This volume explores the different mechanisms and forms of expression used by women to come to te... more This volume explores the different mechanisms and forms of expression used by women to come to terms with the past, focusing on the variety and complexity of women’s narratives of displacement within the context of Central and Eastern Europe. The first part addresses the quest for personal (post)memory from the perspetive of the second and third generations. The touching collaboration established in reconstructing individual and family (post)memories offers invaluable insights into the effects of displacement, coping mechanisms, and resilience. Adopting the idea that the text itself becomes a site of (post)memory, the second part of the volume brings into discussion different sites and develops further this topic in relation to the creative process and visual text. The last part questions the past in relation to trauma and identity displacement in the countries where abusive regimes distroyed social bonds and had a lasting impact on the people lives.
This volume addresses the issues of remembering and performing the past in Eastern European ex-co... more This volume addresses the issues of remembering and performing the past in Eastern European ex-communist states in the context of multiplication of the voices of the past. The book analyzes the various ways in which memory and remembrance operate; it does so by using different methods of recollecting the past, from oral history to cultural and historical institutions, and by drawing on various political and cultural theories and concepts. Through well-documented case studies the volume showcases the plurality of approaches available for analyzing the relationship between memory and narrative from an interdisciplinary and international perspective.
Considering the emerging field of anti-totalitarian collective memory of communism, this article ... more Considering the emerging field of anti-totalitarian collective memory of communism, this article explores the interplay between the autobiographical archives and the public discourse on memory. It questions the appeal for establishing the “true” history of communism as it is reflected at the autobiographical archive level. Based on Elisabeta Rizea’s relevant case study and using a comprehensive approach addressing the discourse on memory in Romania, the grounding elements of the autobiographical archive are analyzed. Its afterlife is discussed in terms of its reception and through user-generated content specific to online communication platforms. The article argues that while the entanglements between the autobiographical archive and the discourse on memory of the Romanian communist past demonstrate a prevalence of the victimization and heroism narratives, the online engagement indicates both a continuity with these narratives and a (re)working of autobiographical archive in the reg...
Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory, 2021
This paper examines the cinematographic reworking of memory spaces associated with power relation... more This paper examines the cinematographic reworking of memory spaces associated with power relations and structural injustice. The way in which space is represented and used as a medium that reflects power relations allows to question the space itself in cultural productions from Central-Eastern Europe when associated with Romani people (space and power relations, memory of slavery and discrimination, space and freedom, territoriality, space and its inhabitants, non-belonging, segregation, etc.). The paper focuses on motion pictures produced in the last decade in Romania, a prolific period due to the increasing interest for memory activism and to the multiplication of the cultural exploration of challenging topics. It aims to identify narrative, visual, and aesthetic expressions used as deterritorialization practices to stimulate relational remembrance and engagement with ongoing social inequality and structural injustice. Two short films – Alina Șerban’ s Bilet de iertare (Letter of ...
Diversitate si Identitate Culturala in Europa, 2012
In the same way in which Salvador Dali painted identity in The Birth of a Goddess, drawing a face... more In the same way in which Salvador Dali painted identity in The Birth of a Goddess, drawing a face that will take shape step by step using the personal experiences and the relations established, we can say that identity is a concept that cannot be analyzed anymore just on a theoretical level without any references to our private experiences, because the temptation of the identity is that of the whole that must bond together the elements of life. Identity seems to be the joining point of our fears and convictions of a world thirsty for knowledge, but frightened by the rapid changes that follow the discoveries and the information acceleration, a world that doesn't allow time for adaptation.
Researcher, PhD ─Abstract ─ This study emphasizes the connection between the sites of memory and ... more Researcher, PhD ─Abstract ─ This study emphasizes the connection between the sites of memory and the national identity, having as main objective to highlight the institutionalization of the cultural memory. Two main sites of memory are analysed: the archive and the library, as representative for the cultural memory. The ideological and political influences are also revealed. The final part of this paper points out new challenges in the global digital age.
