Collective

The Erotic Arms Race

A young man learning of how Les Fleurs du Mal was condemned for obscenity during Napoleon III's uptight times can only be left speechless if he has happened to read Baudelaire. For the young generations of today, the poet's depiction of lesbian delights appears

The Wedding Book

excerpt  A few violent knocks on the door startled him. Vera hid under the blanket again, and Jim pushed the door ajar. It was the maid, who wanted to know if they were still there, puzzled by the fact that they hadn't come out of the house till noon. They hurried

National Minorities Reflected In The Romanian Fundamental Laws

Romania is a national state, at least that is what every Romanian constitution agrees upon, and more than 20 national minorities, which are represented in the Romanian parliament, live on the territory of this state. It is not at all easy to live among such ethnic diversity,

Majorities And Minorities In Documents From The Interwar Period

excerpts Over the last few years, one of the more or less impartially analyzed issues has been the relationship between Romanians – as majority population – and the others represented, broadly, by ethnic, religious, cultural communities etc. The current approach is

Ethnic Alterity And Collective Imaginary

excerptConclusions and final ideasStereotypes, as they are described in the first researches in this field, tend to be quite long-lasting, yet they do show changes. Images of the other are less enduring than images of self. In 1992, Romanians had a negative self-image on

The Ethnogenesis Of The Dobrujan Turks

The definition of the genesis, as well as the delimitation of the area where the Turkish people was formed, and from where they spread from Central Asia to the Mediterranean Sea, is still a controversial issue among specialists. Discussions between Turkology scholars usually

The Gypsies

Nowadays, the Romanians' principal obsession is the Gypsies, who make the Romanians feel as if they were living in a castle under siege. Almost all crimes are attributed to Gypsies, whose population seems to be rising every day. Although the figure given by the 1992

Masha And The Alien

excerpt 'I can hardly understand what you're saying, your words make my hair stand on end. . . What do you want, actually?' Masha could hardly contain herself. This talk raised her suspicions. The visitor's look could very well be deceitful. Whoever

Sarichioi - A 19th Century Enigma

excerpts The village of Sarichioi is situated in southeastern Romania, in the region of Dobruja. In Turkish, Sarichioi means 'yellow' or 'sunny' village (sary – 'yellow, sunny' and köj – 'village'), but in spite of its Turkish

The Jews

In the nineteenth century, and also in the inner-war period, Romania had one of Europe's largest Jewish communities. Between the wars, its Jewish population was the third largest in Europe both in absolute terms (after Poland and the USSR) and as a proportion of the

My Rosenau In The Carpathians

I have always wondered why so many of those who happen to be born within the Carpathian arch, in Transylvania, have a sense of coming from a unique, privileged area, why they keep an enduring and unquestioned commitment to it whatever may happen in their lives, whether they

Esquisse D’une Méthode De Folklore Musical

On peut consideerer comme particulierrement caractéristique pour le reepertoire populaire roumain sa division en genres nettement deefinis, de style et d'usage diffeerents et dont l'exeecution est elle-même seeverrement reegleee par l'usage. La plupart de