![ONE WAY TO MODERNITY. THE ROMANIAN URBANITY UNDER THE SIGN OF THE RAILWAY (1859-1918)](/api/image/getissuecoverimage?id=picture_2009_28171.png)
Keywords: Institutionalization of gender studies; Higher education; Gendering education; Mainstreaming gender; Integration vs.autonomy; Romania;
Research on the mechanisms, politics, and practices at work in the process institutionalization of women’s and gender studies in higher education in Central and Eastern Europe show a definite, albeit often uneven and sometimes precarious, dynamic of inclusion of this field of teaching and research, inside and outside officially recognized academic structures during the last two decades or so. In this article I investigate some of the institutional mechanisms, transnational higher education structures and interests, and personal investments and strategies that shape the current configuration of gender studies generally in higher education in Romania and particularly at the University of Bucharest. I argue that the inclusion of gender studies in higher education in Romania should be integrated within the larger, multiple and overlapping binds of national and transnational social, economic and political transformations started in the early 1990 s and accelerated at the end of the decade and especially at the beginning of the millennium. Within this framework, not only specific to the Romanian context, but, as shown in several studies, also to other Central and Eastern European countries, the annexation of gender-related concerns, equal opportunities legislation and gender studies as a valid field of teaching and research by various governmental and institutional agents in Romania could be read as part of the larger endorsement of the “democratization agenda.” However, it is necessary to understand these dynamics of institutional change and international financial and political interests as undoubtedly influencing local options and opportunities, but not always uniformly and unidirectionally informing the form and content of the teaching and research practices undertaken locally.
More...Keywords: cult of personality; propaganda; “secret” Speech; Gheorghiu-Dej.
The present paper analyzes the existence of a so-called “anti-communist attitude” manifested at the local level analyzing a particular case, that of Vasiliu Constantin, a Party activist from Constanţa. He contested, in April 1956, two months after N. S. Khrushchev’s “secret” Speech, delivered at the XXth Congress of the CPSU, the manner in which the most prominent members of the Romanian Workers’ Party and, above all, Gheorghiu-Dej, have chosen to understand the phenomenon called “cult of personality”. In other words, Vasiliu Constantin criticized, in a letter addressed to the members of the Central Committee of the RWP the entire Party leadership for the manner in which they defined the leader’s cult. This case becomes as interesting as the documents issued in the epoch highlight the existence of many other attitudes of this kind. Therefore, the questions we aim to answer are: how did the leaders of the Party understand to solve this problem? Which was the reason for which the event incorporated such a great importance? What could have happened if such critiques amplified their number? Our analysis is mainly based on documents from the National Archives of Romania. Moreover, for a better understanding of the topic, we have chosen to transcript the letter sent by Constantin Vasiliu and fragments from the discussions between the petitioner and Nicolae Ceauşescu, Petre Lupu and Ştefan Voicu, about the manner in which the communist leaders of the time understood his attitude towards the cult of personality.
More...Keywords: Greater Romania; history of criminology; Penal Law; medicalization; delinquency; Cesare Lombroso.
The present article deals with the scientific and political configuration of Criminal Law in Greater Romania, by focusing on three Criminal code projects (1928, 1933, 1934), together with the theoretical explanations that come along and political motivations that surface the penal discourse. Although Romania was victorious in the Great War, many analysts considered that the country was not yet “safe”, as further enemies were to be fought. The Criminal domain proves extremely important in the national venture of defense: the Criminal Code projects made in the epoch show a vivid preoccupation for “defending the society” (Foucault) from its internal enemies. I argue that the turbulent post-World War One social and political context and the success of the positivism-inspired Criminal law in interwar Europe, assumed explicitly or implicitly by the institutional actors involved, trigger significant changes in the Criminal law of interwar Romania. These changes, were part of a larger process of “somatization” (Cooter) that marks the modern culture and illustrate the process of medicalization of the Criminal law in Greater Romania.
More...Keywords: Free Thought; Dr. Constantin Thiron; Iași; Pre-War Romania; Faculty of Medicine; University of Iași.
The aim of this paper is to take into the light some unknown details upon the life and works of Constantin Thiron (1853-1924). Thiron was a professor at the Faculty of Medicine (University of Iași) and also a social militant (on the issues of alcoholism and tuberculosis, for instance). Though, his most remarkable actions were directed towards supporting the freethinking movement in Romania, and with this purpose he founded the National Association of Freethinkers in 1909 in his own house. Under the influence of Ernest Hackel he tried to promote the idea of monism in Romania. Also, Thiron strongly supported the separation between the State and the Church, often criticizing the Orthodox priests and believers, especially in Rațiunea journal. He died in 1924 and according to his will his burial was organized as civil funeral.
