The
Cultures of Post-1989 Central and East Europe
a
conference in Targu Mures, Romania, 21-24 August 2003
1)
aims and objectives of the conference / 2) sponsoring
institutions of the conference /
3)
accomodation, travel, and registration / 4) conference
program (provisonal)
1)
Aims and objectives of the conference
1.1 The Cultures of Post-1989 Central and East Europe,
an international conference held 21-24 2003 in Targu Mures, Romania, is
organized within CECMS: Comparative Central and East European Culture
and Media Studies <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/cecms.html>,
a team and interdiscplinary research project organized by Steven Totosy
de Zepetnek <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/totosycv.html>
at the Halle Institute of Media and the Department of Media and Communication
Studies <http://www.merdienkomm.uni-halle.de/institut/>
at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg <http://www.uni-halle.de/MLU/index_e.htm>
in Halle, Germany, and in cooperation with academic institutions in Europe,
Canada, and the USA.
1.2 An open conference with a call for papers advertised and distributed
world wide in 2002 and 2003 (the deadline for abstracts was 31 March 2003),
the
theme of the conference is contemporary Central and East European
culture after the 1989-90 end of the Soviet colonial period. Instead of
focusing on a defined and specific theme or subject area, it is a wide
and interdisciplinary scope that is the objective of the conference, thus
providing a forum for an international gathering of scholars studying the
region in various disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences.
A debated notion, Central and East Europe is defined here as a geographical
region stretching from the former East Germany (Mitteldeutschland) to Austria,
Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, the Baltic countries,
Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, the Ukraine, etc., thus including the Habsburg
lands and German influence and their spheres of interest at various times
including now. An "imagined" (Anderson) and "in-between peripheral" (Totosy)
landscape of culture and history, since 1989-90 and the end of the Soviet
empire the countries of Central and East Europe have engaged in a restructuring
of their political, economic, social, and cultural environments and societies.
While this reshaping of the region is still on-going, there is a new Central
and East Europe in place now, politically, socially, economically, and
culturally. Papers presented at the conference are in areas of scholarship
such as the politics of culture and cultural policy, the histories of post-1989
Central and East Europe, cultural traditions and European integration,
intersections of society and socialization, globalization, economics, and
culture, art and artists in the new Central and East Europe, aspects of
minorities, (comparative) media studies, the marginal, and marginalization,
literary criticism, etc. The Targu Mures conference is a continuation of
previous gatherings organized by Steven Totosy: the invitational conference
Central
European Culture Today, hosted by the Canadian Centre for Austrian
and Central European Studies (U of Alberta, Canada, 1999), Comparative
Culture and Hungarian Studies at the 24th Annual Conference of the
American Hungarian Educators’ Association (John Carroll U, USA, 1999),
and Comparative Cultural Studies and Post-1989 Central European Culture
of the Hungarian Discussion Group at the annual convention of the MLA:
Modern Language Association of America (Washington, D.C., USA, 2000). Selected
papers from these gatherings are published in Comparative Central
European Culture (Purdue UP, 2002) in volume one in the Purdue
series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies (see at <http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/series/compstudies.asp>
& <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/ccs-purdue.html>),
edited by Steven Totosy. Selected papers of the conference in Targu Mures
are planned to be published in a volume edited by Steven Totosy, Carmen
Andras, and Magdalena Marsovszky. For a bibliography
re the study of Central and East European culture see Steven Totosy de
Zepetnek, "Selected Bibliography for the Study of Central European Culture"
in Comparative Central European Culture, Ed. Steven Totosy
de Zepetnek (West Lafayette: Purdue UP, 2002. 189-206 <http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/series/compstudies.asp>
& <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/ccs-purdue.html>);
online version in the Library of CLCWeb: Comparative Literature
and Culture (Library) (2002-): <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/library/centraleuropeanculture(bibliography).html>;
for a bibliography re comparative cultural studies, see Steven Totosy de
Zepetnek, Steven
Aoun, and Wendy C. Nielsen, "Bibliography for
Work in Comparative Cultural Studies (History, Theory, Method)" in Comparative
Literatue and Comparative Cultural Studies, Ed. Steven Totosy de
Zepetnek (West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2003. 285-342), online
version in the Library of CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and
Culture (Library) (2002-): <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/library/comparativeculturalstudies(biblio).html>.
1.2 Conference structure:
1.2.1 papers are organized in thematic panels, chaired by experts in various
fields of scholarship on Central and East Europe, 1.2.2 the length of a
conference presentation is twenty minutes with ten minutes discussion following
the presentation, 1.2.3 the chair of the panel introduces speakers with
the bioprofiles of the participants in the panel available in the coference
program (below), 1.2.4 the chairs of panels are responsible to officiate
the length of each presentation to 20 minutes with 10 minutes discussion
per presentation and to take place after the presentation.
1.3 The conference is hosted
by the Gheorghe Sincai Research Institute of the Social Sciences and the
Humanities of the Romanian Academy of Sciences <http://www.tg-mures.roedu.net/ICSU/>
(Targu Mures, Romania), Petru Maior University <http://www.uttgm.ro/>
(Targu Mures, Romania), the City of Targu Mures <http://www.levif.net/targumures.htm>
& <http://www.ici.ro/romania/cities/tg_targumures.html>,
and the County of Mures <http://www.muresinfo.ro/>.
1.4 Organizers of the conference are
Steven Totosy de Zepetnek <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/totosycv.html>,
Media and Communication Studies, University of Halle-Wittenberg, Rudolf-Breitscheid-Strasse
10, D-06110 Halle, Germany, e-mail <totosy@medienkomm.uni-halle.de>,
phone 49-(0)345-55-23632 10 April to 14 July at Halle-Wittenberg &
1-781-729-1680 14 July to 12 October in Boston, USA; Carmen Andras, Georghe
Sincai Institute of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, 17 Bolyai Street,
R-4300 Targu-Mures, Romania, e-mail <prognoze@cjmures.orizont.net>
& <carmen_andras@yahoo.com>,
phone 40-265-124-778; and Magdalena Marsovszky, Alter Messeplatz 4, D-80339
München, Germany and Viadrina University, Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany,
e-mail <m.marsovszky@t-online.de>,
phone 49-(0)89-502-5059.
2)
Sponsoring
institutions of the conference are
2.1 The Georghe Sincai Institute for Social Sciences and the Humanities
<http://www.tg-mures.roedu.net/ICSU/>
of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, Bolyai Street 17, 4300 Targu Mures,
Romania. Contact: Prof.Dr. Grigore Ploesteanu <icsu_ms@fx.ro>
40-265-160-238
2.2 Petru Maior University <http://www.uttgm.ro/>,
Nicola Iorga Street 1, 4300 Targu Mures, Romania. Contact: Prof.Dr. Vasile
Bolos <rectorat@uttgm.ro> 40-65-162-275
2.3 The Halle Institute of Media and the Department of Media and Communication
Studies <http://www.medienkomm.uni-halle.de>,
University of Halle-Wittenberg, Rudolf Breitscheid Street 10, D-06110 Halle
(Saale), Germany. Contact: Prof.Dr. Steven Totosy de Zepetnek <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/totosycv.html>
<totosy@medienkomm.uni-halle.de>
49-(0)345-55-23632 10 April to 12 July at Halle-Wittenberg & 1-781-729-1680
14 July to 19 August in Boston.
2.4 The Institute for East and South-East Europe, Austrian Science and
Research Liaison Office, Uri utca 53, H-1014 Budapest, Hungary. Contact:
Dr Bela Rasky <bela.rasky@univie.ac.at>
36-1-375-6846
2.5 The City of Targu Mures, Romania <http://www.levif.net/targumures.htm>
& <http://www.muresinfo.ro/>
& <http://www.ici.ro/romania/cities/tg_targumures.html>
2.6 The County of Mures, Romania <http://www.cjmures.ro>
& <http://www.muresinfo.ro/>.
3)
Accommodation,
travel, and registration
3.1 Accommodation at no cost is provided to the participants of the conference
by the hosting institutions -- Georghe Sincai Institute of the Romanian
Academy of Sciences, Petru Maior University, the City of Targu Mures, and
the County of Targu Mures -- in university housing and/or in Hotel Tineretului
in Targu Mures. For further information and to register rooms please contact
conference organizer Carmen Andras at <prognoze@cjmures.orizont.net>
& <carmen_andras@yahoo.com>.
3.2 Meals at no cost are provided to the participants of the conference
by the hosting institutions of the conference, Georghe Sincai Institute
of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, Petru Maior University, the City of
Targu Mures, and the County of Targu Mures.
3.3 Conference participants are responsible for travel expenses to Targu
Mures; however, several applications for conference funding are pending
and it is likely that we will able to provide travel funding to participants:
we will advise participants of the conference by mid-June, latest, about
the possibility of travel funding.
3.4 For travel schedules including flight and train schedules to Targu
Mures please contact your local travel agency and/or consult relevant web
pages.
3.5 There are no registration fees required to participate in the conference.
4) Conference Program (provisional)
day 1 panel 1 culture policy and the politics of culture / day 1 panel 2 cultural traditions and the integration of europe / day 1 panel 3 culture and the east-west divide / day 1 panel 4 transformations of art and culture / day 1 panel 5 history and historiography / day 1 panel 6 culture and society / day 1 panel 7 history and society ¶ day 2 panel 8 literature / day 2 panel 9 chronotopes of post-socialist identities / day 2 panel 10 culture, translation, and americanization / day 2 panel 11 cultural traditions and european integration / day 2 panel 12 visual media and music / day 2 panel 13 media and culture / day 3 panel 14 european east and european west / day 3 panel 15 criticism and literary theory ¶ day 4 closing round-table discussion and summary of conference / farewell
Plenary speakers of the conference are Eugen Simion (President, Romanian Academy of Sciences, Bucharest, Romania), Gaspar M. Tamas (Philosopher, Budapest, Hungary), and Keith Hitchins (Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA)
Day 1 Thursday 21 August 2003
8:00 Welcome 8:30-9:30 / Plenary Speech by Eugen Simion, President of the Romanian Academy of Sciences / 9:30-10:00 Coffee Break
10:00-13:00 Day
1 Panel 1: Culture Policy and the Politics of Culture in Post-1989
Central and East Europe (Chair: Andrej Skolkay)
1.1.1 Popa, Mircea (Sextil Puscariu Institute, Cluj-Napoca, Romania):
"From cultural control to publishing market policy: the case of literature."
Abstract:
In his paper, "From cultural control to publishing market policy: the case
of literature," Mircea Popa analyses aspects of publishing and publishing
policy of communist Romania. In pre-1989 Rumana censorship and guide lines
dictated by the communist party controled the publishing systems of the
country. Popa argues that some of these practices have remained intact
today while the new freedoms dictated by market forces manifest negative
aspects for publishing in Romania. Bioprofile: Mircea Popa teaches
at the Sextil Puscariu Institute of the Romanian Academy of Sciences in
Cluj-Napoca, where he is also head of literary history. He has published
numerous books and articles on a variety of topics including Romanian and
Hungarian literature, literary history, and literary genres. Popa has received
numerous awards such as the the Cluj-Napoca Writers' Association Prize
and the Lucian Blaga Culture Prize.
1.1.2 Verdalle, Laure de (Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, Paris,
France, <deverdalle@yahoo.fr>):
"Culture management and theater in post-1989 East Germany." Abstract:
In her paper, "Culture management and theater in post-1989 East Germany,"
Laure de Verdalle discusses aspects of culture management with regard to
theater in the new states of Germany after the 1989-90 reunification process.
After reunification, the formerly centralised funding of the arts the western
model of decentralized funding of the arts has been adopted but while in
the first half of the 1990s federal support has been generous to the new
states of reunified Germany, this funding proved to represent temporary.
The new eastern states of Germany need to define their own strategies of
culture funding and culture managment and theaters take center stage in
this new situation. Verdalle analyses in her study the situation of theaters
and culture management in the states of Sachsen and Thueringen. Bioprofile:
Laure de Verdalle (<deverdalle@yahoo.fr>)
is completing her doctorate in sociology at the Ecole Normale Superieure
de Cachan. Her publications include papers on Weber and on culture management
in reunified Germany in the Revue Francaise de sociologie (2002;
2003).
1.1.3 Dinescu, Ana (ZIUA: primul ziar romanesc, Romania, <anadinescu@yahoo.com>):
"Romanian ethnic minorities in Central and East Europe." Abstract:
In her paper, "Romanian ethnic minorities in Central and East Europe,"
Ana Dinescu discusses the the situation of Romanian communities in countries
neighbourig Romania with regard to culture and culture policies. After
the end of communist rule, Romania (re)discovered its communities in neighboring
countries such as in Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, the Ukraine, Hungary,
and the Republic of Moldova. While during communist rule the subject of
Romanians living in neighbouring countries has been considered tabu, after
the fall of communism such communities have became an important matter
for the Romanian government and a variety of bi- and multi-lateral treaties
and policies have been adopted and implemented. In a comparative context
of the enlargement of the European Union, Dinescu analyses the ways in
which political declarations, initiatives, and measures have been implemented
and her sources include examples of government strategies, media statements
as well as personal discussions with representatives of Romanian communities
in neighboring countries. Bioprofile: Ana Dinescu (<anadinescu@yahoo.com>)
is journalist of foreign affairs with the Romanian daily ZIUA: primul
ziar romanesc <http://www.ziua.net/>
covering the processes of the enlargement of the European Union towards
East Europe including minority issues in the region. With a background
in political science, Dinescu is now completing an M.A. at the University
of Cluj-Napoca. Her focus is on higher education and ethnic minorities
in South-East Europe and the Hungarian minority of Romania. She has published
papers in learned journals in Romania and in Spain.
1.1.4 Marsovszky, Magdalena (München and Viadrina University,
Frankfurt/Oder, Germany, <m.marsovszky@t-online.de>):
"Möglichkeiten integrativer Kulturpolitik. Europa, Deutschland und
Ungarn." Abstract: Magdalena Marsovszky beschreibt in ihrem Beitrag
"Möglichkeiten integrativer Kulturpolitik. Europa, Deutschland
und Ungarn" wie in Ungarn seit der Wende 1989-90, doch besonders zwischen
1998 und 2002, in der Zeit der nationalkonservativen Regierungskoalition
Viktor Orbans die (vermeintlich) ungarische nationale Kultur ethnisch,
bzw. völkisch gedeutet wurde. Obwohl ein kultureller Ethnozentrismus
zum Paternalismus, zu kulturellen Säuberungen, zur Ausgrenzung und
letztlich zum Kulturkampf führt und deshalb mit dem Grundgedanken
der Europäischen Union, einer politisch-kulturell-wirtschaftlichen
Gemeinschaft mit gleichem ethischem Konzept, nicht vereinbar ist, bleibt
die Kulturpolitik im Prozess der europäischen Integration unangetastet.
Während Europa den nationalen Binnen-Kulturenthnisierungen vorerst
ohnmächtig gegenübersteht, wird in der bundesdeutschen Kulturpolitik
-- auch vor dem Hintergrund der belasteten deutschen Geschichte -- seit
Jahrzehnten um relevante Antworten gerungen. In ihrem Beitrag geht Marsovszky
der Frage nach, ob es transportierbare Handlungsstrategien zur Demokratisierung
der Kultur in Ungarn gibt. Bioprofile: Magdalena Marsovszky (<m.marsovszky@t-online.de>)
is journalist, art historian, and consultant of culture management. Her
interests and publications include studies in culture and media policy
and television and media studies. She is particularly interested in culture
and conflict management in the context of democracy and democratic institutions.
