
Summary/Abstract: This collection explores Romanian realities from interdisciplinary perspectives. By harmoniously blending theoretical approaches and particular analyses, the manuscript highlights new research perspectives, valuable and useful in understanding Romanian society, culture, and history. The authors of this volume are academics of "Dunărea de Jos" University of Galați, Romania, and most of them are also researchers of the Centre for East European Historical, Social, and Cultural Studies.
- E-ISBN-13: 978-3-949607-31-8
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-3-949607-30-1
- Page Count: 336
- Publication Year: 2025
- Language: English
THE EVOLUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN INTERWAR ROMANIA: QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS
THE EVOLUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN INTERWAR ROMANIA: QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS
(THE EVOLUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN INTERWAR ROMANIA: QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS)
- Author(s):Arthur Viorel Tuluș
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Social history, History of Education, Nationalism Studies, Ethnic Minorities Studies
- Page Range:13-42
- No. of Pages:30
- Keywords:Interwar Romania; unitary national state; national minorities; education system; public instruction; state consolidation; young population
- Summary/Abstract:The end of the First World War marked the conclusion of the formation process of the unitary Romanian national state, through the union of the Old Kingdom of Romania with territories that had previously been under the control of neighboring empires: Bucovina, Transylvania, and Banat—parts of the late Austro-Hungarian dualism. Even though the population of these provinces was predominantly Romanian, their inclusion in interwar Romania led to a significant increase in the percentage of national minorities: from approximately 6.5% (according to the 1912 Census) to 28.1% (according to the 1930 Census). Under these conditions, the integration of the new provinces and the administrative, institutional, and socio-cultural homogenization became essential. In achieving this objective, and in the broader process of consolidating a modern state—what Romania aspired to be between the wars—education and the public instruction system played perhaps the most important role. Our study aims to present a series of statistical data regarding the participation and level of training of the young population of Romania between the two world wars and, subsequently, based on these statistics, to draw qualitative conclusions regarding the degree to which the proposed goals were achieved.
- Price: 4.50 €
THE DYNAMICS OF THE AUSTRIAN, BRITISH AND BELGIAN CONSULAR REPRESENTATION IN ROMANIAN CITIES (1833 – 1941)
THE DYNAMICS OF THE AUSTRIAN, BRITISH AND BELGIAN CONSULAR REPRESENTATION IN ROMANIAN CITIES (1833 – 1941)
(THE DYNAMICS OF THE AUSTRIAN, BRITISH AND BELGIAN CONSULAR REPRESENTATION IN ROMANIAN CITIES (1833 – 1941))
- Author(s):Ionel Constantin Mitea
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics, History, Diplomatic history, Economic history, International relations/trade, Geopolitics
- Page Range:43-66
- No. of Pages:24
- Keywords:Consular networks; Western powers; geopolitical interest; Romanian area; Danube and Black Sea; economic influence; strategic potential;
- Summary/Abstract:During the period in question, the Habsburg Empire (Austro-Hungarian), the British Empire, and the Kingdom of Belgium—important Western power actors—registered a rich consular dynamic in Romanian cities, highlighting a pronounced geopolitical and economic interest in the strategic potential of the Romanian area. The three Western powers established consular offices of various ranks, from consular agencies to general consulates, on the territory of Romania (the Romanian Principalities), in 25 cities, 9 of which were ports on the Danube and the Black Sea: Bucharest, Galați, Iași, Brăila, Botoșani, Tulcea, Constanța, Ismail, Turnu-Severin, Sulina, Bârlad, Giurgiu, Calafat, Craiova, Ploiești, Piatra-Neamț, Focșani, Bacău, Roman, Cahul, Chișinău, Chernivtsi, Cluj, and Timișoara. The consular representation of the three Western actors functioned as an effective mechanism of geopolitical influence in the region, intended to protect their own interests, and was complemented by economic levers—mainly the activity of foreign shipping companies operating on the Danube and the Black Sea. The purpose of the study is to highlight the dynamics of the consular networks of these Western powers in Romanian cities as an expression of their geopolitical and economic interest in the strategic potential of the Romanian area. We consider the consular networks established in Romania by the Habsburg Empire (Austro-Hungarian), the British Empire, and the Kingdom of Belgium. These three entities were chosen for analysis based on the following considerations: the Habsburg Empire was a remarkable pole of power at the European level, benefiting from geographical proximity to Romania; the British Empire was perhaps the greatest global power of the 19th and early 20th centuries, despite not bordering the Romanian space; and the Kingdom of Belgium, a smaller political entity geographically distant from Romania, nevertheless played an important role at the European level. The scientific novelty of this study lies in highlighting the connection between the consular representation of Western powers in the ports of the Maritime Danube and the Black Sea and their geopolitical interest in the economic and strategic potential of this region.
