Vol. 69 No. 1-2 (2020): ANALELE UNIVERSITĂŢII BUCUREŞTI - ISTORIE
Zoe Petre would have turned 80 years old in 2020 and her former students were thinking about preparing a conference to honour her, as a certain tradition in historians’ world goes. But in 2017 the news of her passing away came like a blow and the proposed conference never took place.
Instead, we thought of something else, more modest but appropriate: a special issue of the journal Analele Universității din București. Seria Istorie. Zoe Petre had meaningful contributions in transforming the journal into a significant one, being involved in its editorial board and later on in its
scientific board. She published in it and supported the younger scholars who were interested in forging an academic carreer to submit their papers to it. She believed that the history journal published by the University of Bucharest should reflect the variety of subject matters and methodologies that were characteristic of the Faculty and this tradition continues to this day.
Hence, this special issue reunites contributions written by Zoe Petre’s former students, some of them having even the privilege to have been her colleagues for a while. All of the authors are giving thus testimonies about the essential influence that the great professor and mentor had over their
formation. All of the authors would have liked to thank her more often for all she had done for them and the articles reunited here are only a small token of their gratitude. (Ecaterina Lung)
Full Issue
Articles
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EVOCARE ZOE PETRE (23 AUGUST 1940-1 SEPTEMBRIE 2017)
Abstract
Acest text a apărut în versiune franceză cu minime diferențe, în revista „Dacia”, NS, 61, 2017, p. 253-256. Mulțumim editorilor pentru permisiunea de a relua textul.
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L’ ANTHROPOLOGIE HISTORIQUE DE L’ANTIQUITÉ DANS L’UNIVERSITÉ DE BUCAREST – DE LA DISCIPLINE SUBVERSIVE DES ANNEES 1980 À L’ÉCOLE HISTORIOGRAPHIQUE DE L’APRÈS-COMMUNISME
Abstract
The influence of cultural anthropology in Romania, more precisely in the historiographical school from Bucharest, is directly associated with the activity of a small group of very influential professors at the Faculty of History, in the University of Bucharest. This article evokes the atmosphere in the Faculty during the last decade of the communist regime, discussing the ideological ambiguities and contradictions that allowed a semi-subversive, but systematic use of methods and concepts specific to French and American cultural anthropology, especially for the study of Antiquity and the Middle Age.
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POURQUOI ÉTUDIER LES ANCIENS ? D’UNE VOIE L’AUTRE : PAUL VEYNE, MARCEL DETIENNE, JAN ASSMANN
Abstract
One of Professor Zoe Petreʹs great talents has been to take up the topicality of Antiquity in a natural way. The double movement of alteration and identification with a historical period far removed from the present, from the contemporary, largely legitimizes its study as an academic practice of popular scope.
In the twentieth century the situation is much less comfortable for the scholar of Antiquity. What sense does the study of Antiquity have in a regime of historicity which, according to François Hartog, is a ʺpresentistʺ one? Or, following the sociological approach of Max Weber, what is an interesting subject? Interesting individually, for the researcher
himself, and also interesting through its societal collective scope. It seems to me that, for the post-war period up to the present day, three answers have been given to the question ʺwhy study the ancients?” and hence three
historiographical proposals. I would describe these three professions of faith as ludic (Paul Veyne), comparatist (Marcel Detienne) and memorial (Jan Assmann). -
ETNOLOGIE, FOLCLOR MEDIA ȘI LECȚIA DE ISTORIE: CÂTEVA REFLECȚII
Abstract
The current dynamics of ethnology in East European countries can be analyzed both from the point of view of the relationship between the discipline and its own history (in the version of folklore studies, closely related to national constructs) and from the point of view of anthropology only being accepted in Eastern universities after the fall of
communism. The dialectic of the relationship between ethnology and anthropology (with all their ʺnationalʺ or ʺcolonialʺ and even “post colonial” varieties) would, however, be particularly sought in the complex and nuanced relationship between ethnology and history.