Marsovszky is affiliated with Viadrina University and a free-lance journalist,
resides in München.
1.1.5 Sata, Viktor (American University, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, <sataviktor@hotmail.com>
& <vns990@aubg.bg>): "The Romanian
press: history, ideology, and post-1989 ethics." Abstract: In his
paper, "The Romanian press: history, ideology, and post-1989 ethics," Viktor
Sata argues that the Romanian press is today with surprisingly well-functioning
and self-regulating bodies. They represent the only fully privatized segment
of the Romanian economy with a significant degree of financial independence.
However, this independence, in turn, eliminates a number of ethical issues
such as business loyalties and loyalties pertaining to citizens. The newly
acquired independence from the state also creates a whole array of new
ethical issues in Romanian journalism. Based on the theoretical bases in
the work of philosopher William Davis Ross, Sata discusses selected aspects
of the current press in Romania and the role of journalism and newspapers.
Bioprofile:
Viktor Sata (<sataviktor@hotmail.com>
& <vns990@aubg.bg>) studies
political science and international relations at the American University
in Blagoevgrad.
1.1.6 Skolkay, Andrej (University of SS. Cyril and Methodius, Trnava,
Slovakia, <askolkay@marta.sk>):
"The intellectual and literary press in Slovakia." Abstract: In
his paper, "The intellectual and literary press in Slovakia," Andrej Skolkay
first describes briefly the pre-communist and communist history of the
intellectual and literary press in Slovakia focusing on their nature and
role and how these relate to the post-communist period. Skolkay's discussion
is based mainly on interviews with editors and contributors and questionaires
sent to selected intellectuals. Bioprofile: Andrej Skolkay studied
journalism and political science at Comenius University in Bratislava,
media studies at the University of Liverpool, and populism at New School
University in New York. He is currently affiliated with University of SS.
Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia. His publications include Structural
and content analysis of communication of the government of Slovakia
(Slovak Governance Institute, 2003) and "The media and political communication
in Slovakia in the late 1990s" in Communication Culture in Transition.
Ed. Nora Schleicher (Akademiai, 2002).
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10:00-13:00 Day
1 Panel 2: Cultural Traditions and the Integration of Europe
(Chair:
Jutta Hausmann)
1.2.1 Young, Judy (Audrac Information Services Inc., Ottawa, Canada,
<jy-abcd@cyberus.ca>): "Challenges
in the implementation of minorities policies in Central and East Europe:
some examples from Hungary and the Czech Republic." Abstract: In
her paper, "Challenges in the implementation of minorities policies in
Central and East Europe: some examples from Hungary and the Czech Republic,"
Judy Young discusses aspects of policies and legislation with regard to
minorities generally and the Roma specifically in Hungary and the Czech
Republic. While policies and legislation are in place in many of the countries
of the Central European region now, recent reports by multilateral and
specialist organizations -- such as the UNHCHR, the Project on Ethnic Relations
(PER), the European Roma rights Centre (ERRC), etc. -- note that despite
legislation, the situation of Roma minorities have deteriorated in states
of the region such as Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and others
in the years since the collapse of communism. Young examines why the implementation
of legislation and government policy is proving so difficult to achieve.
Examples will be used from the fields of education, housing, the judicial
system, policing, health and social services, to review how discriminatory
practices continue and why institutional as well as public perceptions
are hard to change. Data, information, and research needs will also be
looked at. Also, Young raises the question of whether the Canadian experience
with cultural diversity may offer useful examples or models for the management
of inter-ethnic and state-minority relations. Bioprofile: Judy Young
(<jy-abcd@cyberus.ca>) has served
for some twenty-five years multiculturalism programs of the federal government
of Canada, most recently as special advisor on multiculturalism in the
Department of Canadian Heritage. During the last ten years she has undertaken
joint projects in Central and East Europe in relation to minorities issues.
Young has published work also in literary and cultural studies.
1.2.2 Costea, Simion (Petru Maior University, Targu-Mures, Romania,
<icsu_ms@fx.ro>): "Historical and
political traditions in Romania's Process of Integration with the European
Union." Abstract: In his paper, "Historical and political traditions
in Romania's Process of Integration with the European Union," Simion Costea
draws a parallel between two moments in Romania's process of integration
with the European Uninio: 1) 1929-32 when Romania actively contributed
to the creation of a Paneuropean Union and 2) interrupted by war and the
fifty-years long duration of communism, after 1989-90 Romania embarked
on a new process with the objective to integrate in the European Union.
Costea analyses parallels in the two historical moments of Romania with
regard to European integration, with particular atention to the role of
France. Bioprofile: Simion Costea (<icsu_ms@fx.ro>)
teaches at Petru Maior University in Targu-Mures, Romania. His interests
include the history of international relations and the history of European
integration. Costea has published numerous articles and studies in historical
reviews and in books.
1.2.3 Dungaciu, Dan (Romanian Academy of Sciences, Bucharest, Romania,
<ddungaciu@hotmail.com>):
"A comparative view of nationalism in West and East Europe." Abstract:
In his paper, "A comparative view of nationalism in West and East Europe,"
Dan Dungaciu discusses the observation that the discourse on European unity
is not always sustained by attempts of real and unprejudiced self-acknowledgement
in West Europe, on the one side, and Central and East Europe, on the other.
This dialog is rendered more difficult today by the resurrection of nationalisms
in both East and West Europe. First, Dungaciu offers a few methodological
preliminaries, followed by a discussion of texts by essentialist authors
and theories that suggest that nationalism in the West is different from
that in the East. The issue here is therefore the existence and persistence
of a specific way of thinking, the existence of some kind of mental apriorisms,
of some frameworks within which research is being developed. Dungaciu argues
that a neo-essentialist thinking is sufficiently strong and present in
current scholarship, in popular sociology, in our every day life, in the
media, etc., and that this ought to be studied. Bioprofile: Dan
Dungaciu (<ddungaciu@hotmail.com>)
is a sociologist with interests in the history of sociology, the sociology
of nationalism, religion, and Balkan studies and his publications include
numerous articles and books in these areas of scholarship. He is a lecturer
of sociology at the Institute for Political Science and International Relations,
Romanian Academy of Sciences in Bucharest. Currently, he is president of
the Association for the Righs of Minorities from Central and South-East
Europe.
1.2.4 Stefanov, Pavel Archimandrite (Shoumen University, Bulgaria,
<p.stefanov@shu-bg.net>):
"Bulgarian minorities after 1989: change and stalemate." Abstract:
In his paper, "Bulgarian minorities after 1989: change and stalemate,"
Pavel Archimandrite Stefanov introduces briefly the history of the Bulgarian
Turkish population between 1985 and 1989, followed by an analysis of the
post-1989 situation of Turkish-Bulgarians with focus on issues such as
that the variety and quality of minorities' cultures (vernacular education,
theatres, press etc.) in exitence before 1955 still remains to be achieved
in contemporary Bulgaria, the growing dychotomy between the minorities
themselves, and the discrepancy observable between the elites and ordinary
members of minorities. For example, relations between government authorities,
the Roma, and the Macedonian minority are particularly strained. Of concern
to the author is that the religion law voted by the Bulgarian Parliament
in December 2002 is clearly discriminatory towards religious minorities
such as the alternative Synod and various Protestant groups. Bioprofile:
Pavel Archimandrite Stefanov (<p.stefanov@shu-bg.net>)
is a Greek Orthodox monk who teaches history and religion at Shoumen University
in Bulgaria. Stefanov is prolific author with numerous publications in
several languages.
1.2.5
Cotoi, Calin Nicolae (University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania,
<calincotoi@hotmail.com>):
"Social imagery and the new European identity." Abstract: In his paper,
"Social imagery and the new European identity," Calin Nicolae Cotoi introduces
the argument that the processes of globalization of imagnation should be
paid attention to when studying he emergence of a new European identity.
This identity can be constructed based on a "global-European" culture consisting
of plenty of goods, a mixture of de-contextualized ethno-folkloric styles,
a few general ideological discourses and a "scientific" and standardized
language of communication. Mirroring this globalized, prosperous but uprooted
Europe, a necessary counterpart would be the Europe of the rich varieties
of local, ethnic, and minority identities. Cotoi suggests that if the European
Union aims at becoming the bearer of a European identity of substance with
a rich cultural density, it will find itself in the whirlpool of contradictions
created by cultural imperialisms and nationalisms emenating from asymmetrical
power positions located in European regions of the peripheries. Bioprofile:
Calin Nicolae Cotoi (<calincotoi@hotmail.com>)
is a doctoral candidate in sociology and social work at the University
of Bucharest. To date, his publications include "The geopolitics of European
integration" (The Centre of Geopolitics and Visual Anthropology, U of Bucharest,
2002).
1.2.6
Hausmann, Jutta (Protestant Theological University, Budapest, Hungary,
<jutta.hausmann@lutheran.hu>):
"Die Verantwortung der Kirchen. Kirchenpolitik in Zeiten drohender Rassismen."
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10:00-13:00 Day
1 Panel 3: Culture and the East-West Divide in Post-1989 Central and
East Europe (Chair: Antonio Eduardo Mendonca)
1.3.1
Donos, Natalia (Moldova State University, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova,
<nataliadonos@moldova.cc>): "Globalization,
economics, and culture." Abstract: In her paper, "Globalization,
economics, and culture," Natalia Donos analyses the processes of globalization
and their impact on culture. Coined by Theodore Levit in the Harvard
Business Review in 1983, the concept and notion of globalization have
acquired great currency today. In addition to the impact of the concept
primarily on economics and business, it is felt in virtually all other
walks of life including culture, ethics, human values, political values,
etc. As recent events in the process of transition taking place in Central
and East Europe show, the processes globalization of globalization
can also effect a number of social problems thus impacting on many aspects
of culture. Globalization and the increasing interdependence of nations
has many profound consequences so that the solution to survival consists
in establishing a new system of living together where alternative principles
inform the relations between nations. Bioprofile: Natalia Donos
(<nataliadonos@moldova.cc>) studies
foreign languages at Moldova State University. Her interests include issues
with regard to globalisation and anti-globalisation in various fields.
1.3.2 Glajar, Valentina (Texas Tech University, Lubbock, USA, <valentina.glajar@ttu.edu>):
"Post-1989 representations of the Sudeten German-Czech conflict." Abstract:
In her paper, "Post-1989 representations of the Sudeten German-Czech conflict,"
Valentina Glajar analyses the long-standing conflict between Czechs and
Germans as represented in the work of Libuse Monikova (1945-1998) and Erica
Pedretti (1930-). In December 1996, more than half a century after Hitler's
invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939 and the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans
in 1945, Czechs and Germans agreed on a bilateral pact on wartime abuses.
However, despite of political negotiations and agreements, neither Czechs
nor Sudeten Germans have come to terms with the symbiosis of political
events that shattered their lives. As individual attempts at reconciliation
between Czechs and Germans, Monikova's and Pedretti's texts offer alternative
perspectives to both German and Czech "official" versions of history. Monikova
is determined to keep history alive, especially the sore points in the
history of her country while Pedretti captures in her novels what historical
narratives may never accomplish: the intensity of joy and suffering. Bioprofile:
Valentina Glajar (<valentina.glajar@ttu.edu>)
teaches German-language literature at Texas Tech University. Glajar has
published articles on Herta Müller, Libuse Monikova, Erica Pedretti,
Gregor von Rezzori, and Karl Emil Franzos, and presented numerous papers
at national conferences. Her book, German Legacy in East Central Europe
as Reflected in Contemporary German-Language Literature, is forthcoming
in 2004 by Camden House) in 2004 and she translated, with Andre Lefevere,
Herta Müller’s novel Traveling on One Leg (Northwestern UP,
1998).
1.3.3 Bohutskyy, Vilhelm K. (Central European University, Warsaw, Poland,
<wbohutsk@ceu.edu.pl>): "Prospects
of Ukrainian culture: in-between East and West." Abstract: In his
paper, "Prospects of Ukrainian culture: in-between East and West," Vilhelm
K. Bohutskyy, makes an attempt to explore tendencies which characterise
cultural developments in the Ukraine and the ramifications of these processes
for the further development of the country. He argues, that the Ukraine,
owing to its important geopolitical location between Russia and Central
Europe and the long and complex history of nation building and struggle
for independence has developed a unique culture may be crucial for determining
country’s political and socio-economic position on the European continent.
In this respect three hypotheses are explored. First, the author argues
that Ukrainian culture may enhance its "European" features and thus would
move towards a closer integration -- cultural, political, and economic
-- with Central Europe, and, in the longer perspective, with the European
Union, second, that this outcome presupposes the incorporation of Ukrainian
culture into the dominant Russian one and thus the turning of Ukraine into
the "cultural province" of the Russia-dominated post-Soviet territories,
and third, that the suggested outcome presupposes a long-lasting "cultural
neutrality" of Ukrainian culture and its balancing in-between Russian and
European cultures, but never integrating with any of them. Bohutskyy concludes
that his third hypothesis would have the highest probability to be realised.
Bioprofile:
Vilhelm K. Bohutskyy (<wbohutsk@ceu.edu.pl>)
is a doctoral student of sociology at the Central European University in
Warsaw, Poland.
1.3.4 Samson, Ramona (Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark,
<rs.first@cbs.dk>): "The cultural
dynamics of European integration in post-communist Central and East Europe."Abstract:
In her paper, "The cultural dynamics of European integration in post-communist
Central and East Europe," Ramona Samson analyses aspects of the processes
of globalization and European integration and their impact on the cultures
of post-communist societies. Samson's objective is to conceptualize the
cultural dynamics that underline current political and economic processes
in post-communist societies including the role culture plays on the political
agenda of the European Union. In the latter context, Samson analyzes the
role of culture in the process of the enlargement of the European Union.
Bioprofile:
Ramona Samson (<rs.first@cbs.dk>)
is working towards a doctorate in European studies at the Copenhagen Business
School. Her research interest include culture and political theory, globalisation
and European integration, culture and discourse analysis, EU enlargement,
and post-communist societies.
1.3.5 Klumbyte, Neringa (University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA,
<nekst4@pitt.edu>): "Popular and
political opposition to the liberal state in Lithuania 1995-2003." Abstract:
In her paper, "Popular and political opposition to the liberal state in
Lithuania 1995-2003," Neringa Klumbyte analyses the rise of the radical
right and its voter support in Lithuania 1995-2003. The analyis includes
discussions abot Lithuania's intentions to join the European Union to the
present, a period during which radical parties emerged as serious political
actors and achieved increasing voter support in elections. Klumbyte proposes
that in case of Lithuania the rise of the radical right is indicative of
pro-European as well as nationalist movements. Bioprofile: Neringa
Klumbyte (<nekst4@pitt.edu>) works
towards a Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. Her interests
include the study of nationalism and ethnicity in post-socialist East Europe,
the Eastern enlargemet of the European Union, problems of ethnographic
representations, and the historical and political anthropology of the state.
Klumbyte has published papers on narratives and symbols of early post-socialist
nationalism in Lithuania, ethnography, and nation building.
1.3.6 Mendonca, Antonio Eduardo (New University of Lisbon, Lisbon,
Portugal <antonioeduardom@mail.pt>):
"Social and political changes in museums of former socialist countries."