- Price: 4.50 €
ADMINISTRATION OF BESSARABIA IN THE CONTEXT OF RUSSIAN EXPANSIONIST POLICY IN THE REGION (1812-1917)
ADMINISTRATION OF BESSARABIA IN THE CONTEXT OF RUSSIAN EXPANSIONIST POLICY IN THE REGION (1812-1917)
(ADMINISTRATION OF BESSARABIA IN THE CONTEXT OF RUSSIAN EXPANSIONIST POLICY IN THE REGION (1812-1917))
- Author(s):Sergiu Cornea
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Social Sciences, Public Administration, Sociology, Ethnic Minorities Studies
- Page Range:67-88
- No. of Pages:22
- Keywords:Bessarabia; Russian expansionist policy; administrative system; denationalisation; colonial policy; administrative autonomy; guberniya;
- Summary/Abstract:The administrative system of Bessarabia was a docile instrument for realizing the Russian expansionist policy in the region. The denationalization and discrediting of the national administration system, the disregard for local administrative institutions and practices, and the defamation of Moldovan legal norms were constant concerns of the Russian administrative authorities. The administrative policy implemented in Bessarabia was closely linked to, and influenced by, the developments and trends of Russia’s internal and external policy. Emerging from the concrete historical conditions of the moment and the expected expansionist objectives, tsarism became aware that the exercise of colonial policy toward annexed peoples required the application of more subtle methods, different from those used in the central regions of the Russian Empire. The expansionist interests of the Empire largely determined the administrative policy promoted in Bessarabia, as well as the process of its administrative organization: from the granting of provisional administrative autonomy in the first years of Russian occupation to its transformation into a Russian guberniya.
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THE EVOLUTION OF LOCAL PUBLIC AUTHORITIES IN THE ROMANIAN SPACE UNDER THE CONSTITUTIONS FROM 1866-1965
THE EVOLUTION OF LOCAL PUBLIC AUTHORITIES IN THE ROMANIAN SPACE UNDER THE CONSTITUTIONS FROM 1866-1965
(THE EVOLUTION OF LOCAL PUBLIC AUTHORITIES IN THE ROMANIAN SPACE UNDER THE CONSTITUTIONS FROM 1866-1965)
- Author(s):Tincuța VRABIE
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, History, Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law, Political Sciences, Public Law, Modern Age, Geopolitics
- Page Range:89-112
- No. of Pages:24
- Keywords:Local public administration; local autonomy; Romanian State; constitutional provisions; administrative reform; centralisation and decentralisation; 1866-1965 period;
- Summary/Abstract:The political regime in the Romanian space acknowledged, over a certain period of time, the spirit and conceptualization of institutions at the local level and recognized, to a certain extent, the importance and social involvement of local communities. The existence of a territory, the constitutional provisions on autonomy, and the legal protection of elected or appointed bodies with competence in law enforcement, as well as the organization and functioning of local authorities, were determined by the unitary character of the Romanian State and the constitutional principle of local autonomy. The social and political changes between 1866 and 1965 are reflected in the reforms of the modern Romanian state, which witnessed a significant evolution of local public authorities and adapted to tendencies of centralization or decentralization. Important institutions of local public administration in the Romanian space remained strong throughout history within the constitutional framework and functioned alongside the administrations of European states that influenced the Romanian administrative system.