How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage in redalyc... more How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Scientific Information System
Women’s Narratives of Displacement and their AfterlifeThis paper focuses on the connection betwee... more Women’s Narratives of Displacement and their AfterlifeThis paper focuses on the connection between life writing and postmemory. The case of Anița Nandriș-Cudla’s life writing is presented based on its unique status: women’s testimonies are rare in Romanian memory discourse, and when present, they are limited to known intellectual figures. Moreover, the displacement narratives occupy a small place in Romania’s post-1989 collective memory discourse and, as survivors of deportation inexorably pass away, life writing becomes increasingly important in the transmission of memory. This paper argues that increasing attention to the narratives of the past traumas can develop the intergenerational transmission of memory and knowledge. The process of coming to terms with the past must offer space to alternative memories and narratives with which, the research shows, second or third generations can relate, based on similarities and resemblance, and in this way develop an empathic understandi...
Women’s Narratives and the Postmemory of Displacement in Central and Eastern Europe, 2018
The introduction outlines the relation between intergenerational transmission of memory, women’s ... more The introduction outlines the relation between intergenerational transmission of memory, women’s narratives, and the active listener. Remembering the past is not an isolated, individual process, as it includes postmemory, which is formed during and based on interactions with others, and the process of listening and becoming witnesses to their narratives. The lines that both unite and separate these strata of memory offer valuable clues about how one remembers the past. No narrative of the past is ‘written’ in isolation, not the personal, public, nor the gender-determined narratives; all are interrelated and influenced by past and present historical frames. Presenting the core concepts of the volume as being the multi-layered memory/postmemory and women’s narratives of displacement, the introduction underlines that the narratives of the past are the result of the extremely elaborated process in which memories are correlated and permanently negotiated between different agents of memory. The introduction points out the volume focus on the complex and fascinating relationship between the testimony and the act of listening, as it sustains the act of witnessing the past and determines its remembrance.
ABSTRACT In Romania, the literary approach to the recent communist past centred on everyday life ... more ABSTRACT In Romania, the literary approach to the recent communist past centred on everyday life under the communist regime is usually associated with a nostalgic communist perspective. By reading communist nostalgia in the context of the communist politics that pervaded every aspect of everyday life, this paper traces the connections between narratives and moral responsibility at the level of Romanian literary productions. Many of the topics included in the collective volumes that bring together personal narratives of the past resonate with and influence the fictional creations of the past; in many cases, combining personal testimonies with fictional characters offered an improved mechanism for dealing with the past. The paper argues that the topic of daily life experiences under the communist regime can be further developed, raising awareness of the lack of discussions about moral responsibility at the societal level in post-totalitarian Romania. Even if the younger generations can use the literary narratives of the past to re-appropriate their predecessors’ life stories, the reduction of the past to visual or linguistic stereotypes deepens the separation between public and private memory.
Abstract The paper focuses on the long-term effects of Romanian communist natality politics and t... more Abstract The paper focuses on the long-term effects of Romanian communist natality politics and the way in which cinema was used to re-appropriate the past after the shift in political climate in 1989. Romania’s process of coming to terms with the past was characterized by political reluctance to explore the communist legacy. However, personal attempts of recollecting the past have a unique ability to bridge the intergenerational gap and facilitate the transmission of knowledge and memories. This paper therefore presents two examples of Romanian cinema focused on the experiences of those directly affected by the family planning politics of the communist regime. Das Experiment 770 - Gebären auf Behelf (2005), directed by Razvan Georgescu and Florin Iepan, is a documentary based on oral testimonies and documents that sketch the history of Romanian communism and the involvement of various individuals. The second source used—4 Months, 3 Weekes and 2 Days (2007) directed by Cristian Mungiu—is a film that uses a different language and technics in order to re-appropriate the past, not through direct testimony of those involved, but creating fictional characters. The target audience of these movies—as is often the case with historical cinema—is the second or third generation. Cinematography provides a simple and popular way of connecting these generations with the experiences of their predecessors.