Abstract:
In his paper, "Social and political changes in museums of former socialist
countries," Antonio Eduardo Mendonca discusses the situation of museums
in post-Soviet countries: virtually all large state companies in the former
Soviet Union and in other former socialist countries had their own museums
where the history of the company was blended with ideological and didactic
purposes and where technical demonstrations often combined the "glory of
work" and the communist party's indoctrination. More than a decade after
the collapse of socialist regimes what is the fate of these museums? Through
their recent history in different countries of Central and East Europe,
Mendonca attempts to show how communities and social memories have shaped
their own modern national (and ethnic) identities with different approaches
to the cultural heritage of socialist times.
Bioprofile: Antonio
Eduardo Mendonca (<antonioeduardom@mail.pt>)
teaches cultural anthropology and museology at the Universidade Nova de
Lisboa. Mendonca is also director of the Lisbon Center of Soviet and Post-Soviet
Studies. His research interests and publications include papers on East
European immigrants to Portugal and aspects of cultural heritage from socialist
times.
13:00-14:00 Lunch
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14:00-17:00 Day
1 Panel 4: Transformations of Art and Culture in Post-1989 Central and
East Europe and Beyond (Chair: John P. Jacob)
1.4.1 Boca, Irina (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, <iboca@hotmail.com>):
"The cultures of exile, case Romania." Abstract: In her paper, "The
cultures of exile, case Romania," Irina Boca discusses exile as an experience
based on suffering injustices and the relocation to the promise of a just
or privileged experience. Using the example of Romanian exiles before and
after the end of communist oppression, Boca argues that similar to the
works of imprisoned intellectuals remaining unknown to the Romanian public
until the end of the communist regime, the new generation of post-1989
Romania appears to have a notion of exile which has little to do with the
actual conditions of exiled Romanians. Similar to the pre-1989 period,
when the term "intellectual" denoted the workers' loyalty to the communist
state, in today's post-communist Romania, the term has come to mean the
mundane habit of specialising and working under specialised labels. At
one extreme of the cultural spectre the current notion of exile appears
to celebrate and justify the emergence of an artistic type devoted to a
superiority of culture which, if it exists at all, might not be so far
removed from the entertaining and self-indulgent attitude of Disney Land
consumerism. At the other extreme, the formation of cultural elites is
often understood as a re-educative process whose proof of success or failure
is to be found in the communist experiments. Caught between the nihilistic
and the re-educative practices of cultural enlightenment, the (Romanian)
exiled is assumed to acknowledge "neutrality" as the fundamental condition
for the existence of culture and self. Bioprofile: Irina Boca (<iboca@hotmail.com>)
is working towards a Ph.D. in political science at Carleton University.
Boca has published numerous papers in sociology and political science.
1.4.2 Wucher, Monika (Projektgruppe, Hamburg, Germany <mw@projektgruppe.org>):
"Gesellschaftliche und gemeinschaftliche Modelle in der mitteleuropäischen
Kunst der 90er Jahre." Abstract: In ihrem Beitrag "Gesellschaftliche
und gemeinschaftliche Modelle in der mitteleuropäischen Kunst der
90er Jahre" Monika Wucher beschreibt die seit Anfang der 1990er Jahren
in Mitteleuropa entwickelten gesellschaftlichen (Leit-)Bildern von Seiten
der zeitgenössischen Kunst. In einem ersten Schritt wird erkundet,
welche aktuellen, von Künstlerinnen und Künstlern verfolgte Praktiken
neue oder erneut relevante Formen sozialen Lebens anzeigen. Der Horizont
der Recherche umfasst künstlerische Aktivitäten, die in dem durch
die Tagung anvisierten geographischen Raum anzutreffen sind. Jedoch konzentriert
sich die Untersuchung dabei auf kontinuierlich gemeinschaftlich agierende
Verbindungen, deren gesellschaftlicher Ansatz sich nicht in einmaligen
partizipatorischen Projekten bereits erfüllt. Insbesondere liegt das
Augenmerk darauf, ob grenzüberschreitende Vorstellungen in Bezug auf
herkömmliche Gemeinschaftsstrukturen – beispielsweise nationaler,
sprachlicher, religiöser, ökonomischer oder geschlechtlicher
Art -- in der Kunst Realität erlangen. Aufbauend darauf werden theoretische
Positionen wie die derzeit rezipierten Philosophien der Freundschaft befragt:
Inwiefern können sie mit den Ergebnissen der künstlerischen Recherche
parallelisiert werden? Bioprofile: Monika Wucher (<mw@projektgruppe.org>)
works on projects designed for co-operation between West and East European
artists and she is a founding member of the Hamburg-based Projektgruppe.
Wucher studied art history and ethnology in Tübingen, Budapest, and
Hamburg, and has published papers on the history of art in Central and
East Europe of the 1920s and 1930s and on the theory of knowledge transfer
between art and science. Wucher
is editor of the Journal for Northeast Issues (Frankfurt).
1.4.3 Varnagy, Tibor (Liget Gallery, Budapest, Hungary <ligal@c3.hu>):
"Scandals in the Arts in 1990s Hungary." Abstract: In his paper,
"Scandals in the Arts in 1990s Hungary," Tibor Varnagy proposes that little
has changed on the landscape of art in Hungary since the end of communist
rule in 1989. At the begining of the political changes many historians
of art argued that new paradigms of the arts in Hungary actually occurred
in the 1970s and in the 1980s. Varnagy analyses the paradox of how changes
expected in the value system of art in fact have not occurred, including
the processes and systems of public art or in the policies of the political
and cultural administration of the Hungarian government. Varnagy also analyses
the question as to how in the last decade since the end of communist statehood
Hungarian culture in general and state policies in particular connect with
the national and political frameworks of the country. Bioprofile:
Tibor Varnagy (<ligal@c3.hu>) is an
artist and curator of Galery Liget in Budapest for the last twenty years.
Since the mid-1980s he co-operated on various projects in Central and East
Europe initiated out of Boston, USA, by artist and curator John P. Jacob.
In the 1990s Varnagy participated with his galery in exhibition projects
supported by the Projektförderung Bildende Kunst, Germany. Varnagy
is founding editor 2001-, with Miklos Erhardt, of Manamana, a project
of events, exhibitions, and a journal in co-operation with artists, public
associations, and activists for the documentation of global issues otherwise
missing from the mass and artistic media.
1.4.4
Salcudean, Nicoleta (Gheorghe Sincai Institute, Targu-Mures, Romania,
<sdorin@fx.ro>): "The new conditions
of the exile in post-communist societies."
Abstract: In her paper,
"The new conditions of the exile in post-communist societies," Nicolea
Salcudean proposes that the experience of exile in communist societes represents
an archetype and that this state of mind and experience reresent an impact
also in post-communist society. Based on the theoretical works about exile
by Todorov, Scarpetta, Vattimo, Calinescu, and Manea, Salcudean discusses
the experience of exile where the writer finds his/her shelter in difference
and double identity and where banishment means a new birth and a source
of new energy resulting in the creative energies of new ambiguity and creativity.
Bioprofile:
Nicoleta Salcudeanu teaches literature at the Gheorghe Sincai Institute
in Targu Mures. Salcudean is the editor of the literary magazine Discobolul
(published in Alba Iulia) and a frequent contributor to literary journals
such as Vatra,
Cuvantul, and Contemporanul. Salcudean
obtained a doctorate in philology in 2003, with a dissertation on exile
in Romanian literature, 1944-1989. A recipient of a number of literary
pizes for her work, Salcudean has published papers in literary criticism.
1.4.5 Georgescu, Maria-Ana (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania,
<mariageo@upm.ro>): "Perceptions
of ethnicity and the cultures of the the other among Hungarian and Romanian
students today." Abstract: In her paper, "Perceptions of ethnicity
and the cultures of the other among Hungarian and Romanian students today,"
Maria Ana Georgescu discusses data of a large samle of young people from
Romania and Hungary, collected in a project organized by the Institute
of Sociology of the Romanian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Minority
Studies at Budapest. The research was performed simultaneously and with
identical methodology in the two countries. The objective of the study
is to analyse inter-cultural perceptions in the last decade comparatively
about the relationship of Romanian youth to other nations and ethnic groups,
about tolerance towards the country's majority ethnic groups, and about
the youths' attitudes towards immigrants and immigration. The study also
brings into discussion the problem of identity strategies and aspects of
inter-ethnic relationships. Bioprofile: Maria-Ana Georgescu (<mariageo@upm.ro>)
teaches sociology and economics at Petru Maior University.
1.4.6 Jacob, John P. (<jpjacob@photocurator.org>),
"Art and transformation: options of action for Central European artists."
Abstract:
In his paper, "Art and transformation: options of action for Central European
artists," John P. Jacob presents a critical self-examination of his own
work as a researcher and curator, illustrating the impact of Western institutions,
through exhibitions and publications, on Central European artistic culture.
In addition, drawing on extensive communication with artists and cultural
professionals whose work bridges the periods of socialist and post-socialist
Europe, Jacob considers the re-shaping of options available to artists:
how do artists who worked during the period of Soviet domination of Central
Europe function today within a marketplace economy? What, if anything,
has been gained in the transition? And what, if anything, has been lost?
Bioprofile:
John P. Jacob (<jpjacob@photocurator.org>)
began his career as an artist and independent curator. During the mid-1980s,
he travelled extensively in Central Europe and the former USSR. Working
as an independent curator and travelling as a tourist, Jacob was not required
to conduct his research within an institutional framework. He organized
a series of exhibitions of works by artists working in the Central European
"parallel culture" for institutions in the US and Western Europe. Since
1989, he has been working on an historical survey of socialist photography
from the years 1950-1990, drawing from archives in Germany, Russia, Poland,
Hungary, and the Czech Republic.
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14:00-17:00 Day
1 Panel 5: History and Historiography in Post-1989 Central and East
Europe (Chair: Camil Muresan)
1.5.1 Guzner, Bridget (British Library, London, United Kingdom, <bridget.guzner@bl.uk>):
"Collection-building of post-1989 Central and East European holdings of
the British Library." Abstract: Bridget Guzner describes in her
paper, "Collection-building of post-1989 Central and East European holdings
of the British Library," the Slavonic and East European collections of
the British Library with focus on the post-1989 period. Before 1991 the
materials consisted of eight countries in total while the holdings now
include materials on Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia
(Serbia and Montenegro), Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia,
Albania, and Bulgaria. The objective of the British Library is to collect
a wide range of current research in the humanities and social sciences
published in the above countries. The changes in the region over the past
decade have had an impact on many aspects of work for the collections because
the methods of acquisition and types of material acquired have been influenced
by historical events followed by economic and cultural changes including
the electronic revolution. Guzner discusses in her paper, in broad outlines,
the use and coverage of the post-communist period in Central and East Europe,
highlighting significant types of material acquired over the past decade.
Bioprofile:
Bridget Guzner (<bridget.guzner@bl.uk>)
is curator of the Hungarian and Romanian collections at the British Library,
responsible for the selection and acquisition of current and antiquarian
Hungarian and Romanian material, the organization of research material
for exhibitions, etc. Her publications of recent include "The beginnings
of Hungarian printing in London" in Foreign language printing in London
1500-1900. Ed. Barry Taylor (The British Library, 2002).
1.5.2 Teodor, Corina (Gheorghe Sincai Institute, Targu Mures, Romania
<icsu_ms@fx.ro>) and Keith Hitchins
(University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, USA, <khitchin@uiuc.edu>):
"The history of the Orthodox Church and post-1989 Romanian and Bulgarian
historiography." Abstract: In their co-authored paper, "The history
of the Orthodox Church and post-1989 Romanian and Bulgarian historiography,"
Corina Teodor and Keith Hitchins present a comparative analysis of
Romanian and Bulgarian historiography, 1990-2000. The study includes an
institutional evaluation of the two Orthodox churches in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries, the state-church relationship in Romania and
Bulgaria, respectively, and aspects of religious life and their reflections
in scholarship. Teodor and Hitchins investigate in their study also ecclesiactical
periodicals because in such journals the works of historians considered
undesirable by the communist regime were published. With regard to the
renewal of historical discourse in learned journals after 1990, Teodor
and Hitchins discuss journals such as Revista Teologica (Theological
Review) and Cultura Crestina (Christian Culture). Bioprofile:
Corina Teodor (<icsu_ms@fx.ro>) teaches
at Petru Maior University and also conducts research at the Gheorghe Sincai
Institute, both in Targu Mures. Teodor's areas of specialization and interests
include the history of the Romanian historiography and the nineteenth-century
ecclesiastical history of Transylvania and she has published papers in
these areas of study in learned journals. Bioprofile: Keith Hitchins
(<khitchin@uiuc.edu>) teaches
at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Hitchin's interests include
the history of South-Eastern Europe from 1400 until now, the modern history
of Romania and Hungary, the Habsburg Monarchy between 1700-1918, modern
nationalism, and Central Asia and he has published numerous books and papers
in these and other areas, most recently Romania 1866-1947 (Clarendon,
1996), A Nation Discovered: Romanian Intellectuals in Transylvania and
the Idea of Nation 1700-1848 (Bucharest, 1999), and A Nation Affirmed:
The Romanian National Movement in Transylvania, 1860-1914 (Bucharest,
1999).
1.5.3 Dorlan, Carmen Maria (Gheorghe Sincai Institute, Targu Mures,
Romania, <cardor_77@yahoo.com>)
and Marian Zaloaga (Gheorghe Sincai Institute, Targu Mures, Romania,
<zaloagam@yahoo.com>): "Central
European influences in post-1989 Romanian historiography." Abstract:
In their co-authored paper, "Central European influences in post-1989 Romanian
historiography," Carmen Maria Dorlan and Marian Zaloaga investigate changes
in post-1989 Romanian historiographical discourse about the problematic
of Transylvanian Romanians' ecclesiastical Union with the Church of Rome.
This topic is of major interest not only from a historical perspective,
thus allowing a much better perception of the inter-confessional and political
relationships in Transylvania at the end of the seventeenth but also in
the context of the rebirth of the Greek-Catholic Church after 1989. The
authors' purpose is to present aspects of current historiographical discourse
in Romania in order to explicate important achievements in the field. In
their study, Dorlan and Zaloaga afford analysis of Pompiliu Teodor's contributions
as well as of work by younger scholars at the Institute for Central European
History at the University of Cluj-Napoca of the last decade. Bioprofile:
Carmen Maria Dorlan (<cardor_77@yahoo.com>)
works towards an M.A. in history at the Georghe Sincai Institute. Bioprofile:
Marian Zaloaga (<zaloagam@yahoo.com>)
works towards an M.A. in history at the Georghe Sincai Institute.
1.5.4
Ploesteanu, Grigore (Gheorghe Sincai Institute, Targu Mures, Romania,
<icsu_ms@fx.ro>): "Post-1989 Central
and East European historiography regarding the 1848 Revolution."