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STRATEGIES, PATTERNS, AND MIGRATION PRACTICES IN (POST)COMMUNIST ROMANIA
STRATEGIES, PATTERNS, AND MIGRATION PRACTICES IN (POST)COMMUNIST ROMANIA
(STRATEGIES, PATTERNS, AND MIGRATION PRACTICES IN (POST)COMMUNIST ROMANIA)
- Author(s):Rarița Mihail
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Social Sciences, Sociology, Economic history, Recent History (1900 till today), Special Historiographies:, Demography and human biology, Post-Communist Transformation, Migration Studies
- Page Range:115-169
- No. of Pages:55
- Keywords:Romanian migration; communist regime; internal migration; mass migration; passport liberalisation; post-communist period; socio-economic transition;
- Summary/Abstract:Romania is part of the global migration phenomenon, with a history marked by alternating periods of rise and decline, primarily shaped by internal economic, social, and political conditions. During the communist regime, Romanian migration had two dimensions: one within the borders, as an effect of labor redistribution and colonization for industrial development, and another outward, as a form of denial and avoidance of the communist system. Internal migration generated by the country’s industrialization intensified starting in 1970 and later waned as international migration gained momentum. This type of migration had a pronounced ethnic character and was based, especially in the second half of the communist period, on economic interests and questionable political agreements. The shift in Romania’s migration regime after the fall of communism and the liberalization of passport policies set the context for the emergence of mass migration, which became a major social phenomenon of the post-communist period. Based on these considerations, this paper argues that the liberalization of passport policies was not the main cause of this phenomenon but rather certain trends that emerged particularly in the second half of the 1980s, clearly indicating that the migration potential within Romanian society was already increasing. Migration after 1990 represents the third major transformation in Romanian society, the first being the transition from totalitarianism to democracy and the second from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. The departure of Romanians abroad, crossing borders, became a way to compensate for what they did not find in the other two changes: genuine democracy and well-paid jobs. To analyze Romanian migration over the last three decades, we consider the changing nature of the phenomenon, reflected in migration practices generated by various demographic, socio-economic, and political contexts after 1989.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND EMPLOYMENT IN ROMANIA AND STRATEGIES TO INCREASE EMPLOYMENT
CHARACTERISTICS OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND EMPLOYMENT IN ROMANIA AND STRATEGIES TO INCREASE EMPLOYMENT
(CHARACTERISTICS OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND EMPLOYMENT IN ROMANIA AND STRATEGIES TO INCREASE EMPLOYMENT)
- Author(s):Elisaveta Drăghici
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, History, Social Sciences, Political Theory, Public Administration, Sociology, Economic history, Labor relations, Political economy, Demography and human biology, Economic development
- Page Range:171-203
- No. of Pages:34
- Keywords:Unemployment; employment; Romania; post-communist transition; state intervention; labor force migration; market economy;
- Summary/Abstract:The present study analyzes unemployment and employment in Romania from 1990 to 2023 (from the fall of the communist regime to the present), providing an overview of these two social phenomena. The approach includes an analysis of statistical data and a description of state intervention (legislative regulation and strategic measures) to reduce unemployment and stimulate employment. This perspective allows us to understand how Romanian society has reacted to the hardships caused by job loss. Social consequences such as labor force migration and the shift in the economic paradigm of the population (from employee to entrepreneur) in response to rising unemployment in Romania are also examined. The contribution of the paper consists of analyzing unemployment and employment issues over a comprehensive period (more than 30 years), offering the possibility to extrapolate a new perspective on the dynamics of Romanian society based on statistical data. It also describes the administrative processes followed by the Romanian state (as a former socialist state) in the sphere of employment and social protection policy for the unemployed—elements that illustrate administrative governance in the social sphere. The results of the study are useful for those interested in exploring how states that experienced centralized regimes of government (under communist rule) responded to the transition to a market economy, and for those concerned with understanding the dynamics of employment, unemployment, and the reconfiguration of society from the employment perspective.