More...Keywords: FUNCTION OF ART; SOCIAL PARASITISM; CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE; ANARCHISM; ALIENATION / DE-ALIENATION OF ART
FROM ‘SOCIAL PARASITE’ TO ‘FAMOUS SAPPER’.THE ART OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. In the essay, there are two planes which collide: one concerning artistic practice of recent years considered as ‘parasitic’ in art (see: the symposium in Amiens in 2006), the second – de-alienating function of art as interpreted by Laurent Marissal, whose book (‘Pinxit: Painting from 1997 to 2003’Rennes, Éditions Incertain Sens, 2005) is under consideration here. Their aim is to link the issues which emerge from the clash with political and intellectual history in order to better grasp their meaning and relevance.In the first part of the essay, the notion of parasitism is interpreted through the prism of sinister, sometimes murderous consequences of ‘socialparasite’ – the ideas by the Nazis and the Soviets. It is confronted with references to parasitism in political economy (Adam Smith, Karl Marx,Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Stanislav Andreski). It turns out then that ‘socialparasite’ is not a idea, but an inconsistent set of contradictory meanings,which depend on the ideological point of view.In the second part, starting from the socio-economic context of the artist’s work, as well as the political implications of the use of the term ‘parasite’ in the context of art, the analysis of the artistic practice by Laurent Marissal leads to the historical reconstruction of the concept of alien-ationand ways of philosophical understanding of art as de-alienating experience. The reconstruction combines several philosophical traditions,including the following traditions: the writers of the Enlightenment (DenisDiderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Maxime de Robespierre, Friedrich Schiller),the philosophers of anarchism (Max Stirner, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon,Mikhail Bakounine, Leo Tolstoy), but also in a bit more surprising way, KarlMarx and Umberto Eco, whose theory of open work is in fact the answer to the question of alienation in the sense de-fined by Marx.Issues emerging from these analyzes combine both aesthetic and political consequences: civil disobedience (when freedom of speech leads artists to the edge of legality: Krzysztof Wodiczko, Alfredo Jaar, Francis Alÿs, Gianni Motti, Pierre Huyghe, clido Mereiles, etc.), de-alienation of the functionof art (aesthetic education by Schiller and/or political action – including in art – according to Marx’s theory?), the concept of time in the experience of alienation, especially in the case of artists whose paid work does not coincide with artistic activities (Witold Gombrowicz and other writer wrote about this problem), and finally the theory of property (based on the use or the possession ?, not-be-alienated property based on the right of the artist or to the unlimited right to own?). French term ‘jouissance’, having both the sense of the legal and existential, meaning both ‘right to use’ and ‘pleasure’ and even ‘orgasm’, is the subject of a fascinating analysis byDiderot in ‘Encyclopedia’.In 1997, Laurent Marissal was employed as a staff member to watch the collection of paintings at the Museum of Gustav Moreau; a situation typical for young artists, because Marissal just graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris. It is in this context he developed his idea and practice of art as a way of recovering the time sold to his employer, and he used unions as the instrument of that practice. In 2003, he resigned, and in 2005, he publishes ‘Pinxit: Paintings from 1997 to 2003’, as the document– story and expression of artistic experience, where art and work merge with life.
More...Keywords: foreign language teaching and learning; English as a foreign language; education; educational effectiveness research; foreign languages at school; language aptitude; second language acquisition
Many variables are related to success in foreign language teaching and learning. School characteristics as well as pupils' individual traits are both analysed in this paradigm. Yet, research results are often ambiguous. The aim of the article is to review the research on the efectiveness of foreign language teaching and learning. Special attention is devoted to school-related characteristics, as research on this topic is often less accessible than on individual characteristics. The results of the analyses points to techaer pre- and in-service training as one of the essential factors enhancing educational effectiveness.