Abstract:
In his paper, "Post-1989 Central and East European historiography regarding
the 1848 Revolution," Grigore Ploesteanu explores present-day monographs,
collective works, and studies dedicated to the 1848 Revolution. The 1848
Revolution continues to represent a historical event of great interest
for Central and East European researchers after 1989. In particular, the
removal of ideological and political constraints and taboos in post-communist
countries allows the reconsideration of the 1848 Revolution from the genesis
to its effects. More, concepts such as the notions of revolution,
elite, nation, etc., themselves became objects of revaluation in their
different meanings and representations and interpretations from the perspectives
of social imaginary have gained ground. At the same time, the ideological
roots, the relations between general and particular, nationalism and liberalism,
the relations between nations, the confederate ideas and projects, the
role of freemasonry etc. in the revolutions of this part of Europe are
discussed, based on the new theoretical and methodological framework. Bioprofile:
Grigore Ploesteanu (<icsu_ms@fx.ro>)
is director of the Georghe Sincai Institute of the Romanian Academy of
Sciences in Targu Mures. He is also professor of modern world history at
Petru Maior University, also in Targu Mures. Ploesteanu has published numerous
books and articles, most recently Confederalismul panoptist. Intre utopie
si realitate (The 1848 confederalism between utopia and reality) (Bucharest
2001). Among several prizes Ploesteanu received the Nicolae Iorga Prize
of the Romanian Academy of Sciences in 1994.
1.5.5
Bocsan, Nicolae (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania) and
Stelian
Mandrut (George Barit Institute of History, Cluj-Napoca, Romania):
"Regional histories of the Banat and Transylvania, 1990-2000."
Abstract:
In their co-authored paper, "Regional histories of the Banat and Transylvania,
1990-2000," Nicolae Bocsan and Stelian Mandrut argue that the post-1989
histories of Transylvania and the Banat are best understood in the context
of regional history located between the national and the local, between
the ethnic and the regional. The authors discuss the proposed notion based
on diverse thematic, structural, and institutional perspectives. Bocsan
and Mandrut show the character of historiographical dualities between medieval
and modern history as expressed in contemporary historiography. For Bocsan
and Mandrut, a novel conceptual and methodological framework taking into
account traditional history and "new history" as reflected in post-1989
Romanian historiography mark a departure towards interdisciplinary history.
The authors thus propose a balancing between tradition and innovation as
the hermeneutics of non-ethno-centrist identity and history. Bioprofile:
Nicolae Bocsan teaches at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. His numerous
publications are in the the history of ideas and politics with regard to
Romanians in Transylvania and the Banat during the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries and his recent books include Biserica Romana unita primul
consiliu ecumenic de la Vatican (The United Romanian Church and the
First Vatican Ecumenical Council) (2001) and Scoala si comunitate in
secolul al XIX-lea (School and community in the nineteenth century)
(2002). Bioprofile: Stelian Mandrut teaches at the George Barit
Institute of History in Cluj-Napoca. His interests include the fields of
historical bibliography, the modern history of Transylvania, and the formation
of intellectual elites. Mandrut's recent books include
Miscarea nationala
si activitatea parlamentara a deputatilor Partidului National Roman din
Transilvania intre anii 1905-1910 (The national movement and parliamentary
activities of the Romanian National Party's deputies in Transylvania between
1905-1910) (1995) and Cronologia Europei Centrale (The Chronology
of Central Europe) (2001).
1.5.6
Muresan, Camil (George Barit Institute of History, Cluj-Napoca, Romania):
"Theories of history in post-1989 Central Europe." Abstract: Camil
Muresan discusses in his paper, "Theories of history in post-1989 Central
Europe," aspects of theory and methodology in and for scholarship in history
at the end of the twentieth century in the context of post-1989 Central
European historical discourse. In this context, Muresan argues, new historiographic
challenges deserve to be integrated into the process of historical investigations
with regard to national history, in order to multiply its specific methods
of analysis and to achieve a permanent dialogue with the diversity of historiographic
schools and trends on an international scale. Bioprofile: A member
of the Romanian Academy of Sciences, Camil Muresan teaches history at the
George Barit Institute of History in Cluj-Napoca. Muresan is author of
numerous books and papers on various aspects of Romanian, Hungarian, Austrian,
French, English, and US history. A recipient of numerous awards, Muresan
has been visiting professor at a number of universities such as at Columbia
University.
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14:00-17:00 Day
1 Panel 6: Culture and Society in Post-1989 Central and East Europe
(Chair:
Peter Hruby)
1.6.1 Szabo, Nicolae (Gheorghe Sincai Institute, Targu Mures, Romania,
<icsu_ms@fx.ro>) and Cornel Sigmirean
(Gheorghe Sincai Institute, Targu Mures, Romania, <icsu_ms@fx.ro>):
"New perspectives in the history of Transylvanian students at European
Universities." Abstract: In their co-authored paper, "New perspectives
in the history of Transylvanian students at European Universities," Nicolae
Szabo and Cornel Sigmirean discuss the attendance of European universities
by Transylvanian students, of importance already in the sixteenth to the
eighteenth centuries. The study of Transylvanian students abroad gained
momentum in the nineteenth century. Research in the history of the intellectual
élite of the region was interrupted during the communist regime;
however, after 1989 such studies have begun anew and a number of books
and papers were published. From a methodological point of view, these tudies
do present, as before, simple lists of students at the universities they
were attending. Instead, now they comprise in an alphabetical order all
the students having attended European universities in different periods
-- i.e., 1177/1183 to 1520, 1521-1600, 1701-1849, 1850-1918 -- and a short
bio-bibliography of each student. The aithors of the paper present a discussion
of the theoretical underpinnings of the social and scholarly contexts of
their study. Bioprofile: Nicolae Szabo is a scientific researcher
at the Gheorghe Sincai Institute. His main interests inculde the history
of the Transylvanian intellectual élite and peasant agriculture
in the eighteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Szabo has published books
and papers about young Transylvanians -- Germans, Hungarians, and Romanians
-- who studied abroad and peasant agriculture in the Transylvanian region.
Bioprofile:
Cornel Sigmirean teaches cultural history at Petru Maior University and
he is also affiliated with the Gheorghe Sincai Institute. Sigmirean has
published several studies about the development of modern Romanian intellectual
élite in Transylvania.
1.6.2 Maxwell, Alexander (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison,
WI USA, <amaxwell@zworg.com>):
"Self-marginalization: rune-writing subculture as a minority national movement
in modern Hungary." Abstract: In his paper, "Self-marginalization:
rune-writing subculture as a minority national movement in modern Hungary,"
Alexander Maxwell examines the subculture surrounding rune writing in Hungary
at the turn of the century. Rune-writing enthusiasts resemble a minority
national movement in many respects: they cultivate an unprestigious script,
justify their actions with explicit nationalism, promote a vision of group
history at odds with the history promoted by the dominant institutions
of their country, and experience their government as oppressive to their
national interests. The social and geographic basis of this subculture
corresponds to the centers of modern Hungarian intellectual life suggesting
that that the disaffection of rune enthusiasts reflects self-exclusion.
Expanding interest in rune writing in the twenty-first century suggests
that cultural nationalists continue to contest the meaning of history,
statehood, and language. Bioprofile: Alexander Maxwell (<amaxwell@zworg.com>)
expects to obtain his Ph.D. in history at the University of Wisconsin Madison
in 2003. His publications include "Literary dialects in China and Slovakia:
imagining Unitary nationality with multiple orthographies" in the International
Journal of Sociolinguistics (2003) and "Hungaro-Slavism: territorial
and national identity in nineteenth-century Slovakia" in East Central
Europe / L'Europe du Centre-Est (2002).
1.6.3 Drahokoupil, Jan (Central European University, Warsaw, Poland
<jan.drahokoupil@ceu.edu.pl>):
"Local political elites after 1989 the Czech Republic: post-communist transformation
and political culture." Abstract: In his paper, "Local political
elites after 1989 in the Czech Republic: post-communist transformation
and political culture," Jan Drahokoupil explores the situation of post-1989
political elites in three towns of East Bohemia in the Czech Republic.
As a theoretical background of the study, Drahokoupil tests C. Perron's
hypothesis applied to the development in the local politics after 1989.
Drahokoupil's analyis of the survey tests the hypothesis -- as applied
from the work of C. Perron -- that shortly after the dissolution of communism,
local politics in the Czech Republic were performed by a "non-political"
type of politicians and that technocrats replaced these politicians after
the second election in 1994. Thus, three developmental scenarios are tested:
a) the replacement of the communist local councils in 1990, b) the replacement
by technocrats after 1994, and c) the situation of the current stage of
aging of politicians. The material in its analysis suggests certain patterns
of the political culture of local councils and allows for an empirically-based
analysis of power structures in municipal settings. Bioprofile:
Jan Drahokoupil (<jan.drahokoupil@ceu.edu.pl>)
works towards his M.A in sociology at the Central European University at
Warsaw in the areas of political culture, globalisation, social policy,
and gender.
1.6.4 Vrnoga, Lukrecija (University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia,<lukrecijav@hotmail.com>):
"The end of Czechoslovakia and the problems of transition in Slovakia."
Abstract:
In her paper, "The end of Czechoslovakia and the problems of transtion
in Slovakia," Lukrecija Vrnoga analyses aspects and problems of the transition
from Czechoslovakia to the Slovak and Czech republics. Her analysis includes
questions relating to the enlargement of the European Union and NATO and
the political relationships between countries of the new Europe. Bioprofile:
After obtaining a first degree in philosophy and comparative literature
from the University of Zagreb, Lukrecija Vrnoga (<lukrecijav@hotmail.com>)
received an M.A. in political science from the University of Zagreb and
in 2003 she has completed her doctorate in political science at the University
of Zagreb.
1.6.5
Horolets, Anna (School of Social Research, Warsaw, Poland, <labusia@yahoo.com>):
"Joining the European Union and aspects of public discourse in Poland."
Abstract:
In her paper, "Joining the European Union and aspects of public discourse
in Poland," Anna Horolets analyses public discourse in Poland with regard
to the enlargement of the European Union to the East. Horolets's objective
is to offer a set of explanatory causes that justify positioning the discourse
about European integration in Poland within the broader framework of the
analyses of transformation. The current institutional explanation is that
the very process of preparing Poland for EU accession is a part of the
process of transition. The perspective of integration with the EU implies
the necessity of concrete modifications in Polish law system, social and
political institutions, and the economy in order to achieve compatibility
with European norms. In this explanatory framework public debates include
aspects of the re-installing of the socialist past in collective memory
and invite for negotiating its meanings. In her analysis, Horolets discusses
the persistence of value-laden binary opposition (Derrida 1972) between
capitalism and socialism. Bioprofile: Anna Horolets (<labusia@yahoo.com>)
is working towards a doctorate in sociology at the School of Social Research
in Warsaw. Her doctoral dissertation is about images and representations
of Europe in Polish media.
1.6.6 Hruby, Peter (Charles University, Prague, the Czech Republic,
<hrubypeter@seznam.cz>): "Jews,
communism, and the Soviet Secret Service." Abstract: In his paper,
"Jews, communism, and the Soviet Secret Service," Peter Hruby discusses
material available after 1989 by the opening of secret archives. Based
on the new material available now to research Hruby analyses aspects of
Jewish minorities in Central Europe with focus on the Jewish presence in
the Soviet Secret Services. Recently, several authors in different countries
and languages wrote about cases of Jewish activists committed to communism
and their ties with and service in the Soviet Secret Service. Based on
the material in books by Karel Bartosek, Wilfred Burchett, Stéphane
Courtois, Nicholas Hasluck, Karel Kaplan, Annie Kriegel, Lenka Reinerova,
Alexander Vasiliev, and Allen Weinstein, Hruby expands on this new research
and argues that contrary to the prevalent historical trend of the West
influencing politically and culturally Central and East Europe, the Kremlin
attempted through the Comintern and Cominform to revert it. Some important
Jewish agents from Central Europe took part and were sacrificed in this
tragedy. Bioprofile: Peter Hruby (<hrubypeter@seznam.cz>)
teaches at Charles University in Prague after a distinguished career at
Columbia University, the University of Geneve, Radio Free Europe, the University
of Maryland, and at Curtin University of Technology. His numerous publications
include Fools and heroes: the changing role of communist intellectuals
in Czechoslovakia (Pergamon Press, 1980) and Daydreams and nightmares:
Czech writers and communism 1917-1987 (Columbia UP, 1990).
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14:00-17:00 Day
1 Panel 7: History and Society in Post-1989 Central and East
Europe (Chair: Alexandru Zub)
1.7.1 Boskovic, Sanja (Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, <njasa@ptt.yu>)
and Gordana Bekcic (Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, <gordana@absolutok.net>):
"Jovan Ducic and the cultural matrix of post-1989 nationalism in Serbia."
Abstract:
In their co-authored paper, "Jovan Ducic and the cultural matrix of post-1989
nationalism in Serbia," Sanja Boskovic and Gordana Bekcic discuss the legacy
of Jovan Ducic and aspects of the dominant cultural matrix of Southern
Europe as represented in the paradigm of nationalism. To illustrate aspects
of the paradigm of nationalism, Boskovic and Bekcic analyse political and
cultural dimensions of Ducic's 2000 reburial in Serbia: events from 1989
to the present appear to confirm Jovan Ducic's belief that the idea of
Yugoslavia was doomed to fail because of the different religious, cultural,
and psychological profiles of Serbs and Croats. The cultural matrix of
nationalism is exemplified by Ducic's reburial performed by the Serbian
Orthodox church as a political act, thus the church representsing Serbian
culture, for example. Similarly, the presence at the burial site of the
newly elected democratic president of Yugoslavia, Kostunica, is a significant
cultural and political event, an act of self promotion as well as support
of nationalist ideology. Bioprofile: Sanja Boskovic (<njasa@ptt.yu>)
is an independent theatre, radio, and TV producer and journalist in Belgrade.
Her work includes numerous book-length publications, radio and theater
productoion, journalism, as well as radio pages on the world wide web.
Boskovic is currently is enrolled in postgraduate studies in radio broadcasting
management at the University of Belgrade. Bioprofile: Gordana Bekcic
(<gordana@absolutok.net>)
is an editor, literary critic, and journalist in Belgrade. At pesent, she
is also enrolled in postgraduate studies in Serbian literature at the University
of Belgrade. Bekcic has published papers and reviews in varios journals,
magazines, and books as well as radio.
1.7.2
Chiorean, Ioan (Gheorghe Sincai Institute, Targu Mures, Romania, <icsu_ms@fx.ro>):
"Plaidorie pour l'étude des traditions historiques communes des
peoples de l'espace post communiste." Abstract: Dans son étude
"Plaidorie pour l'étude des traditions historiques communes des
peoples de l'espace post communiste" Ioan Chiorean présente les
nouvelles tendances enrégistrées après 1989 dans la
vie politique et spirituelle des pays de l'ancien bloque communiste ou
ont aussi rédimensioné les multiples efforts, préocupations
et réalisations dans le domaine des recherches socio-humaine, y
compris l'activité historiographique. Par conséquence, le
nombre des contacts scientifiques et culturels dans l'espace post-communiste
a augmenté, ayant comme but la connaissance profonde de l'evolution
de la civilisation matérielle et spirituelle des peuples européens
et de leur traditions communes. L'exemple proposé par Chiorean est
la collaboration entre un groupe de chercheurs scientifiques de L'Institut
Gheorghe Sincai, spécialisées dans l'histoire de mentalités
avec des specialistes de la Hongrie, ayant des préoccupations similaires.
Bioprofile: Ioan Chiorean (<icsu_ms@fx.ro>)
teaches at Petru Maior University and she is also affiliated with the Gheorghe
Sincai Institute at Targu Mures. Chiorean's interests include the history
of ideas in Transylvania and the modern and contemporary history of Central
Europe. His numerous publications include Miscarea nationala din Austro-Ungaria
(1867-1918) (The Romanian nationalist movement in Austria-Hungary,
1867-1918) (2000) and Geneza si sfarsitul imperiului austro-ungar
(Genesis and end of the Austro-Hungarian empire) (1995).