- Price: 4.50 €
MEANINGS OF NORMALITY IN THE ROMANIAN CULTURAL SPACE
MEANINGS OF NORMALITY IN THE ROMANIAN CULTURAL SPACE
(MEANINGS OF NORMALITY IN THE ROMANIAN CULTURAL SPACE)
- Author(s):Viorel Rotilă
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Philosophy, Cultural history, Epistemology, Ethics / Practical Philosophy
- Page Range:207-241
- No. of Pages:35
- Keywords:normality; social consensus; transcendence; freedom; norms; Kuhn paradigm; collective values;
- Summary/Abstract:In this study, I aim to highlight some of the multiple roles of normality, showing that it regulates relationships with fellow human beings, with the entire world of living organisms and plants, with the environment, the universe, and often with transcendence, while also being dependent on these relationships. I address the conventional dimension of normality, seeking to demonstrate the extent to which normality depends on social consensus or compromise, allowing us to speak of the continuous renegotiation of normality. The role of perspective in defining normality is also important, particularly in examining its relationships with time, with significant emphasis on definition through recourse to transcendence and its relationship with duration. I note the sensitivity of normality to ideological approaches, highlighting that retrospective approaches can record “abnormal definitions of normality,” which are then used as references for the type of normality specific to the present. From the perspective of relating to certain sets of values, normality has a significant epochal dimension, allowing us to speak of a history of normalities. Normality is paradigmatic (in the sense given by T. Kuhn to the concept), participating in the self-definition and understanding of the communities that adhere to one or another of the models of normality. Analyzing the relationship between freedom and normality, I show that normality is dependent on norms, with any act of norm-setting likely to generate restrictions that seem to affect freedom. However, the absence of minimal rules of coexistence defined by norms is equally incompatible with freedom. This is an apparent paradox: normality is dependent on formulas of coexistence with freedom.
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DEATH AND DYING IN ROMANIAN PREMODERNITY – BETWEEN INDIVIDUALITY AND COLLECTIVITY
DEATH AND DYING IN ROMANIAN PREMODERNITY – BETWEEN INDIVIDUALITY AND COLLECTIVITY
(DEATH AND DYING IN ROMANIAN PREMODERNITY – BETWEEN INDIVIDUALITY AND COLLECTIVITY)
- Author(s):Carmen Alexandrache
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Anthropology, Philosophy, Social Sciences, Cultural history, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
- Page Range:243-260
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:human death; collective mentality; community identity; Romanian society; modernity; anthropological research; religious attitudes;
- Summary/Abstract:Human death is a research subject that remains associated with an accumulation of feelings manifested both individually and collectively (group, community, society). In general, the way death is perceived by humans and society, as well as the feelings and attitudes toward it, comes to represent an element of collective mentality and community identity. From this perspective, it becomes clear why there are a multitude of approaches to human death, dying, and the experience of death in anthropological, ethnological, sociological, and religious research. Starting from the conviction that human death and the “living of death” are elements of collective mentality rather than merely individual problems, we aim to identify how they were expressed in Romanian extra-Carpathian society at the beginning of modernity. To conduct this study, we used diverse bibliographic materials, with a particular focus on internal documents such as narrative texts and legal and judicial acts, as well as external sources represented by the notes of foreign travelers.
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EXPLANATION AND PARADOX IN THE CONTEXT OF THE HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE
EXPLANATION AND PARADOX IN THE CONTEXT OF THE HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE
(EXPLANATION AND PARADOX IN THE CONTEXT OF THE HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE)
- Author(s):Iulian GRIGORIU
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Philosophy, Epistemology, Logic, Special Branches of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
- Page Range:261-288
- No. of Pages:28
- Keywords:ontology; epistemology; explanation; last wagon paradox; Kuhn; Popper; scientific knowledge
- Summary/Abstract:This study aims to investigate the ontological and cognitive status of the proposition Po: “Everything has an explanation.” I consider this approach innovative and necessary for the theory of knowledge because the generality of Po reflects and characterizes the attitude of the knowing subject toward any object within the realm of scientific knowledge. An original consequence of this approach is that it raises the issue of relating the universe to one of its properties, namely knowledge. The analysis of Po shows that it cannot be true in all cases and that it produces an incomplete system of explanatory propositions. This leads to a logical-linguistic paradox, which I have termed the “last wagon paradox.” If X is the phenomenon to be known, and E(X) its explanation, then in the first part of the study I demonstrate that the empirical explanatory sequence—X, E(X), E(E(X)), …—transitions from explanation to unexplanation after only a few steps. In the second part of the study, I show that the formal sequence generated by Po is inconsistent and that every explanation is also an unexplanation. The “last wagon” paradox reconciles the opposing positions in the theory of knowledge of Kuhn and Popper (paradigm and scientific revolution vs. falsifiability and gradual change) and approaches the philosophical and poetic views of Ion Barbu (pseudonym of the Romanian mathematician Dan Barbilian, with the concept of the secondary game) and Lucian Blaga (Romanian poet and philosopher, with the concept of Luciferian knowledge). I present several models of scientific knowledge, among which the linear model of the “explanatory train” stands out, noting that this represents only one link in a multidimensional gnoseological model. From the concrete example I provide, different empirical explanatory levels emerge, as well as abstract levels of a probabilistic, mental, and logical nature, which should constitute an objectively valid explanatory basis for any object of knowledge. However, I show that these supposedly objective explanatory levels also lead to an “explanatory train” and to paradox. Thus, any explanation transcends the object of knowledge. The fundamental contribution of the study lies in demonstrating that the limits of scientific knowledge exist a priori and that any explanation is inherently incomplete at the logical-linguistic level.