This paper explores the idea of “recuperative memory” with respect to the process of coming to te... more This paper explores the idea of “recuperative memory” with respect to the process of coming to terms with the past after the fall of the Romanian Communist regime in 1989. Its method is to examine the mechanisms used by recuperative memory in order to re-appropriate the past and emphasize the inherently mediated and multifaceted nature of this process. Using various examples from oral testimonies, autobiographical writings, literary works, and cinema, the paper argues that the role of recuperative memory is not only to facilitate the process of coming to terms with the past, but also to offer the material necessary to sustain a viable politics of memory. This entails providing a platform for the intergenerational transmission of memory and knowledge for those who did not live under the Communist regime, filling in this way the intergenerational gap, despite the lack of political class engagement.
The collective identity has, as main references, various 'sites of memory' that are not only ment... more The collective identity has, as main references, various 'sites of memory' that are not only mental constructions, but also physical places related to the collective common space, shared by a community -the city. The transformations occur at the level of cityscape, transformations that have as their object the sites of memory, and determine a series of modifications at the level of the collective narrative identity. This paper explores a range of political changes imposed at the cityscape level, approaching different aspects of the processes involved. Presenting some relevant concepts in order to sustain the theoretical frame of the research, in its second part the paper focuses on the complex relation between memory, narrative identity, city and political power, revealing the dynamics of this relation and of the representation of the sites of memory.
In their introduction, the editors foreground the seismic impact the events of 9/11 had on media ... more In their introduction, the editors foreground the seismic impact the events of 9/11 had on media representations of torture. They note that ‘in the post-September 11 era [onscreen] torture has been...
This volume explores the different mechanisms and forms of expression used by women to come to te... more This volume explores the different mechanisms and forms of expression used by women to come to terms with the past, focusing on the variety and complexity of women’s narratives of displacement within the context of Central and Eastern Europe. The first part addresses the quest for personal (post)memory from the perspetive of the second and third generations. The touching collaboration established in reconstructing individual and family (post)memories offers invaluable insights into the effects of displacement, coping mechanisms, and resilience. Adopting the idea that the text itself becomes a site of (post)memory, the second part of the volume brings into discussion different sites and develops further this topic in relation to the creative process and visual text. The last part questions the past in relation to trauma and identity displacement in the countries where abusive regimes distroyed social bonds and had a lasting impact on the people lives.
This volume addresses the issues of remembering and performing the past in Eastern European ex-co... more This volume addresses the issues of remembering and performing the past in Eastern European ex-communist states in the context of multiplication of the voices of the past. The book analyzes the various ways in which memory and remembrance operate; it does so by using different methods of recollecting the past, from oral history to cultural and historical institutions, and by drawing on various political and cultural theories and concepts. Through well-documented case studies the volume showcases the plurality of approaches available for analyzing the relationship between memory and narrative from an interdisciplinary and international perspective.
Considering the emerging field of anti-totalitarian collective memory of communism, this article ... more Considering the emerging field of anti-totalitarian collective memory of communism, this article explores the interplay between the autobiographical archives and the public discourse on memory. It questions the appeal for establishing the “true” history of communism as it is reflected at the autobiographical archive level. Based on Elisabeta Rizea’s relevant case study and using a comprehensive approach addressing the discourse on memory in Romania, the grounding elements of the autobiographical archive are analyzed. Its afterlife is discussed in terms of its reception and through user-generated content specific to online communication platforms. The article argues that while the entanglements between the autobiographical archive and the discourse on memory of the Romanian communist past demonstrate a prevalence of the victimization and heroism narratives, the online engagement indicates both a continuity with these narratives and a (re)working of autobiographical archive in the reg...
Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory, 2021
This paper examines the cinematographic reworking of memory spaces associated with power relation... more This paper examines the cinematographic reworking of memory spaces associated with power relations and structural injustice. The way in which space is represented and used as a medium that reflects power relations allows to question the space itself in cultural productions from Central-Eastern Europe when associated with Romani people (space and power relations, memory of slavery and discrimination, space and freedom, territoriality, space and its inhabitants, non-belonging, segregation, etc.). The paper focuses on motion pictures produced in the last decade in Romania, a prolific period due to the increasing interest for memory activism and to the multiplication of the cultural exploration of challenging topics. It aims to identify narrative, visual, and aesthetic expressions used as deterritorialization practices to stimulate relational remembrance and engagement with ongoing social inequality and structural injustice. Two short films – Alina Șerban’ s Bilet de iertare (Letter of ...