1.7.3
Dobrescu, Vasile (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania, <crujan@science.uttgm.ro>)
and Lucian Giura (Lucian Blaga University, Sibiu, Romania): "Romanian
historiography pre- and post-1989." Abstract: In their co-authored
paper, "Romanian historiography pre- and post-1989," Vasile Dobrescu amd
Lucian Giura discuss selected results of Romanian historiography after
the fall of the communist system. Post-1989 historiography in Romania is
analysed in a context of Central and East Europe's history of Soviet and
communist colonialism and dictatorship and the authors focus on peculiar
manifestations of political autarchy in the field of economics and politics.
Among various aspects, the authors explore Romanian historiography as to
how its Stalinist hypostasis towards national-autochthonous revisionism
and an authoritative system has been expressed through the cult of Ceausescu
in the final stages of the communist system. Dobrescu and Giura also discuss
the current state of historiography and draw conclusions regarding the
qualities of contemporary Romanian historiography. Bioprofile: Vasile
Dobrescu (<crujan@science.uttgm.ro>)
teaches history at Petru Maior University where he also chairs the Department
of History. Dobrescu is author of several books and numerous papers, including
Elita
romaneasca in lumea satului transilvan (The Romanian Elite in the Rural
World of Transylvania) (Petru Maior University Press, 1996) and Sistemul
de credit romanesc din Transilvania. 1872-1918 (The Romanian System
of Credit in Transylvania, 1872-1918) (Petru Maior University Press,
1999). Bioprofile: Lucian Giura teaches modern history and the history
of Central and South-East Europe at the University of Alba-Iulia
and he is also dean of the Faculty of History and Patrimony at Lucian Blaga
University in Sibiu. Among his recent books are Pe urmele lui Stephan
Ludwig Roth (Tracing Stephan Ludwig Roth) (Lucian Blaga University
Press, 1999), Marturii germane privind Razboiul de Independenta al Romaniei.
1877-1878 (German Testimonies about Romania's War of Independence,
1877-1878) (Lucian Blaga University Press, 2002).
1.7.4 Ploesteanu, Nicolae-Dragos (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures,
Romania) and Adrian-Vasile Boanta (Petru Maior University, Targu
Mures, Romania): "Aspects of Copyright in post-1989 Romania." Abstract:
In their co-authored paper, "Aspects of Copyright in post-1989 Romania,"
Nicolae-Dragos Ploesteanu and Adrian-Vasile Boanta discuss aspects of copyright
in post-1989 Romania with focus on issues of privacy and publishing in
literature. In the study, Ploesteanu and Boanta analyze selected results
of the implementation and practice of the new copyright laws in effect
since 1990. In case studies, they also explain aspects of privacy, copyright,
and the publishing of material guarded previously as in the cases of Mihai
Eminescu's correspondence with Veronica Micle and Liviu Rebreanu's memoirs,
etc. Bioprofile: Nicolae-Dragos Ploesteanu teaches economics and
public administration at Petru Maior University. Bioprofile: Adrian-Vasile
Boanta teaches economics and public administration at Petru Maior University.
1.7.5 Szogi, Laszlo (Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary <titkarsag@lib.elte.hu>):
"A survey of recent studies on Hungarian students abroad." Abstract:
In his paper, "A survey of recent studies on Hungarian students abroad,"
Laszlo Szogi begins with the history of study abroad by Central and East
European university education, a "pilgrimage" that was part of an intellectual's
university training in the region for centuries. Szogi explains that to
study abroad was formalized to achieve internationalization by the intellectuals
of "in-between peripheral" cultures of Europe, from the Scandinavian peninsula
to the Baltic Sea, from East Europe to the Balkans. With regard to Hungary,
in the last decade the study of the said phenomenon has been continued
and there are several projects in place for the study of Hungarian students
abroad. Szogi with a group of scholars plans to to publish an all-comprising
repertoire of Hungarian and Transylvanian academic pilgrimage in
Central Europe between 1526 and 1919. Organized by regional and chronological
criteria, the results of the project will contain data about 80.000 enrolments
at various universities, with corresponding analyses of the data. Bioprofile:
Laszlo Szogi (<titkarsag@lib.elte.hu>)
teaches history at Eotvos Lorand University. Szogi has published numerous
books and papers on the history of higher education and libraries in Europe
and Hungary, including Magyarorszagi diakok a Habsburg Monarchia egyetemein
1790-1850 (Hungarian students at the universities of the Habsburg Monarchy
1790-1850) (1994) and Magyarországi diakok egyetemjárása
az ujkorban (Peregrinations of Hungarian university students in modern
times) (1994).
1.7.6 Zub, Alexandru (A.D. Xenopol Institute): "History, memory, and
morals in post-communist societies." Abstract:
18:00- Reception and Dinner
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Day 2 Friday 22 August 2003
8:30-9:30 Plenary Speech by Gaspar M. Tamas (Philosopher, Budapest, Hungary) / 9:30-10:00 Coffee Break
10:00-13:00 Day
2 Panel 8: Literature in Post-1989 Central and East Europe (Chair:
Carmen Andras)
2.8.1 Molnar, Sara (Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary, <msarah51@hotmail.com>):
"The changes of the textual 'I' in the works of Imre Kertesz." Abstract:
In her paper, "Changes of the textual 'I' in the work of Nobel in literature
2002 Imre Kertesz," Sara Molnar discusses the texts of Imre Kertesz in
the contexts of holocaust literature and the cultural and social aspects
of the Central Europe. Molnar arges that Kertesz offers an esthetical presentation
of both nazi totalitarianism and communism. In Molnar's reading, Kertesz
suggests in his texts that what has saved him from suicide as an Auschwitz
survivor -- in contra-distinction to Celan or Amery -- was exactly the
fact that even after the camp he was unable to have any further illusion
of freedom or democracy as other Auschwitz survivors in the West. From
this point of view Kertesz's origins and his Central European life experience
is of great importance in a literary analysis of his work: in a comparison
with texts by Semprun and Kolitz, for example, it is clear that while the
heroes of these authors talk about love, solidarity, friendship, and faithfulness
to God (Kolitz) which help to bear the tortures and to accept death, in
Kertesz's view these stories present only a rare exception of people who
did not lose their faith, and thus fail to present the real nature of the
holocaust where nothing remained untouched and stable. Bioprofile:
Sara Molnar's (<msarah51@hotmail.com>)
areas of interest and publications are in literary theory and the history
of literature and in Central European literature and culture. Molnar completed
in 2002 her doctorate with a dissertation on the work of Nobel in
Literature 2002 Imre Kertesz at the Lorand Oetvoes University in Budapest
and has published numerous articles in learned journals and magazines,
e.g., "Nobel in Literature 2002 Imre Kertesz's aesthetics of the holocaust"
in CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (2003): <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb03-1/molnar03.html>.
Molnar is currently a free-lance journalist and editor residing in Vienna
and Budapest.
2.8.2
Chiorean, Luminisa (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania, <luminitachi@yahoo.com>):
"Andrei Codrescu, candeur étrangère. Rétrospection
ou démarche sur l'identité poétique." Abstract:
Dans sa contribution Luminisa Chiorean explique le problématique
du poète entre de soi-même dans la structure narrative ou
descriptive, dont la matrice stylistique est donnée par l'helix
-- la spirale ou l'épreuve du labyrinthe, l'axis -- le chemin vers
le centre ou l'identité, l'exit, "la disparition de l’extérieur."
Andrei Codrescu -- poète roumain établi à New Orléans
aux Etats Unis -- écrit une poésie visionnaire d'une perspective
de la sagesse levantine balkanique de rapport avec la culture contemporaine
d'europe centrale: la protection de l'individu par l'histoire. Ambiguïté,
humour, paradoxe, parodique, introspection, mémoire ontologique,
anamnèse, séquence rétrospective, des armes à
survivre, tout cela à côté d'un caractère discursif,
le découpage des vers associés avec la technique mainstream
deviennent des instruments de l'écriture "prosastique" de l'orientation
retro du postmodernisme actuel en Europe centrale. Bioprofile: Luminisia
Chiorean (<luminitachi@yahoo.com>)
teaches linguistics and stylistics at Petru Maior University in Targu Mures.
She has published numerous papers in learned journals on linguistics.
2.8.3 Hudecova, Eva R. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA,
<hude0011@umn.edu>): "The commodifications
of imagination in Central and East Europe before and after 1989." Abstract:
Eva R. Hudecova, in her paper "The commodifications of imagination in Central
and East Europe before and after 1989," proposes that before the end of
communism, the Central and East European imagination was with the desire
to know, to travel, and to experience the world. While this construct of
imagined freedom allowed for coping with the realities of oppression and
lack of freedom, it was altered radically after the Velvet Revolution and
after 1989, Central and East Europe's embrace of Western consumerism in
excess resulted in the commodification of the individual in the region.
In the cultures of post-1989 Central and East Europe, the cosmopolitan
has become a commodity, a matter of consuming. Based on the theoretical
works of Ulf Hannerz, Timothy Brennan, and Zygmunt Bauman, Hudecova examines
the dynamics of consumerism and cosmopolitanism in Central and East Europe
and to underline her argumentation, she analyses Slavenka Drakulic's Cafe
Europa and How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed. Bioprofile:
Eva R. Hudecova is pursuing a Ph.D. in comparative literature at the University
of Minnesota. For her dissertation, Hudecova is compiling interviews with
Slovak,
Czech, and Hungarian intellectuals on topics ranging from their involvement
in the events of 1956, 1968, or 1989 to their views on the legacy and future
of Central and East European literature.
2.8.4 Doerfler, Thomas (University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany,
<thomas.doerfler@uni-bayreuth.de>):
"Berlin East, Berlin West, and a wall (in)visible." Abstract: In
his paper, "Berlin East, Berlin West, and a wall (in)visible," Thomas Doerfler
discusses post-1989 changes in the city of Berlin, east and west. Doerfler
proposes that social sciences scholarship in the states of the former East
Germany, owing to the fact that after 1990 all full professorships there
have been replaced by scholars from West Germany, has indulged far too
long in discussing the east-west divide while at the same time it appears
that some of the said phenomena persist. Although ethics, mentalities,
and "habitus" (Bourdieu) are products of social circumstances, we are confronted
with the phenomenon that these differences between the Germanies of east
and west are still in place albeit modified under the new circumstances
to two new and distinct cultures in the unified Germany. Bioprofile:
Thomas Doerfler (<thomas.doerfler@uni-bayreuth.de>)
studies social geography at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, and he
has published papers on Unamuno, Habermas, Lacan, and Foucault in various
learned journals.
2.8.5 Kennedy, Ellie (Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, <emkenne@attglobal.net>):
"East Germany before and after 1989 in Hensel's Tanz am Kanal."
Abstract:
In her paper, "East Germany before and after 1989 in Hensel's
Tanz am
Kanal," Ellie Kennedy analyses Kerstin Hensel's picaresque Wenderoman,
Tanz
am Kanal, a bleak yet spirited portrayal of East(ern) Germany before
and after the fall of communist rule in 1989-90. Kennedy situates the novel
and its double subject of its protagonist Gabriele and East(ern) Germany
at the intersection of tradition (the picaresque genre) and postmodernity
(performative theory), to illuminate its portrayal of discursive identity
formation. In her analysis, Kennedy employs performative theory to reveal
the construction of identity and to expose the regulatory mechanisms by
which norms for gender (and for race, class, etc.) both serve and conceal
social and political ends. Kennedy proposes that the protagonist of the
novel represents the apparently diametrically opposed normative systems
of capitalism and communism as in fact based in the same system of paternalistic
authoritarianism and therefore as equally repressive and where the protagonist's
ambivalent entry into a larger public forum mirrors the entry of the new
Eastern German states into Western discourse. Bioprofile: Ellie
Kennedy (<emkenne@attglobal.net>)
is working towards a Ph.D. in the Department of German at Queen's University,
where she is completing a dissertation entitled Genre Trouble: Performative
Theory and the Picaresque in Contemporary Women's Narrative. She has
published articles on Rousseau, Goethe, and on contemporary Austrian author
Lilian Faschinger. She has also written about graduate student activism
in Canada for both web and print journals.
2.8.6 Varnai, Paul (Independent scholar [retired], Ottawa, Canada,
<pali.eszter@axelero.hu>):
"Imre Kertesz and Holocaust Literature." Abstract: Paul Varnai examines
the novel Fateless by Nobel Laureate 2002 Imre Kertesz in the context
of Holocaust literature. Following a brief discussion of the Hungarian
holocaust, Varnai presents a survey of selected Hungarian and non-Hungarian
texts dealing with the holocaust. Through an analysis of linguistic and
narrative devices, Varnai intends to suggest the innovation and originality
Kertesz has given us in Fateless. Bioprofile: Paul Varnai
(<pali.eszter@axelero.hu>)
has taught Russian and East European literatures at Carleton University,
Ottawa, Canada, for over thirty years. He published extensively on Canadian,
Hungarian, Jewish, and Russian literatures and cultures, edited collections
of short stories and studies, and translated works of literature. More
recently, Varnai has focused on contemporary Hungarian-Jewish writing and
the experience of the holocaust.
2.8.7 Andras, Carmen (Gheorghe Sincai Institute, Targu Mures, Romania,
<carmen_andras@yahoo.com>):
"Romania and its images in contemporary British literature." Abstract:
In her paper, "Romania and its images in contemporary British literature,"
Carmen Andras analyzes with the theoretical framework of imagology the
continuity and discontinuity of dichotomous representations of Romania
in British literature, with particular focus on the post-1989 period. Andras
proposes that in the representations of Romania in British literature one
encounters impressions of similarity and the interchange of images and
counter images resulting in hybrid structures. According to Andras, Romania
is represented, similarly to previous periods, as a space of the "frontier"
and a "border," constructed from discurse of orientalism, Balkanism, and
exoticism. Andras's analysis includes texts of fiction such as by Helena
Drysdale, Paul Bailey, Alan Brownjohn, Barbara Wilson, Bel Mooney and travel
literature such as by Dervla Murphy, Alan Ogden, Georgina Harding, Anthony
Daniels, and Guy Arnold. Bioprofile: Carmen Andras (<carmen_andras@yahoo.com>)
is scientific researcher with the Gheorghe Sincai Research Institute for
Social Sciences and the Humanities of the Romanian Academy of Sciences
in Targu-Mures. In her work, Andras focuses on image studies within comparative
cultural studies and her recent publications include Romania si imaginile
ei in literatura de calatorie britanica. Un spatiu de frontiera
culturala (Romania and its images in British travel literature: a space
of cultural frontier) (Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 2002). Andras is a frequent
contributor to journals and magazines of culture such as Echinox, Observator,
Cultural, and Tribuna.
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10:00-13:00 Day
2 Panel 9: Chronotopes of Post-Socialist Identities (Chair:
Mihaela Irimia).
2.9.1 Pasca, Roman. "Space, time, and the re-writing of human maps
in post-1989 East Europe."
2.9.2 Naidut, Petruta. "Chronotopes of communist versus post-communist
identity/ies."
2.9.3 Marin, Irina. "The new imagined communities of East Europe."
2.9.4 Lungu, Arina. "Traps of memory in post-1989 East Europe."
2.9.5 Cotarlea,Delia and Ioana Jelea. "The past is another country
or the winter of discontent in post-1989 East Europe."