More...Keywords: (birth/death) certificates; correlation; natural movement; parish archives; parish coercion; regression
The article presents the problem of registering certificates of the congregation of the Kazimierz Deanery outside the native parish. According to the accepted hypothesis the scale of the phenomenon depended on the distance between the nearest church and the place of residence. The research has been based on many sources. In total, the author shave examined the certificates from 13 out of 15 parishes making up the deanery of Kazimierz in the 18th century and additionally a few neighbouring parishes. The collected material has been analysed with the use of the GIS instruments. The results suggest that the scale of the phenomenon was not big. In the case of baptisms, the median of the children baptised outside their native parish was at the level of 3.1. No clear correlation between the number of baptisms and the distance has been detected. On the basis of the results it is possible to conclude that the decisive role in the choice of the place of administering sacraments was the so-called parish coercion. In order to obtain more precise data it seems necessary to enlarge the research basis with certificates from other parishes of the Lublin Voivodeship and to take into consideration a bigger number of the variables that influenced the scale of registering outside the native parish in the statistical analysis.
More...Keywords: Yugoslavia;Macedonia;Bulgaria;border gatherings
In this scientific report based on documentary material mainly from the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Central and the Blagoevgrad Regional Committee of the Communist Party, the authors attempt to present unfamiliar topic for border gatherings in Bulgarian-Yugoslav relations.
More...Keywords: Russian philology; Osip Mandelshtam (1891—1938); Iulian Oksman (1895—1970); biography;social history of Imperial Russia;
This article aims at describing, in detail, the life story of Iulian Oksman, the renowned expert of Russian 19th-century literature, from his birth in 1895 to his student years in Germany (1912—1913) and St. Petersburg University (1913—1917). The study is largely based on findings from the Central State Historical Archivein St. Petersburg. The documents introduced in the article verify Oksman’s exact birth date (January 5th, 1895, O. S.), and specify some details of his university studies. They also establish as April 29th, 1916 (O. S.), the previously unspecified date in the biography of Oksman’s fellow student, Osip Mandel’shtam: on that day, Oksman passed, and Mandel’shtam failed, the exam in professor Grigory Tsereteli’s course on Ancient Greek Literature.
More...Keywords: mass political repression; the command and commanding staff; infantry division; Transcaucasian military district; a Council of War; arrest; the sentence
This article is about one of the most difficult periods for the Red Army before the Second World War — the period connected with mass political repressions. The authors present material about the activities of the command of the Transcaucasian Military District during 1937-1938 that illustrates the fates of prominent military leaders: the Army Commander of the Second Rank M. K. Levandovskiy, Corps Commander N. V. Kuybyshev, and Marshal A. I. Egorov and provides a deeper understanding of what happened to the country and the army at this time. Based off the example of this military district, there is uncovered a mechanism for changing such an organization’s leadership (its Commander, Vice-Chairmen and members of its Military Council); a mechanism which essentially eliminated the command and control system for a strategically important region on the verge of the Second World War. The content of the article is based off of archival documents. These include the orders and directives of the People's Commissar of Defense and the Political Directorate of the Red Army, as well as the official correspondence of Transcaucasian Military District’s Command with the People's Commissar of Defense and its personnel agencies, the District’s own orders, directives, and statistical reports, the correspondence of its commander with his underlings and with a Special Department of the NKVD, and summaries of the Main Directorate of State Security sent directly to Stalin. A number of documents from the archives are published here for the first time.
More...Keywords: meteorologic journal; Gurasada; Hunedoara County; church chronic; Romul Jacob
Among the priceless documents from the archives of the Romanian Orthodox Parish of Gurasada, can be found the photocopy of a brief but valuable parochial chronicle dating back to the period between 1928 and 1940: “Parochial chronicle from the Gr[eek-]Or[thodox] Parish of Gurasada”. Its text, already published, is accompanied by a formerly unknown weather report which includes in detail all the local weather conditions between 1 January 1936 and 9 June 1940. This priceless weather report, entitled “The course of the weather”, was tirelessly kept by Father Romul Iacob, who was the priest of the parish from the village of Gurasada (located in the Hunedoara County) for almost five decades. The value of the above-mentioned manuscript has been recognized and both its content and form have been thoroughly studied.
More...Keywords: Macedonia; Bulgaria;
Tsar Gavril-Roman Radomir (born around 976–1014) is one of the shortest ruling Bulgarian rulers in the history of the Early Mediaeval Bulgaria – only ten months and few days – from October 15, 1014 to end of August 1015.
More...Keywords: world literature; global literature; translation; social constructs
A critical appraisal of the term and concept of “world/ global literature,” examining inter alia the two opposing notions of particularity and commonality/ universality associated with it, the issue of selection and who has the authority to select, and the problem of the language interface.
