Socialist Heritage (e-book) (used book) | Emanuela Grama | bookbook.eu

Description

From its post-1945 absorption into the socialist bloc to its 2007 acceptance into the European Union, Romanias long obsession with nationalism offers a rich context in which to explore the role of heritage in the consolidation and fragmentation of political power. Socialist Heritage explores why European organizations funneled money into the restoration of thirteenth-century castles and historic districts while Romania experienced political instability and social polarization. Using extensive archival research, Emanuela Grama shows how the socialist state rewrote the history of some significant sites and neglected other sites that belonged to Jews, Hungarians, and other ethnic minorities before 1945. Drawing on multisited ethnographic research, Grama argues that the EUs sponsorship of the restoration of historic sites on the margins of Europe enabled it to intervene in the national affairs of nonmember states. Socialist Heritage illustrates how heritage sites can be used as tools to suit political agendas and how we can read these renovations as expressions of political subjectivities.