Among the many perspectives that would allow approaching this topic, I will limit myself here to a less frequently researched one. I propose a preliminary investigation of the elaboration of an ethnological discourse destined for media coverage, subsumable today in a section of the media called “folklore”. The benefit of this approach has an
advantage: it opens for the reader the access to the mechanisms of construction and refinement of the folklore’s discourse, as it has already been used as a tool of national policies expressed as media discourse. -
L’ ARCHITECTURE DE LA PEINTURE DOMESTIQUE DU IIe STYLE POMPÉIEN – UNE LECTURE CONTEXTUELLE
Abstract
During the last two centuries of the Roman Republic the public building projects of the aristocrats as well as their private architectural accomplishments mirror the profound process of cultural exchanges that characterize the metamorphosis of the Roman world. Following this process and against the background of the generalized crisis of the Roman republic, the redefined discourse on power appropriates the architecture concept as a tool of communication. The paper aims to explore this meaningful relation of the Romans with the act of construction at the sunset of the Republic considering the Pompeian second style of painting as one of the artistic expressions of the elites’ agency.
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EBBON OF REIMS AND THE TURNING POINT IN MEDIEVAL ART
Abstract
The whole life of Ebbon, church hierarch, missionary, man of letters and 9th century politician, points without a doubt to a character who was never satisfied with what he had, what he knew or what he achieved. We intend to show to what extent this personal insatisfaction with his lot played a role în finding new ways of visual expression which marked the transition from antique models towards a new, middle ages esthetics.
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THE SCHOOL SYSTEM, A FACTOR OF EMANCIPATION, ASSIMILATION AND DISCRIMINATION OF JEWS IN ROMANIA
Abstract
The present study aims to capture some of the aspects of the relationship between Romanians and Jews, the targeted field being that of education. The school system, an area on which there have been extensive disputes over time, has been used in turn by participants in the training process as a tool for assimilation, discrimination and emancipation. During the period of consolidation of national consciousness, the majority gave shape to the desire to eliminate differences and opened public schools for minorities in order to assimilate them faster. Subsequently, finding shortcomings in the application of the principle of compulsory primary education among Romanians and the overrepresentation of Jews in the public sector, the latter were restricted access to free schooling. The introduction of restrictive provisions for other levels of education was the expression of the radicalization of Romanian society, especially in the twentieth century. On the other hand, these discriminatory measures boosted the opening and development of Jewish schools, and thus the emancipation of the Jewish population.
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CONTRE ANTHONY D. SMITH: UNE RELECTURE CRITIQUE DES THÉORIES ETHNO-SYMBOLISTES SUR L’ANCIENNETÉ DES NATIONS
Abstract
According to the theorists of ethnosymbolism, nations are very ancient communities of symbols, values, myths and shared memories. However, in light of the distinction operated by Rogers Brubaker between the practice and the analysis of nations, ethnosymbolism seems to have borrowed its premises from national ideology, thus compromising ab initio its epistemic objectives. Furthermore, its theorists have arrived at conclusions which are altogether too ambitious, given the theoretical tools, methodologies and, above all, the poor historical record available.
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ASPECTS OF HISTORICAL ROMANIAN DRAMATURGY DURING THE COMMUNIST TOTALITARIAN REGIME
Abstract
An insight that can greatly help us in our understanding of Romanian history during the era of the Communist totalitarian regime, is without a doubt provided by the historical dramaturgy of the period. During those years, a large number of historical plays were written and directed. It is for this very reason that historical theatre cannot be ignored by any historian interested in how the social representation of the past was constructed in the context of the four decades in which Romania was held in the grip of Communist ideology.