More...Keywords: la Société des Nations; minorités ethniques; protection des minorités ethniques; la Conférence de la Paix; convulsions ethniques
Pour éviter les potentielles crises nationales et internationales, les Puissances Alliées et Associées ont subordonné la reconnaissance de la souveraineté des nouveaux Etats émergeants après la première guerre mondiale, d`un traité spéciale, mis sous la supervision de la Société des Nations, parmi lequel on respectera le droit d’existence et le développement des minorités ethniques d`entre leurs frontières. Les stipulations en faveur des minorités incluses dans les traités de paix ou dans des accords spéciaux doit être considéré, de l’avis de certains auteurs, comme l`un des résultats les plus heureux de la Conférence de la Paix. Parmi les États qui avaient à se soumettre à ces obligations internationales ont été, tout d’abord, les nouveaux États, ou ceux qui ont considérablement augmenté leurs territoires, tout particuliers tels que la Pologne, Tchécoslovaquie, Yougoslavie, Roumanie et Grèce, ainsi que par un certain nombre d’anciens opposants de la Triple Entente: Autriche, Bulgarie, Hongrie et Turquie. Dans cette étude, l’auteur présente certains aspects relatifs à la nécessité, la genèse et les conséquences du Traité pour la protection des minorités nationales, signé aussi par l’État roumain, qui était, en fait, le statut juridique international des minorités ethniques de la Roumanie pendant l’époque d’entre les deux guerres mondiales.
More...Keywords: minorities in Bucharest; Italian emigration
La comunità italiana di Bucarest fu il risultato di una emigrazione temporanea, seguita di una emigrazione permanente. Non si conosce precisamente il momento dell’apparizione della comunità italiana di Bucarest, ma certo è che nel corso di storia, la presenza degli italiani in Bucarest fu ricordata tante volte, ciò che indica il fatto che l’emigrazione temporanea precesè la formazione di una comunità stabile.Una menzione dell’inizio della comunità italiana di Bucarest si fece nel 1848 nei registri parrocchiali della Capella cattolica “Santa Anna”, che furono tenuti dal 1848 al 1889. Furono cosí stati conservati specialmente documenti di stato civile dei fedeli cattolici, tra quale furono ricordate anche nomi degli italiani.Gli italiani della piccola comunità di Bucarest, dalla metà dell’ ‘800, furono ricordati in diverse fonte storice, tra questi furono l’architetto Bonomelli (1854), il barbiere “Michel o Michali” di Venezia, la caffé italiana di Zanelli (1841), la gelateria di Giovanni ed altra di Comorelli (1850), l’albergo e il ristorante di Giovanni Fieschi, via Şelari (1858) ed altri.La presenza di comunità italiana di Bucarest fu ricordata ancora nel 1867 dai missionari passionisti che sollecitarano al Santo Sede un predicatore di lingua italiana per i fedeli italiani dalla città.Nel 1878, la statistica di Bucarest fece la menzione di un numero di 201 famigli di italiani, e nel 1889, un’altra statistica ricorde 593 italiani nella cittá. Nel 1897, la Legazione Italiana di Bucarest fece la menzione di un numero di 800 italiani in Bucarest, che furono gli operai, piccoli commercianti, alcuni industriali, professori di musica, architetti, ingegneri, imprenditori.Il censimento generale dalla Romania dal 1899 indicò un numero di 2.013 italiani, cioè 7,3‰ dal totale della popolazione di Bucarest, essendo la quarta comunità di stranieri dopo gli austro-ungheresi, i turchi, ed i tedeschi. Il numero degli italiani in Bucarest, quanto in Romania crebbe grazia allo sviluppo e le nuove richieste della cittá nel settore delle construzioni, dove il mano di lavoro italiano era tra i quali i più apprezzati grazie all’abilitá, destrezza e rapiditá nell’esecuzione delle diverse costruzioni edilize.La presenza degli italiani di Bucarest si diminuì all’inizio della prima Guerra mondiale, specialmente dopo l’entrata d’Italia nel combattimento. Nel 12 maggio 1915, più di 1.500 d’italiani si presentarono davanti della Legazione Italiana di Bucarest per venire a conoscenza delle ordine di mobilazzazione. Il numero degli italiani scadè nel tempo di Guerra mondiale a causa delle difficoltá trovate qui, ma dopo la Grande Unitá di Romania dal 1918, molti italiani ritornerano.I mestieri degli italiani di Bucarest, quanto Romania, furono specialmente