2.9.6 Ruscu, Beatrice, and Magda Musceleanu. "Alternative spaces of
memory in post-1989 East Europe."
2.9.7 Alama, Madalina, and Carmen Bogdan. "(Re)reading/writing and
forgetting: where is East Europe?"
2.9.8 Serban, Monica. "Unforgetting and the revenge of time in post-1989
East Europe."
2.9.9 Dragos, Ivana. "City space during the Ceausescu regime in Romania."
2.9.10 Baicoianu, Anca. "Abuses of memory during the communist regime
in Romania."
13:00-14:00 Lunch
14:00-17:00 Day
2 Panel 10: Culture, Translation, and Americanization in Post-1989 Romania
(Chair:
Virgil Stanciu)
2.10.1
Tusnea, Adriana (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania, <aditusnea@yahoo.com>)
and
Sorana Veres (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania,
<sorana_v@yahoo.com>): "The
cultures of American English and British English in post-1989 Romania."
Abstract:
In their co-authored paper, "The cultures of American English and British
English in Ppst-1989 Romania," Adriana Tusnea and Sorana Veres analyse
preferences of teachers and students of English in Romanian secondary education.
Based on a survey conducted in Targu Mures, Romania, in secondary schools
and at university, the authors propose that at least in the situations
surveyed there is a preference indicated by students for the use of American
English and that the differences between American and British English came
to be considered extremes, that is, British English appears to be preferred
in academic scholarly use and American English in spoken English. Bioprofile:
Adriana Tusnea (<aditusnea@yahoo.com>)
is lecturer at Petru Maior University in Targu Mures. Her interests include
literary studies and translation. Bioprofile: Sorana Veres (<sorana_v@yahoo.com>)
is lecturer at Petru Maior University in Targu Mures. Her interests include
cultural studies and literary translation.
2.10.2
Buda, Dumitru-Mircea (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania,
<dumitru_buda@hotmail.com>):
"A student's view of postmodernism in communist and post-communist Romania."
Abstract:
In his paper, "A student's view of postmodernism in communist and post-communist
Romania," Dumitru-Mircea Buda places the question of postmodernism in Romanian
culture in sociological and cultural contexts and compares postmodernism
in Romanian poetry and prose in politics and society. He argues that postmodernism
was adopted in order to satisfy writers' need of an "intellectual protest"
against Ceausescu's regime and that critics of postmodernism in fact ended
up supporting postmodernism in their texts. Buda also suggests that the
controversies about postmodernism in Romania resulted from perceptions
from an "inside" view. Buda includes in his analysis a student's view on
this potentially outdated, yet significant cultural debate, while at the
same time drawing attention to the exaggerations that were made at various
times. Bioprofile: Dumitru-Mircea Buda studies Romanian and English
at Petru Maior University. He has published papers and book reviews in
journals and magazines such as Vatra, Transilvania,
Luceafarul,
Bucovina
Literara, and Tarnava, as well as in the cultural pages of local
dailies. He has received literary prizes in national and international
poetry contests.
2.10.3
Stefanovici, Anda (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania, <andastefanovici@yahoo.com>)
and Ramona-Gabriela Hosu (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania,
<ramonahosu@yahoo.com>): "Romanian-British
co-operation in higher education after 1989." Abstract: In their
co-authored paper, "Romanian-British co-operation in higher education after
1989," Anda Stefonovici and Ramona-Gabriela Hosu discuss post-socialist
Romania's cultural and educational co-operation with Great Britain. Through
projects and programs initiated and supported by the British Council, English-language
teaching in Romania since the end of communist rule has undergone significant
developments at all levels. English, as a means of communicating with the
"outside" world, has become a tool of ideological and social change or
exchange. The authors explain that the Romanian-British co-operation in
the field of higher education focuses on the direct cooperation between
universities, the foundation of lectorates of British language, culture
and civilization, the setting up of language centers, exchanges of academic
staff, researchers, students, informational materials, as well as through
common projects. For example, Petru Maior University at Targu Mures, together
with the British Council, organized a symposium, The Writers' Seminar:
The Process of Writing, an event that completed a number of cultural
events Petru Maior University facilitated towards the improvement of British-Romanian
co-operation. Bioprofile: Anda Stefanovici (<andastefanovici@yahoo.com>)
teaches linguistics and American literature at Petru Maior University.
Stefanivici's interests and publications include papers on linguistics,
nineteenth-century American literature, and the visual arts. Bioprofile:
Ramona-Gabriela Hosu (<ramonahosu@yahoo.com>)
is working towards her doctorate in literature at Babes-Bolyai University
in Cluj-Napoca. Her interests include British and American literatures
and identity construction.
2.10.4
Peterlicean, Andrea (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania,
<andreap24@hotmail.ro>) and
Dana
Rus (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania, <dana_rus@personal.ro>):
"American software terminology in Romanian." In their co-authored paper,
"American software terminology in Romanian," Andrea Peterlicean and Dana
Rus discuss the invasion of American terminology in Romanian with a focus
on IT terminology. Examples are taken from parallel texts in either languages
and aim to prove how they have been copied into Romanian, in the absence
of Romanian equivalents. The lack of proper Romanian terms and expressions
can partly be accounted for by the low interest manifested by factors of
low decision making with regard to linguistic competencies. To be noted
are tendencies in accepting and assimilating American models such as pragmatism
and technological discourse. Bioprofile: Andrea Peterlicean (<andreap24@hotmail.ro>)
teaches in the Faculty of Engineering at Petru Maior University. Bioprofile:
Dana Rus (<dana_rus@personal.ro>)
teaches in the Faculty of Engineering at Petru Maior University.
2.10.5
Boncheva, Kita (Bulgarian-Romanian Interuniversity Europe Centre, Rousse,
Bulgaria, <harmony@elits.rousse.bg>):
"Cultures in transition in post-communist societies, case Bulgaria." Abstract:
In her paper, "Cultures in transition in post-communist societies, case
Bulgaria," Kita Boncheva begins with a brief elaboration on the concept
and notion of culture with regard to the arts, theatre, music, etc., in
a historical context. Boncheva proposes that definitions of culture vary
greatly based on empirical experience, behavior, belief and value systems,
symbolic capital, knowledge, attitudes, religions, concepts of the self
and the universe, relationships, hierarchies of status, role expectations,
social relations, time and space concepts, etc., and she argues for an
understanding of culture formation a dynamic process. In the second part
of the paper, Boncheva presents examples underlining her theoretical propositions
with aspects of society and culture in Bulgaria, in her view a proto-typical
post-communist country. Bioprofile: Kita Boncheva <harmony@elits.rousse.bg>)
is working towards an M.A. in European studies at the Bulgarian-Romanian
Interuniversity Europe Centre.
2.10.6 Stanciu, Virgil (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania <billstanciu@hotmail.com>):
"On cultural components in the translation of British and American fiction
into Romanian." Abstract: In his paper, "On cultural components
in the translation of British and American fiction into Romanian," Virgil
Stanciu discusses the difficulties encountered by the translator of literary
works when he/she has arrived at beyond linguistic differences and is obliged
to deal with the "cultural substratum." Stanciu examines the way in which
cultural differences generate translator strategies and he examines the
question both from a technical point of view and historically. For example,
in Romania translations undertaken before 1989 had to play down or elude
some cultural references and allusions. The case studies selected by Stanciu
are chosen from the author's personal experience in translation such as
E.L. Doctorow's The Book of Daniel, David Lodge's Changing Places,
and Ian McEwan's Atonement. Bioprofile:
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14:00-17:00 Day
2 Panel 11: Cultural Traditions in Central and East Europe and the Integration
of Europe (Chair: Ana Maria Dobre)
2.11.1 Covali, Andrei (European Institute of International Studies,
Nice, France, <acovali@wanadoo.fr>):
"The Russian factor in Black Sea geopolitics during the post-communist
period." Abstract: In his paper, "The Russian factor in Black Sea
geopolitics during the post-communist period," Andrei Covali discusses
main features of political and geographical realities generated by the
implosion of the USSR. Covali describes several aspects of the geopolitical
situation within the Black Sea region such as minorities within the region’s
countries, the unstable situation of security, the importance of Russia
for the region, etc., and proposes perspectives concerning the region's
future. Bioprofile: Andrei Covali (<acovali@wanadoo.fr>)
has a juridical background in international law and in European political
studies. He obtained M.A. degrees from the European Institute of International
Studies at Nice and at the College of Europe, Bruges. His main interest
relates to subjects such as the prevention of armed conflicts, for example
in Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh. Currently, he is at the European
Institute of International Studies, Nice, where he is working towards a
doctorate.
2.11.2
Kulahci, Erol (Institute for European Policy, Brussels, Belgium, <erol.kulahci@ulb.ac.be>):
"L'Union européenne, la Turquie et l'identité culturel."
Abstract:
Dans son étude "L'Union européenne, la Turquie et l'identité
culturel" Erol Kulahci commence avec la question de quelle mesure le cas
problématique de l'adhésion de la Turquie constitue un révélateur
de l'identité de l'Union européenne. Les trois questions
suivantes se posent. Est-ce que la Turquie fait partie d'un passé
commun européen? Est-ce que la Turquie est reprise dans les différents
projets politiques de l'UE? Quels traits la Turquie partage avec l'UE?
Après réponse à ces questions, Kulahci veux discuter
l'attitude des institutions européennes vis-à-vis de la Turquie
en considérent trois modèles. Le premier est le modèle
religieux. En particulier, dans quelle mesure l'argument judéo-chrétien
est valide pour expliquer l'attitude de l'UE vis-à-vis de la Turquie?
Le second touche au modèle réaliste des coûts et bénéfices.
En particulier, dans quelle mesure les coûts et bénéfices
sociaux, économiques et politiques expliquent l'attitude des membres
de l'UE? En dernier lieu, il propose l'argument de l'approche idéaliste.
Bioprofile:
Erol Kulahci (<erol.kulahci@ulb.ac.be>)
is currently academic assistant at the Institute for European Policy, Brussels.
He studied political science at the Free University of Brussels where he
obtained a doctorate from the Institute for European Policy. His publications
include papers on European political parties, public policies of the European
Union, and relations between the EU and candidate countries.
2.11.3
Banarescu, Monica (Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium, <mbanarescu@hotmail.com>).
"Cultural diversity versus economic solidarity." Abstract: In her
paper, "Cultural diversity versus economic solidarity," Monica Banarescu
argues that the European Community has become an important actor in the
global economic system and a dominant source for the development of its
member states and its citizens. Thus, the European Community faces the
challenge to achieve two objectives difficult to combine: to strengthen
the economic and social cohesion of the Community and to preserve its diversity.
The trend to the creation of a more homogeneous European space has always
been contrasted with the existence of a multiethnic and multi-cultural
Europe and the recognition of the persistence of cultural diversity within
the single nation-state has led to forms of decentralization and to more
regional autonomy in several European countries. Banarescu proposes that
while the ongoing European integration has and will continue to have an
impact on the lives of the individual citizens, diversity will remain,
and this will depend on the citizens' attitudes rather than on market size.
Bioprofile:
Monica Banarescu (<mbanarescu@hotmail.com>)
is a doctoral candidate at the Catholic University at Leuven. Previously,
Banarescu studied sociology and psychology at Western University in Timisoara,
Romania. Her interests include mass media culture and the elite in the
post-modern context in Romania. Banarescu participates in the multi-institution
team project IMPALLA on social policy analysis.
2.11.4
Coman, Ramona (European Studies, Brussels, Belgium <ramona.coman@ulb.ac.be>):
"L'Impact de l'européanisation sur les partis politiques roumains."
Abstract:
Ramona Coman présente "L'Impact de l'européanisation sur
les partis politiques roumains": dix ans après la chute du communisme
les partis politiques des PECO restent un sujet de recherche à la
fois complexe et mouvant, qui soulève un grand nombre de questions
méthodologiques, théoriques et empiriques. La difficulté
d'analyse de ces formations partisanes détermine les auteurs à
utiliser une large palette de critères afin de pouvoir esquisser
les réalités de la région. La contribution de Coman
-- focalisée sur le cas roumain -- poursuit un double objectif:
présenter les formations partisanes roumaines à la lumière
de la coopération pan-européenne des partis politiques et
analyser l'impact de l'intégration européenne (comme source)
ou l'impact de l'européanisation (comme effet) sur ces acteurs nationaux.
La question de recherche à laquelle Coman s'addresse s'agit de répondre
est la suivante: comment l'européanisation affecte-elle les formations
partisanes roumaines? Dans le cadre de cette recherche Coman propose de
vérifier dans quelle mesure l'appartenance à un parti européen
influence le discours, l'identité et l'organisation des partis politiques
roumains. Bioprofile: Ramona Coman (<ramona.coman@ulb.ac.be>)
works towards an M.A. at the Institute for European Studies in Brussels.
Previously, she studied political science in at the University of Bucharest.
Her interests include European parties such as the Green Party and the
Romanian participation in international organisations and institutions.
Concurrently, Coman holds an internship at the European Parliament in Brussels
where she works on issues of the European Convention and financial and
legal aspects of political parties in member and candidate states.
2.11.5
Brett, Daniel (University College London, London, United Kingdom <danbrett24@aol.com>):
"The revival of radical movements in Poland and Romania since 1989." Abstract:
In his paper, "The revival of radical movements in Poland and Romania since
1989," Daniel Brett examines the growth and political success of radical
parties such as Partidul Romania Mare in Romania and SamoObrona in Poland
since 1989. Utilising Weber's notions of the role of culture in class and
party, Brett analyses peasant-based political movements within the historical
and cultural contexts of radical movements in Romania and Poland. Comparing
and contrasting the success of such movements, Brett argues that such parties
are the heirs to a tradition of a specifically East European radicalism,
a tradition of radicalism that extends back to the nineteenth century as
well as the inter-war and immediate post war period. Further, Brett compares
in his paper the specific cultural and political elements of radical discourses
and the cultural causes of the success of these movements in the post-1989
political environment and prior to European Union accession. Bioprofile:
Daniel Brett (<danbrett24@aol.com>)
is working towards his doctorate at the School of Slavonic and East European
Studies, University College London. His dissertation topic is the role
of peasant parties in the transition to communism in Poland and Romania
between 1944 and 1947.
2.11.6 Dobre, Ana Maria (Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium, <anamaria.dobre@soc.kuleuven.ac.be>):
"Cultural traditions in post-1989 Central and East Europe and European
Integration." Abstract: In her paper, "Cultural traditions in post-1989
Central and East Europe and European Integration," Ana Maria Dobre discusses
constructions of history in Romania and investigates the relationship between
myths, national identity building, and state ideology. Dobre's theoretical
framework for the analyis of her topic is the constructivist approach whereby
national identity is understood as an elitist construction on the basis
of "institutional or ideological frameworks, which offer simple formulas
of identity, and diagnoses of contemporary problems, to otherwise confused
and insecure individuals" (Brown). From this perspective, historical myths
provide the basis for national identity when it is employed by intellectual
and political elites. Her sources include such as literature, historical
writings, travel accounts, and political texts from the nineteenth to the
twentieth centuries. Dobre also analyses the political culture of present-day
Romania and proposes that it is trapped between the mythical- ideological
representation of the state and the occidental model of statehood to be
revised in the light of the European Union's integration and enlargement
processes. Bioprofile: Ana Maria Dobre (<anamaria.dobre@soc.kuleuven.ac.be>)
is working towards her doctorate at the Catholic University of Leuven.