Diversitate si Identitate Culturala in Europa, 2012
In the same way in which Salvador Dali painted identity in The Birth of a Goddess, drawing a face... more In the same way in which Salvador Dali painted identity in The Birth of a Goddess, drawing a face that will take shape step by step using the personal experiences and the relations established, we can say that identity is a concept that cannot be analyzed anymore just on a theoretical level without any references to our private experiences, because the temptation of the identity is that of the whole that must bond together the elements of life. Identity seems to be the joining point of our fears and convictions of a world thirsty for knowledge, but frightened by the rapid changes that follow the discoveries and the information acceleration, a world that doesn't allow time for adaptation.
Researcher, PhD ─Abstract ─ This study emphasizes the connection between the sites of memory and ... more Researcher, PhD ─Abstract ─ This study emphasizes the connection between the sites of memory and the national identity, having as main objective to highlight the institutionalization of the cultural memory. Two main sites of memory are analysed: the archive and the library, as representative for the cultural memory. The ideological and political influences are also revealed. The final part of this paper points out new challenges in the global digital age.
How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage in redalyc... more How to cite Complete issue More information about this article Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Scientific Information System
Women’s Narratives of Displacement and their AfterlifeThis paper focuses on the connection betwee... more Women’s Narratives of Displacement and their AfterlifeThis paper focuses on the connection between life writing and postmemory. The case of Anița Nandriș-Cudla’s life writing is presented based on its unique status: women’s testimonies are rare in Romanian memory discourse, and when present, they are limited to known intellectual figures. Moreover, the displacement narratives occupy a small place in Romania’s post-1989 collective memory discourse and, as survivors of deportation inexorably pass away, life writing becomes increasingly important in the transmission of memory. This paper argues that increasing attention to the narratives of the past traumas can develop the intergenerational transmission of memory and knowledge. The process of coming to terms with the past must offer space to alternative memories and narratives with which, the research shows, second or third generations can relate, based on similarities and resemblance, and in this way develop an empathic understandi...
Women’s Narratives and the Postmemory of Displacement in Central and Eastern Europe, 2018
The introduction outlines the relation between intergenerational transmission of memory, women’s ... more The introduction outlines the relation between intergenerational transmission of memory, women’s narratives, and the active listener. Remembering the past is not an isolated, individual process, as it includes postmemory, which is formed during and based on interactions with others, and the process of listening and becoming witnesses to their narratives. The lines that both unite and separate these strata of memory offer valuable clues about how one remembers the past. No narrative of the past is ‘written’ in isolation, not the personal, public, nor the gender-determined narratives; all are interrelated and influenced by past and present historical frames. Presenting the core concepts of the volume as being the multi-layered memory/postmemory and women’s narratives of displacement, the introduction underlines that the narratives of the past are the result of the extremely elaborated process in which memories are correlated and permanently negotiated between different agents of memory. The introduction points out the volume focus on the complex and fascinating relationship between the testimony and the act of listening, as it sustains the act of witnessing the past and determines its remembrance.
ABSTRACT In Romania, the literary approach to the recent communist past centred on everyday life ... more ABSTRACT In Romania, the literary approach to the recent communist past centred on everyday life under the communist regime is usually associated with a nostalgic communist perspective. By reading communist nostalgia in the context of the communist politics that pervaded every aspect of everyday life, this paper traces the connections between narratives and moral responsibility at the level of Romanian literary productions. Many of the topics included in the collective volumes that bring together personal narratives of the past resonate with and influence the fictional creations of the past; in many cases, combining personal testimonies with fictional characters offered an improved mechanism for dealing with the past. The paper argues that the topic of daily life experiences under the communist regime can be further developed, raising awareness of the lack of discussions about moral responsibility at the societal level in post-totalitarian Romania. Even if the younger generations can use the literary narratives of the past to re-appropriate their predecessors’ life stories, the reduction of the past to visual or linguistic stereotypes deepens the separation between public and private memory.
