scholarly journals When cultural strength means political weakness: Romania’s marriage referendum and the paradox of conservative mobilisation

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-80
Author(s):  
Alexandru Racu ◽  
Aurelian Giugăl ◽  
Ron Johnston ◽  
Alexandru Gavriş
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Gay Marriage ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Electoral Geography ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Cultural Strength

AbstractHeld on 6–7 October 2018, the Romanian referendum on the topic of gay marriage was the fourth referendum of this kind organised in East Central Europe over a five-year period. Because turnout was low in all of them and demands explanation, this paper: i) discusses the common characteristics of these Eastern European marriage referendums, contextualising the Romanian referendum; ii) overviews the history of the Romanian referendum, emphasising the legal, political, ideological and societal aspects; iii) quantitatively examines the electoral geography of the voting patterns; and iv) interprets qualitative data seeking to understand the voters’ choices and why conservative mobilisation was so weak.

scholarly journals Between Old Traditions and New Approaches: Locating Oral History and Memory Studies in East Central Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-218
Author(s):  
Radmila Švaříčková Slabáková
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
East Central ◽  
History Of

Abstract The article explores how oral history and memory studies have been used in East Central Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain. It focuses particularly on the question of whether Eastern European scholars only reproduce what was invented in the West, or whether they advance their original concepts and ideas. Both disciplines have been involved in reassessing the history of communism and the communist version of history itself and both contributed to revealing memoires obscured by the communist regime, even if the role of oral history may be considered as pivotal in this process. Although oral history had been practiced in the region at least since the 1970s, it was introduced as a new discipline according to the Western criteria after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Memory studies and their most successful concept, the “lieux de mémoire”, were implemented into to the region later and the promoters of the concept were predominantly Western scholars. Drawing on the uses of the term “historical consciousness” in Czech and Polish research, the article argues that various strategies associated with the “return to Europe” can be found in the region when promoting native traditions and equalizing them with the Western ones.

scholarly journals Jagellonian Ledgers as Sources for Watermark Research and Paper History Studies: The First Papermills of East-Central Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 324-340
Author(s):  
Krisztina Rábai
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Paper Mills ◽  
East Central Europe ◽  
East Central ◽  
Paper Making ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Different Parts

This study is based on the analysis of the paper and the text of royal and princely accounts in which scribes registered the everyday incomes and expenditures of four Jagiellonian courts, located in different parts of East-Central Europe around the turn of the 15th and 16th-century. The period covers the establishment and the very first years of paper mills in Silesia and the Polish Kingdom. Regarding the lack of archival sources preserving the foundation and running of these mills, the cradles of paper-making in East-Central Europe, one should use many different and quite laconic written sources to shed light upon these revolutionary years. Although accounts could preserve mentions of purchasing, trading and using paper, in most cases the textual information is not adequate to reconstruct a detailed and clear image of paper producing; researchers should examine the medium of writing - the paper - itself. Instead of the investigation of single sheets, folded papers, small notebooks and bound books such as accounts proved to be more useful. One can compare the sheets of the volumes and find those traces which lead to the paper mills, the places of their origin. Through the detailed examination of one especially complex and interesting ledger from the courts of Prince Sigismund, the author attempts to demonstrate the opportunities lay in watermark studies. Furthermore, the article purposes to reflect on the huge hiatus clearly perceptible on the field of watermark research and paper history in East-Central Europe and the necessity of developing a database of watermarks reflecting on the history of paper-making in this region. 

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