Her dissertation topic is the Europeanisation of Romanian regional policies.
Previously, she studied at the University of Bucharest and at the Free
University of Brussels, and she obtained an M.A. in policy studies from
the College of Europe, Bruges. In her publications, Dobre focuses on minority
policies in countries of the enlargement process of the European Union.
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14:00-17:00 Day
2 Panel 12: Visual Media and Music in Post-1989 Central and East Europe
and Beyond (Chair: Magdalena Marsovszky)
2.12.1 Dolidze, Zviad (Shota Roustaveli Institute of Theatre and Film,
Tbilisi, Georgia <eliso@geo.net.ge>):
"Georgian cinema in the post-Soviet period." Abstract: Zviad Dolidze
proposes in his paper, "Georgian cinema in the post-Soviet period," that
in post-1990 Georgia the new political, social, and economic events influenced
the development of the Georgian cinema industry negatively. For example,
both film production and the number of cinemas diminished while despite
this negative turn Georgian cinematographers succeed in creating a new
and original film culture and the statistics of Georgian films produced
1991-2001 received more international awards than previously. However,
these successes do mean that these films are "better"; rather, it means
that in the period discussed Georgian films experienced a higher level
of international exposure. Compared with other post-Soviet countries, in
Georgia there appears less struggle between the new and the old generation
of cinematographers. Further, in his paper Dolidze explores the cinematographic
features of the post-Soviet period of Georgian cinema with particular attention
to the new generation of cinematographers and their film production. Bioprofile:
Zviad Dolidze (<eliso@geo.net.ge>)
teaches film studies at the Shota Roustaveli Institute. Dolidze has published
two books and numerous articles on the history of film in Georgia and on
film theory, analysis, and criticism.
2.12.2 Deltcheva, Roumiana (Montreal, Canada, <rdeltche@yahoo.com>):
"Slavi's Show: a paradox in post-1989 East European television culture."
Abstract:
In her paper, "Slavi's Show: a paradox in post-1989 East European television
culture," Roumiana Deltcheva discusses aspects of the last decade's post-totalitarian
restructuring in Central East Europe. As a paradigm of the post-totatlitarian
changes in the region, Deltcheva analyses an example of the redistribution
of media space. Starting with printed media, the redistribution of the
media landscape culminated in the launching of private TV channels and
cable television, thus a polyphonic rendition of what once had been a fossilized
epic space in the previous decades of the totalitarian organization of
media. "Slavi's Show," launched in 2000, can be seen as a mini-model of
Bulgaria's state of "inbetween peripherality": genre-wise, it is a result
of the former socialist-style variety show blended with the North American
"talk-show" formula. In terms of content, it often verges on the obscene,
with sometimes homophobic and racist overtones; however, the guests of
the show are often celebrities, writers, performers, political figures,
actors, etc., in other words, representatives of "high culture" with national
and at times with international recognition. What is unique is the fact
that this is Bulgaria's top-rated show since its beginning and that its
viewership transcends age, social, political, cultural, or ethnic boundaries,
and that this encompassing impact appears to be directly connected to the
popularity of the show's host, Slavi. In her paper, Deltcheva discusses
the cultural implications of the programme in a comparative framework.
Bioprofile:
Roumiana Deltcheva, after receiving a Ph.D. in comparative literature at
the University of Alberta, is now an independent scholar working in the
field of new media technology in Montreal, Canada. With numerous publications,
Deltcheva engages in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research in literature,
film, and print media. Over the past decade, she has focused in particular
on the cultural paradigms defining East Central Europe in the post-totalitarian
years.
2.12.3 Raicu, Elena (Laval University, Quebec, Canada, <elena_raicu@yahoo.com>):
"Le Film documentaire anthropologique en Roumanie d'aujourd'hui." Abstract:
Dans sa contrubition "Le Film documentaire anthropologique en Roumanie
d'aujourd'hui" Elena Raicu explique que l'anthropologie culturelle que
discipline d'étude est apparue en Roumanie assez récemment
et qu’elle n’est pas encore présente de manière explicite
dans des programmes universitaires. Bien que la recherche ethnologique
et ethnographique ait produit des recherches de référence
pour le terrain roumain, l'anthropologie culturelle, avec ses multiples
spécialités (politique, sociale, religieuse, visuelle etc.)
reste encore une discipline pratiquée de manière implicite,
tout en utilisant les instruments des sciences sociales, mais sans rigueur
et précision. Le film documentaire anthropologique représente
le regard critique qu’une société fait l’effort de le porter
sur elle-même et, en fin de compte, un geste de maturité sociale,
de capacité de porter le miroir sur son propre corps comme un geste
habituel, nécessaire. Bioprofile: Elena Raicu (<elena_raicu@yahoo.com>)
works towards a Ph.D in political science at Laval University. Her interests
include cultural anthropology with focus on visual media and social and
political indentity representation in communist and post-communist societies.
2.12.4 Pop, Dorina (College of the Arts, Targu Mures, Romania, <sdorin@fx.ro>):
"La musicologie en Roumanie d'aujourd'hui." Abstract: Dans son étude
"La musicologie en Roumanie d'aujourd'hui" Dorina Pop présente une
étude d'état contemporain de la musicologie en Roumanie.
Pop se propose la comprehension de l'art dans un contexte nouveau, en méditant
à la relation
présent-avenir, un contexte caractérisé
par la tendance generale vers la diversité et la difference. La
diversité apporte un nouveau sens dynamique pour les frontièrs
entre l'art et l'existence. Le fait "d’être critique," de "procéder
critiquement" du point de vue de l'esthétique hermeneutique oriente
vers un dialogue avec les essences embrassant l'idée comme réalité
ontologique qui se trouve dans un espace virtuel. Ceux qui pensent, du
poit de vu postmoderne le pont entre la philosophie et la critique, adherent
methodologiquement et théoriquement à l'argument herméneutique
par le concept de la pensée remémoratoire. L'herméneutique
postmoderne s'attache à la dynamique de "la nouvelle science" comme
hermeneutique ontologique. La recherche de la nouvelle critique se place
au point convergent de l'art -- de la science et de la philisophie. Le
langage hermeneutique, critique, dialogue avec le langage symbolique, significatif
de l'oeuvre d'art. La dialogue neorhétorique avec l'oeuvre d'art
implique la dimension neostructuraliste du texte comme "structure vivante."
L'approche de l'idée au centre ontologique originaire place le dialogue
hermeneutique au delà de la rigueur scientifique, limitative des
operations du formalisme. Dans le jeux parmi le texte et l'être de
l'esthéticien, le texte a la fonction de "proposer" par l'appel
au dialogue hermeneutique. Bioprofile: Dorina Pop teaches music
at the College of the Arts in Targu Mures. With a doctorate in music received
from the Gheorghe Dima Academy of Music at Cluj-Napoca in 1999, Pop's dissertation
is about the hermeneutics and ontology of the creation of music.
2.12.5 Boros, Daniel (Gheorghe Sincai Institute, Targu Mures, Romania,
<icsu_ms@fx.ro>): "Imagology in post-1989
Romanian and Hungarian cinema." Abstract: In his paper, "Imagology
in post-1989 Romanian and Hungarian cinema," Daniel Boros presents a case
study of imagology based on recent Romanian and Hungarian films. Among
several aspects of the films, Boros analyses symbolic representation of
the capital cities of the two countries where Budapest is shown, for instance,
with mythological attributes while Bucharest is shown in darker imagery,
following the realist school of French film making. Bioprofile:
Daniel Boros (<icsu_ms@fx.ro>) is
working towards a doctorate in European studies at Babes-Bolyai University
at Cluj-Napoca. He is researcher at the Gheorghe Sincai Research Institute
for Social Sciences and the Humanities at Targu Mures and teaches seminars
in modern Romanian history at Petru Maior University, also at Targu Mures.
to top of page / to start of conference program
14:00-17:00 Day
2 Panel 13: Media and Culture in Post-1989 Central and East Europe (Chair:
Steven Totosy de Zepetnek)
2.13.1 Heintz, Monica (Max Planck Institute, Halle, Germany,
<heintz@eth.mpg.de>): "Post-Socialist
Romanian Media, Culture, and 'Mentalities'." Abstract: In her paper,
"Post-Socialist Romanian Media, Culture, and 'Mentalities'," Monica Heintz
discusses the use of the concept and term "mentalities" in Romanian media
in 1999-2000. Heintz's bases her analysis on data collected in field work
and based on participant observation 1999-2000 in Bucharest. The electoral
campaign, TV debates, politicians' discourses, and opinion polls from the
period emphasized "Romanian mentalities" linked to work as being the main
obstacle to economic development. Heintz reviews this popular position
and analyses the issues at stake such as the significance of the use of
the term "mentalities" as opposed to the use of the term "culture," favored
by social anthropologists. In her analysis, Heintz includes notions of
the importance of the implicit comparison with the West as manifested in
the debates about Romanian-ness. Bioprofile: Monica Heintz (<heintz@eth.mpg.de>)
conducts research in social anthropology at the Max Planck Institute at
Halle, Germany. Heintz received a doctorate in social anthropology from
the University of Cambridge, with a dissertation on work ethic in post-socialist
Romania. Heintz begins fieldwork for her new project on the role of the
Orthodox church in moral education in Romania and the Republic of Moldova,
in August 2003.
2.13.2
Tereskinas, Arturas (Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania,
<a.tereskinas@smf.vdu.lt>):
"Sexual minorities, mass media, and civil society in post-1989 Lithuania."
Abstract:
In his paper, "Sexual minorities, mass media, and civil society in post-1989
Lithuania," Arturas Tereskinas focuses on the ways in which sexual minorities
are represented in Lithuanian mass media. Tereskinas examines how discourses
about sex, sexuality, and sexual outsiders intersect with other discourses,
particularly those of nation, citizenship, and civil society. Examining
the effects of electronic and print media on the development of multicultural
civil society, Tereskinas assesses the role and impact of the mass media
on tolerance building and the integration of sexual minorities into public
life. Bioprofile: Arturas Tereskinas (<a.tereskinas@smf.vdu.lt>
received a Ph.D. in cultural history at Harvard University in 2000. Since
2000, he teaches social and cultural theory at the Department of Sociology
of Vytautas Magnus University, where he is director of the V. Kavolis Center
for Interdisciplinary Studies. His publications include Bodily Marks:
Sexuality, Identity and Space in Lithuanian Culture (Vilnius 2001)
and he edited Intimate Places, Public Lives: Body, Fantasy and Publicity
in Contemporary Lithuania (Vilnius 2002) as well as papers on sexuality,
identity, nationalism, popular culture, and mass media.
2.13.4 Marinova, Ekaterina Alexandrova (CARE Bulgaria, Sofia, Bulgaria,
<katya.marinova@care-bg.org>
& <katyamail@abv.bg): "The
media and its images of persons with disabilities in post-1989 South European
cultures." Abstract: In her paper, "The media and its images of
persons with disabilities in post-1989 South European cultures," Ekaterina
Alexandrova Marinova proposes that the collapse of the communist system
has lead to major changes for a significant number of social groups that
have remained hidden during the communist era. Marinova analyses the media
presence of persons with special needs based on data collected in 2001
to 2003 in Romanian, Bulgarian, and Macedonian media (radio and television).
The analysis extends to the study of how participants of different nationalities
have been interacting and cooperating with the media. Bioprofile:
Ekaterina Alexandrova Marinova (<katya.marinova@care-bg.org>and
<katyamail@abv.bg) is project
manager with CARE Bulgaria where she is responsible for the improvement
of social services. Previously a newspaper reporter, Marinova's interests
are in the field of integrating and mainstreaming persons with disabilities,
with focus on the cooperation between civil and non-governmental organisations.
Marinova has also worked in the rehabilitation and social integration of
persons with disabilities for Bulgarian Council of Ministries.
2.13.5 Radu, Bostan (Moldova State University, Chisinau, Republic
of Moldova, <bostancik@hotmail.com>):
"Culture and the mass media in post-1989 Moldova." Abstract: In
his paper, "Culture and the mass media in post-1989 Moldova," Bostan Radu
discusses how the Moldovian press and media represent cultural phenomena
and analyses the ways the press and media influence the population's views
and manipulate public opinion. Radu's analysis includes aspects of the
press and media in various domains such as politics and social life in
general and culture in particular. His analysis is relevant to the social,
political, and cultural processes in the transitional societies of the
former Soviet empire. Bioprofile: Radu Bostan studies sociology
and philosophy at Moldova State University. He is active in work for refugees
and displaced persons in various organizations in collaboration with the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees in the Republic of Moldova.
His interests include mass media culture in Moldova, Romania, the Ukraine,
and Bulgaria.
2.13.6
Totosy de Zepetnek, Steven (University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
and Boston, USA, <totosy@medienkomm.uni-halle.de>):
"Nobel in Literature 2002 Imre Kertesz in the German, Hungarian, Canadian,
and US media." Abstract: In his paper, "Nobel in literature 2002
Imre Kertesz in the German, Hungarian, Canadian, and US media," Steven
Totosy discusses the media coverage of Nobel in Literature 2002 Imre Kertesz
in the contexts of anti-Semitism and holocaust literature. Of particular
attention in the paper is the situation of anti-Semitism in Hungary since
the fall of communism in 1989 while in Germany the context is the Reich-Ranicki
and Walser affairs whose literary, political, and historical dimensions
prove relevant to the Kertesz coverage. With regard to media coverage of
the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature and Imre Kertesz in the US and Canada
focus is on the difference in coverage in content and form when compared
with the German and Hungarian coverage. The material of the presentation
is based on newspaper, television, radio, and worl wide web sources, including
statements and interviews with Kertesz, as well as on public statements
by other notables of the Hungarian, German, and North American cultural
landscape. Bioprofile: At the University of Alberta, Canada,
1984-2000, Steven Totosy de Zepetnek (<http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/totosycv.html>
/ <totosy@medienkomm.uni-halle.de>)
teaches comparative media and culture studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg,
Germany. Totosy is author of numerous books and papers in a number of fields
of the humanities and the social sciences, including comparative culture,
literature, and media studies, European and Canadian cultures and literatures,
diaspora and ethnic literatures, communication studies, history, etc. He
is founding editor of the Purdue University Press journal CLCWeb: Comparative
Literature and Culture <http://clcwebjournal.lib.purdue.edu/>
and of the Purdue series of Books in Comparative Cultural Studies <http://www.thepress.purdue.edu/series/compstudies.asp>.
18:00- Reception and Dinner
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Day 3 Saturday 23 August 2003
8:30-9:30 Plenary Speech by Keith Hitchins (Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA) / 9:30-10:00 Coffee Break
10:00-12:30Day
3 Panel 14: European East, European West, and Post-1989 Romanian Literature
(Chair:
Iulian Boldea)
3.14.1. Ciocarlie, Livius (University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France):
"Cioran et les Roumains." Abstract: Dans son étude "Cioran
et les Roumains" Livius Ciocarlie propose que tout en placant le problème
du débat entre les adepts de la modernisation et de l'europenisation
et, d'autre part ceux de la tradition et de les racins europeennes de la
Roumanie, l'inversion de l'attitude de Cioran à l'égard des
Roumains. Pendant sa jeunesse bucarestoise, marquée par les idées
européennes de l'époque (non pas de l'Europe democratique),
Cioran méprise les Roumains pour leur traditionalisme de type ésthique.