rilegate del settore dei costruzioni, come furono i casi del muratore Comando Zilli, che dal aprile 1911 al 1916 lavorò nei diversi costruzioni nel paese romena, il muratore Riva Mauricio da Cassano, Udine, che lavorò per la costruzzione della Camera del Commercio (agosto 1909), l’imprenditore Tommaso Monsellato, che ebbe una costruzione in via Victoria (1909), il maestro muratore Giuseppe Amici e l’ingegnere ed imprenditore Giovanni Amici (1914), l’architetto Iordani Albinni ed il costruttore A. Giovanelli (1914).La presenza degli architetti italiani in Bucarest fu stata ricordata dal mezzo di ‘800, quando tra i più importanti fu A. Bonomelli, l’autore di tante case in città. Nell’inizio di ‘900 i più conosciuti architetti furono V. V. Gambara e Vignali, che ebbero un’affare proprio, la Casa Vignali&Gambara, ed anche gli imprenditori Piantini, Gratino, Tomagini.Benchè le più incontrate mestiere tra gli italiani siano stati quelli del settore delle costruzioni, li incontriamo anche nel settore dei servizi pubblici o del divertismento, dalle osterie e ristorante alle caffé e gelaterie, dalle salone di parrucchieri alle sala di bigliardo e di cinema.I luoghi di origine per gli italiani di Bucarest furono Udine (Friuli-Venezia-Giulia), Bologna (Emilia-Romagna), Lecce (Puglia), Milano (Lombardia) ecc. Gli italiani di Bucarest ebbero una scuola propria – La Scuola “Reggina Margherita”, via Luigi Cazzavillan, costrutta nel 1901, grazia al fondo pecuniario donatto di Luigi Cazzavillan. Lui fu anche quello che ebbe fondato tante delle giornalli romeni di quel tempo, tra quale fu anche quel bilingue Fratellanza italo-romena, ma il più conosciuto e il giornale “L’Universo”, fondato nel 1884. Vicino di scuola italiana ci fu anche una Società Italiana, una società culturale e filantropica. Nel tempo del ministro plenipotenziario Italiano di Bucarest, il barone Carlo Fasciotti, ci furono portate le trattative per la costruzione di una chiesa italiana, che fu stata inaugurata nel 2 luglio 1916 e che si trova anche oggi sul Viale Magheru. Il primo prete per la Chiesa Italiana di Bucarest fu Antonio Mantica, che fu trovato qui dall’estate del 1914.Insomma, si può affermare che dal 1848 al 1918, gli italiani della comunità di Bucarest ci sono divisi tra i rappresentanti della emigrazione temporanea e da quella permanente, che alcuni si sono fissati nella città e altri sono venuti per un tempo limitato per lavorare, senza l’obbligò di ritornare qui. Cosí si può anche dire che alle famigli degli italiani stabiliti qui ci sono avvicinati, per un tempo, altri ed altri connazionali, in cerca di un posto per lavoro.
More...Keywords: Corpus-based historical dictionary of Latvian; the Corpus or Early Latvian Texts; dictionary entry; collocations and idioms; explanation of origin; cross-references in dictionaries; dictionary writing
This article deals with the development of the Electronic Historical Latvian Dictionary (http://www.tezaurs.lv/lvvv) based on the Corpus of Early Written Latvian Texts (http://www.korpuss.lv/senie/). Some issues concerning the compilation and processing of the corpus data are discussed and the main sources added to the Corpus during the four-year project are described: the 16th c. Lord’s Prayers, 17th c. dictionaries, texts of oaths and laws, religious texts and so-called dedication poetry. The aim of the project is to compile a pilot electronic dictionary of 16th–17th century Latvian where all parts of speech are represented among the entries. This dictionary will contain ca. 1,200 entries,including both proper names and common nouns.The main emphasis is on the description of the dictionary entries supplied with relevant practical and theoretical observations. Each part of the dictionary entry is discussed, followed by comments on various issues pertaining to that part(e.g., the choice of headword and the representation of spelling versions) and how these were resolved. Special attention is paid to the head of entry, explanation of meaning deduced from the examples found in the corpus, different types of collocations and their representation in the dictionary, as well as etymological information. Finally we present a brief review of the dictionary writing software TLex 2013 based on our experience with this tool.
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