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PANAIT ISTRATI – THE STRANGE JOURNEY FROM THE MOUTHS OF THE DAN- UBE TO THE GREAT PUBLISHING HOUSES OF PARIS
PANAIT ISTRATI – THE STRANGE JOURNEY FROM THE MOUTHS OF THE DAN- UBE TO THE GREAT PUBLISHING HOUSES OF PARIS
(PANAIT ISTRATI – THE STRANGE JOURNEY FROM THE MOUTHS OF THE DAN- UBE TO THE GREAT PUBLISHING HOUSES OF PARIS)
- Author(s):Daniel Lucian GĂLĂȚANU
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Sociology, Comparative Study of Literature, Migration Studies
- Page Range:289-302
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Panait Istrati; Romanian literature; French literature; vagabond writer; Romain Rolland; Balkan identity; self-taught author;
- Summary/Abstract:This study aims to analyze the incredible, even miraculous career of the Romanian writer Panait Istrati, who came from nowhere—or, to put it better, from the mouths of the Danube—humble, poor, but self-taught, the vagabond who crossed all of Europe and North Africa to become a great French-speaking writer, with works published by significant Parisian publishing houses. Nothing had prepared French literature for this. Nothing had prepared Romanian literature, either. Above all, nothing had prepared Panait Istrati for such success: he, the eternal vagabond, poor and sick, sometimes literally dying of hunger, was, above all, the author and, in one way or another, the hero of his novels. His eventful life became the raw material of his writing, in a French just as complicated and tormented as the writer himself. Miraculously escaping a suicide attempt caused by total bankruptcy and misery, he was doubly saved—by his return to life and by the interest awakened in the eyes of the great consecrated writer Romain Rolland, who encouraged him to write in French and recognized the sap, the new narrative breath that Panait Istrati could bring to French literature. The Romanian writer thus offers all the Balkan and deltaic flavor (for he always remained a modest worker from Brăila, from the mouths of the Danube) to the great French literature of the twentieth century. This research seeks to grasp exactly this miracle—and in a new and fresh perspective, its originality and what makes it stand out among other studies dedicated to Istrati: this incredible journey from a worker without studies, without shelter, and without anything, to an author recognized worldwide and honored for his unique ability to present the scents of sweat and fish of his native Brăila in a French language forced into the Procrustean bed of his native Romanian, and yet still quite recognizable.
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INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, LIFESTYLE, MARGINALS, AND THE UNDERWORLD IN TWO OUTLYING NEIGHBOURHOODS IN GALAȚI
INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, LIFESTYLE, MARGINALS, AND THE UNDERWORLD IN TWO OUTLYING NEIGHBOURHOODS IN GALAȚI
(INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, LIFESTYLE, MARGINALS, AND THE UNDERWORLD IN TWO OUTLYING NEIGHBOURHOODS IN GALAȚI)
- Author(s):Valerica Celmare
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Anthropology, Social Sciences, Sociology, Rural and urban sociology, Ethnic Minorities Studies
- Page Range:303-335
- No. of Pages:33
- Keywords:marginal urban zones; peripheral neighbourhoods; Roma population; social life; precarious conditions; housing types; urban communities;
- Summary/Abstract:This article presents aspects of social life in two peripheral neighborhoods, classified as Marginal Urban Zones due to the low proportion of the population employed in the formal sector, the significant presence of Roma communities, and precarious living conditions. One of the neighborhoods is an old city area characterized by courtyard houses, while the other is a relatively new neighborhood defined by apartment living. By comparing the problems of these two urban communities, the study aims to highlight their specific features, shaped by population structure, housing type, and local challenges.
- Price: 4.50 €