Plus tard, en France, il assumera les traits condamnés dans le changement
du visage de la Roumanie, tout en voyant ici son méssage culturel,
la contribution roumaine au patrimoine universel. Bioprofile: An
author and literary critic, Livius Ciocarlie, formerly at the University
of Timisoara, teaches literature at the University of Bordeaux.
3.14.2 Musina, Alexandru (Transilvania University, Brasov, Romania):
"Post-1989 Romanian literature between East and West." Abstract:
In his paper, "Post-1989 Romanian literature between East and West," Alexandru
Musina explains that the paradox of Romanian literature (and culture) is
that although written literature in Romanian arrived relatively late, it
sees itself as mature, even old, "decadent," and lately "postmodern." In
this perception certain historical factors appear to be missing, such as
the relative lack of literacy, the late appearance of Romanian universities
after 1860, entire areas with a strictly folk-cultural existence until
the last decades, etc. Also, the majority of important writers of the nineteenth
century and in the first decades of the twentieth century were schooled
abroad, in foreign languages (e.g., Eminescu, Maiorescu, Hasdeu, Slavici,
Rebreanu etc.). Musina presents several examples of the East-West loci
of Romanian authors to demonstrate an important problematic of Romanian
culture and literature. Bioprofile: Formerly a secondary school
educator, Alexandru Musina teaches comparative literature and folklore
at Transilvania University in Brasov. Among his book publications are Unde
se afla poezia? (Where is the poetry?) (1996), Paradigma poeziei
moderne (The paradigm of modern poetry) (1996), and Sinapse
(Synapses) (2001). Musina is editor of the literary magazine Interval.
3.14.3 Stefanescu, Dorin (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania):
"Le Dialogue des cultures: entre integration et édification." Abstract:
Dans son étude "Le Dialogue des cultures: entre integration et édification"
Dorin Stefanescu se propose en partant de l'affirmation de Gadamer, selon
lequel "le dialogue survient toujours la ou quleque chose accédé
à la parole," d'interpreter le statut definitoire des cultures
comme un heritage de la parole dont la verité doit être dite
et recrée de chacun. Statut ambigu parce qu'il ne devoilé
pas seulement un acte singulier mais aussi une interaction complexe entre
la tradition et l'inovation, entre ce qu'il dit et ce qu'il fait, entre
l'édification de soi et l'integration dans l'horizon du dialogue.
Mais surtout, la ou la culture est dire de la liberté, elle est
l'articulation d'une conscience de la co-presence en diversité.
De sorte que le dialogue des cultures ne pose pas seulement un problème
de langage, mais aussi -- surtout -- un problème de comprehension
et d'interpretation. Par la suite, sa "verité" naît une question
hermeneutique: comment se met en lumière le sens de l'identité
et de l'édification culturelles dans la perspective d'une integration
relaxée? Bioprofile: Dorin Sefanescu teaches hermeneutics
at Petru Maior University in Targu Murres. Stefanescu is also pursuing
a doctorate in literature at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. He
is a member of the Romanian Writers' Association and author of numerous
books, including Hermeneutica sensului (The hermeneutics of the
senses), Sensul si imaginea (Sens and image), and Prezenta si
intelegere (Presence and comprehension).
3.14.4 Martin, Mircea (University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania):
"Un problème d'identité culturelle: l'Europe vue de l'Est."
Abstract:
Dans son étude "Un problème d'identité culturelle:
l'Europe vue de l'Est" Mircea Martin explique que dans une époque
ou il y a des heurts entre les civilisations mais surtout des rencontres
fécondes entre les civilisations, ou la question identitaire est
assumée ou actualisée sur le plan le plus inattendu il est
peut-être utile de méditer non seulement à l'image
de la Roumanie en Europe et dans le monde (une obsession presque maladive),
mais aussi à la manière dans laquelle le monde et l'Europe
se reflète dans la conscience publique roumaine d'après 1989.
L’auteur se propose d'analyser l'image de l'Europe dans la presse, dans
la littérature et dans le discours politique de Roumanie. Bioprofile:
Mircea Martin teaches literary theory at the University of Bucharest. His
many publications include Generatie si creatie (Generation and creation),
Dictiunea
ideilor (The diction of ideas), Critica si profunzime
(Criticism
and depth),
George Calinescu si "complexele" literaturii romane
(George Calinescu and the problems of Romanian literature), and Singura
critica (Criticism in the singular).
3.14.5
Braga, Ion (Free International University of Moldova, Chisinau, Republic
of Moldova, <ionbraga@yahoo.com>):
"L'Iinfluence des stéréotypes ethniques dans les sociétés
post-socialiste (Roumanie et la République de la Moldavie)." Abstract:
Ion Braga explique dans sa contribution "L'Iinfluence des stéréotypes
ethniques dans les sociétés post-socialiste (Roumanie et
la République de la Moldavie)" une analyse du concept du stéréotype
ethnique dans la conscience sociale des peuples de l’espace post totalitaire
et de faire un étude comparative de l'influence sur les relations
interethnique en Roumanie et dans la Moldavie. Comment est-ce que nous
pouvons déterminer l’influence de l’image dont une nation l'a envers
un autre people sur leurs relations réciproques? Sont les
stéréotypes une vraie source des conflits régionales
interethnique? Les réponses peuvent nous aider de conclure si les
sources et l'influence des stéréotypes ethniques sont communes
pour la société moldave et roumaine, ou les conséquences
sont différentes. En développant cette argumentation Braga
utilise des méthodes analytiques et comparatives. Bioprofile:
Ion Braga <ionbraga@yahoo.com>)
studies international relations at the Free International University of
Moldova. His interests include the study of nations and nationalism in
post-communist Europe and perspectives of utopian thought.
3.14.6 Boldea, Iulian (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania,
<iulianboldea@yahoo.fr>):
"Le Miroir brisé. L'Ecriture autobiografique et l'histoire dans
l'Europe Centrale et de l'Est d'après 1989." Abstract: Dans
sa présentation "Le Miroir brisé. L'Ecriture autobiografique
et l'histoire dans l’Europe Centrale et de l'Est d'après 1989" Iulian
Boldea se propose de mettre en evidence les tendances et les dimensions
de l'écriture autobiografique dans la littérature roumaine
d'après 1989, étant donné que ce genre littéraire
a connu un remarquable développement dans cette époque. Notre
demarche est une demarche comparative, puisque nous voulons interpreter
des oeuvres par écrivains roumains et des oeuvres par autres écrivains
de l'Europe Centrale et de L'Est, pour mieux comprendre la dimension autobiografique
de la littérature roumaine contemporaine. Le moi qui ne cesse pas
de se contempler dans le miroir du texte prend, cependent, une certaine
distance de cet acte de réflexion et il a la tendance de ne plus
se reconnaître dans son propre passé ou dans son propre texte.
De ce point de vue, l'écriture autobiografique après 1989
n'est pas l'invocation d'une image idéale, d'une projection mythique
du propre moi, mais l'évocation d'un moi qui cherche sans cesse
sa propre identité, sa propre personnalité. Bioprofile:
Iulian Boldea teaches literature at Petru Maior University in Targu Mures.
He has published books and numerous texts in literary and scholarly journals.
His book publications in literary criticism include Metamorfozele textului
(Les Métamorphoses du texte), Fata si reversul textului (La
Face et le revers du texte), Dimensiuni critice (Dimensions critiques),
Timp
si temporalitate in opera lui Mihai Eminescu (Temps et temporalité
dans l'oeuvre de Mihai Eminescu), and Scriitori romani contemporani
(Ecrivains roumains contemporains). Boldea is editor of Vatra, a
journal for culture.
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10:00-12:30 Day
3 Panel 15: Criticism and Literary Theory in Post-1989 Romania
(Chair:
Alexandru Cistelecan)
3.15.1 Cordos, Sanda (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania,
<sandacordos@yahoo.fr>): "La
Prose roumaine d'après 1989 et le monde postcommuniste." Abstract:
Dans son étude "La Prose roumaine d'après 1989 et le monde
postcommuniste" Sanda Cordos fait une investigation de la prose roumaine
d'après 1989, dans ses tentatives de proposer des images du nouveau
monde postcommuniste. Y sont inventaires les difficultés que les
écrivains ont thématisées et puis les "propositions
du réel" configurées dans les livres que nous pouvons inscrire
dans ce thème. Nous pouvons observer, également, les differences
de vision, sujet, type de personnage, etc., tels qu'ils apparaissent chez
des écrivains assez différents -- de Tepeneag à Vakulovski.
Bioprofile:
Sanda Cordos (<sandacordos@yahoo.fr>)
teaches literary theory, the sociology of literature, and poetry at Babes-Bolyai
University in Cluj-Napoca. Her book publications include Literatura
intre revolutie si reactiune (Literature between revolution and reaction),
a critical volume on Alexandru Ivasiuc, and numerous papers in journals
suc as Echinox, Tribuna, Vatra, Steaua, Apostrof, Familia,
etc.
3.15.2
Pop, Ion (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania): "La Nouvelle
poésie roumaine après 1989 et le neomodernisme poétique."
Abstract:
Dans son étude "La Nouvelle poésie roumaine après
1989 et le neomodernisme poétique" Ion Pop met en discussion le
concept de neomodernisme employé dans les débats récents
dans la presse littéraire (surtout par les répresentants
de la generation '80), consideré en rapport avec le modernisme poétique
roumain du XXe siècle et avec les tendances de la poésie
des trois dernières décennies (motivation liée au
contexte socio-littéraire, élements de continuité
et de rupture sur le plan ésthetique, réevaluation, etc.).
Une attention particulière sera accordée à la diversification
des relations entre la poésie de la génération '80
et la poésie des années '60, aux heritages avangardistes
revues, aux ouvertures vers le postmodernisme manifestées avec des
nuances specifiques avant et après 1989. Bioprofile: Ion
Pop teaches Romanian literature at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca.
He is author of numerous books and papers in literary and critical theory
and Romanian and French literature, including Ore franceze (Heures
francaises), Nichita Stanescu. Spatiul si mastile poeziei (Nichita
Stanescu. L'Espace et les masques de la poésie), Jocul poeziei
(Le Jeu de la poésie), Ilarie Voronca. A scrie si a fi (Ilarie
Voronca. Ecrire et être), and Avangardismul in literatura roman?
(L'Avangardisme dans la littérature roumaine?). Pop is also translator
of texts by Georges Poulet, Starobinski, Génette, Todorov, etc.,
into Romanian.
3.15.3
Enache, Eugenia (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania): "L'Image
de l'intellectuel dans la presse culturelle roumaine d'après 1989."
Abstract:
Dans son étude "L'Image de l'intellectuel dans la presse culturelle
roumaine d'après 1989" Eugenia Enache propose que les "visages"
du statut de l'intellectuel refletés dans les articles qui considerent
cet aspect dans la presse culturelle roumaine d’après 1989. Il s'agit
de la condition de l'intellectuel à travers la periode postcommuniste,
ou l'intellectualité a été soumise a toutes sortes
d'influences, culturelles, ésthetiques et ideologiques, de l’Est
et de l’Ouest qu’elle a assimilées ou leur a opposé resistance
ayant comme resultat un intellectuel à visage double: l'un moderniste,
l'autre traditionnel, l'un tourné vers l'Ouest, l'autre vers l'autochton.
Bioprofile:
Eugenia Enache teaches French literature at the Al. Papiu Ilarian College
and at Petru Maior University, both in Targu Mures. She is also working
towards a doctorate in French-language Belgian literature at Babes-Bolyai
University in Cluj-Napoca.
3.15.4
Diaconu, A. Mircea (University of Suceava, Suceava, Romania, <mircea_a_diaconu@hotmail.com>):
"L'Ecrivain roumain Mihail Kogalniceanu et le modèle culturel européen."
Abstract:
Dans son étude "L'Ecrivain roumain Mihail Kogalniceanu et le modèle
culturel européen" Mircea A Diaconu se propose de délimiter,
au niveau théorique, les concepts de modernisme, modernité
et postmodernité, et aussi les rapports entre Orient et Occident,
la conséquence étant une nouvelle problématisation
du rapport entre la culture roumaine et le modèle européen.
Typologiquement, la culture roumaine d'après 1989 met en discussion
les mêmes problèmes que l'époque de 1848. Diaconu se
propose de souligner l'importance de l'oeuvre théorique de Mihail
Kogalniceanu pour l'affirmation du modéle européen dans la
culture roumaine. Bioprofile: Mircea A. teaches Romanian literature
at the University of Suceava. He has published numerous books including
Poezia
de la Gandirea (The poetics of Gandirea), Instantanee critice
(Instantanious criticism), Fetele poeziei. Fragmente critice (The
faces of poetry: Fragments of criticiam), and Poezia postmoderna
(Postmodern poetics).
3.15.5
Moraru, Cornel (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures, Romania, <vatra@fx.ro>):
"La Réception de l'oeuvre de Lucian Blaga après 1989." Abstract:
Dans son étude "La Réception de l'oeuvre de Lucian Blaga
après 1989" Cornel Moaru veut rélever et illustrer les traits
expressionistes de la poétique de Lucian Blaga en poésie
et en theâtre, des son début jusqu'a la maturité intellectuelle
et littéraire, et se propose, notamment, de souligner les plus importants
moments de la réception de l'oeuvre de Blaga après 1989.
Bioprofile:
Author and literary critic Cornel Moraru (<vatra@fx.ro>)
teaches literary theory and Romanian literature at Petru Maior University
in Targu Mures. He is author of numerous books on criticism including Textul
si realitatea (Text and reality), Semnele realului (Signs of
the real), and Obsesia credibilitatii (The obession with credibility).
Moraru is also editor and publisher of the literary journal Vatra.
3.15.6 Cistelecan, Alexandru (Petru Maior University, Targu Mures,
Romania, <vatra@fx.ro>): "La Réception
de la poésie de Tudor Arghezi après 1989." Abstract:
Dans son étude "La Réception de la poésie de Tudor
Arghezi après 1989" Alexandru se propose que l'écrivain Tudor
Arghezi a toujours été fasciné par le catholicisme.
Toutefois, comme poéte il est le répresentant le plus pur
de la substance orthodoxe. Cistelecan se propose de rélever la relation
intrapoétique de cette fascination et le fond de croyance orthodoxe.
Bioprofile:
An author and literary critic, Alexandru Cistelecan (<vatra@fx.ro>)
teaches literary criticism at Petru Maior University in Targu Mures. He
is also editor of the literary journal Vatra. Cistelecan has published
numerous books on Romanian literature including Poezie si livresc
(Poetics and books) and Celalalt Pillat (The other Pillat)
12:30- Excursion with lunch and dinner (sponsored by the County of Mures and the City of Targu Mures)
Day 4 Sunday 24 August 2003
8:30-9:30 Day 4 Closing Round-table discussion and summary of the conference with conference conveners Steven Totosy, Carmen Andras, Magdalena Marsovszky and conference panel chairs Andrej Skolkay, Jutta Hausmann, Antonio Eduardo Mendonca, John P. Jacob, Camil Muresan, Peter Hruby, Alexandru Zub, Mihaela Irimia, Virgil Stanciu, Ana Maria Dobre, Iulian Boldea, and Alexandru Cistelecan.
9:30-10:00 Farewell by conference hosts Grigore Ploesteanu, Director, Ghorghe Sincai Institute and Vasile Bolos, Rector, Petru Maior University
10:00 Participants' Departure
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