Abstract The paper focuses on the long-term effects of Romanian communist natality politics and t... more Abstract The paper focuses on the long-term effects of Romanian communist natality politics and the way in which cinema was used to re-appropriate the past after the shift in political climate in 1989. Romania’s process of coming to terms with the past was characterized by political reluctance to explore the communist legacy. However, personal attempts of recollecting the past have a unique ability to bridge the intergenerational gap and facilitate the transmission of knowledge and memories. This paper therefore presents two examples of Romanian cinema focused on the experiences of those directly affected by the family planning politics of the communist regime. Das Experiment 770 - Gebären auf Behelf (2005), directed by Razvan Georgescu and Florin Iepan, is a documentary based on oral testimonies and documents that sketch the history of Romanian communism and the involvement of various individuals. The second source used—4 Months, 3 Weekes and 2 Days (2007) directed by Cristian Mungiu—is a film that uses a different language and technics in order to re-appropriate the past, not through direct testimony of those involved, but creating fictional characters. The target audience of these movies—as is often the case with historical cinema—is the second or third generation. Cinematography provides a simple and popular way of connecting these generations with the experiences of their predecessors.
This paper explores the idea of “recuperative memory” with respect to the process of coming to te... more This paper explores the idea of “recuperative memory” with respect to the process of coming to terms with the past after the fall of the Romanian Communist regime in 1989. Its method is to examine the mechanisms used by recuperative memory in order to re-appropriate the past and emphasize the inherently mediated and multifaceted nature of this process. Using various examples from oral testimonies, autobiographical writings, literary works, and cinema, the paper argues that the role of recuperative memory is not only to facilitate the process of coming to terms with the past, but also to offer the material necessary to sustain a viable politics of memory. This entails providing a platform for the intergenerational transmission of memory and knowledge for those who did not live under the Communist regime, filling in this way the intergenerational gap, despite the lack of political class engagement.
The collective identity has, as main references, various 'sites of memory' that are not only ment... more The collective identity has, as main references, various 'sites of memory' that are not only mental constructions, but also physical places related to the collective common space, shared by a community -the city. The transformations occur at the level of cityscape, transformations that have as their object the sites of memory, and determine a series of modifications at the level of the collective narrative identity. This paper explores a range of political changes imposed at the cityscape level, approaching different aspects of the processes involved. Presenting some relevant concepts in order to sustain the theoretical frame of the research, in its second part the paper focuses on the complex relation between memory, narrative identity, city and political power, revealing the dynamics of this relation and of the representation of the sites of memory.
In their introduction, the editors foreground the seismic impact the events of 9/11 had on media ... more In their introduction, the editors foreground the seismic impact the events of 9/11 had on media representations of torture. They note that ‘in the post-September 11 era [onscreen] torture has been...
Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas, 2015
Djikic, Maja, Keith Oatley, and Mihnea C. Moldoveanu. 2013. “Reading Other Minds: Effects of Lite... more Djikic, Maja, Keith Oatley, and Mihnea C. Moldoveanu. 2013. “Reading Other Minds: Effects of Literature on Empathy.” Scientific Study of Literature 3/1: 28–47. Fishelov, David. 1990. “Types of Characters, Characteristics of Types.” Style 24/3: 422–39. Moore, John. 1996 [1783]. A View of Society and Manners in France, Switzerland, and Germany. London, Vol. I: 261–85. In Voltaire, Candide: A Fresh Translation, Background, Criticism, trans. and ed. Robert M. Adams. 2nd Edition. New York: Norton, pp. 118–26. Sternberg, Meir. 1978. Expositional Modes and Temporal Ordering in Fiction. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
University Press. McLuhan M (1964) Understanding Media. London and New York: Routledge. Olsen B (... more University Press. McLuhan M (1964) Understanding Media. London and New York: Routledge. Olsen B (2010) In Defense of Things: Archaeology and the Ontology of Objects. Plymouth, UK: AltaMira Press. Parikka J (2012) What is Media Archaeology? Cambridge and Malden, MA: Polity Press. Verbeek P (2005) What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
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