There is an obvious parallel between the evolution of Romanian literature during the period in question (including dramaturgy) and Romanian historiography. In the latter field, changes that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s have been highlighted over the last two decades by Lucian Boia1. An analysis of literary criticism and writings reveals
similar characteristics and developments in that field. Moreover, the literary genre of historical theatre can be closely linked to the rise of nationalism within the political discourse of the Communist regime, so it should not come as any surprise that the number of historical themes had been growing steadily since the mid-1960s. In a manner similar
to other cultural policies of the time, the ideological twists and turns of Romanian Communism can be found in the evolution of historical theatre. Indeed, the closest comparison that can be made is with the historical cinematography of the time, which was better known and more popular than the dramaturgy of the era, through its themes, subjects and artistic approaches.
However, while the historical movies of the era are still available today and indeed are frequently broadcast on Romanian TV, the historical plays of the time are available to the modern researcher only in specialized books in which they had been collected before 1989, in the volumes of literary criticism from the Communist period, or in the collective
memory of witnesses.Nevertheless, a study of the impact of theatre under the conditions of communist totalitarianism is essential in order to be able to properly understand the effects of the regime’s propaganda, its evolution in terms of ideological orientation, and how it contributed to the crystallization of social representations of the past. This research study is merely a first step. The themes of the historical plays written and produced during the Communist regime are closely correlated with its historiographical writings. Ideas such as the antiquity of the Romanian nation, its persistency, the permanent nature of the defence of its statehood, and the aspiration toward unity are all now emerging. One theme highlighted during the 1970s is that of ‘heroism’, also present in the propaganda of the time. This theme channels us towards a better understanding of the role and attributes of the leader, thus becoming one of the main themes of Romanian historical dramaturgy within a very short time. While a long line of voivodes and heroes appeared on the stage, and via this medium through history, they became in fact the moving parts of a bigger mechanism that would ultimately become the personality cult of Nicolae Ceaușescu.
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L’ EMPIRE SELON LA GÉOSTRATÉGIE. QUELQUES REMARQUES SUR LA SITUATION CONTEMPORAINE
Abstract
The article takes into consideration the idea and the imperial action through the geostrategic approach, that is the approach focused on the balance of power between different countries considered in relation to space. From this point of view, the empire represents a form of domination exercised by hegemonic power over other countries, especially by military means. We then see several examples of imperial policy related to geography during the XIXth century and the XXth century. We finish with some considerations concerning the contemporary situation, that is to say the confrontation between the United States of America and Russia.
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HISTORY AND MEMORY, HISTORY AS MEMORY
Abstract
Starting with the late 1980ʹs and early 1990ʹs, the field of Western historiography was pervaded by studies on the history of memory against the background of mentalities, the birth of the history of present time and the struggle of oral history to promote itself (time of roots, genealogies, commemorations); it was also the time for a growing interest in an alternative history of Africa built upon memories. Museums felt empowered to interrogate current histories, while the older ones revisited the very concepts upon which they had been previously built. Memories felt compelled to question history – and to rectify it. Certain researchers felt obliged to bring forth the memorial constructions. While
in Europe memories were invited to permanently defy history, in Africa their task was, from the beginning, that of investing history with truth. Very scarce were here the invitations to relativism. Memories in Africa brought with them a familiar past that was allegedly colonized and suppressed Furthermore, waking up dormant memories from before the recent, Western colonial past was part of the identity building process in Africa: such narratives justified the individual via his/her ancestors, ethnic group peers and generations. On top of that, local intellectuals built on the national and continental identity. Based on the common roots, the emerging African discourse blamed recent history for the rupture with the long durée. Celebration and commemoration are still the barometers of existing, different types
of memories (individual, communities, official). The controversial heritage of juxtaposed memories requires a separate interpretation. The Kermel Square in downtown Dakar, Senegal, is such an example. The walls of the main building and the surrounding building of colonial French architecture are overlapped with imprints of the more recent national
memory, and the latter is the sworn enemy of the former. Each nation-state has its own heroes and places of memory, while few remember when the stories associated with them were born. We are now left with just their compulsory, ceremonial re-visitations.
