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Popular culture in communist Romania (1945-1989) as retraced in life histories: between nostalgia and sorrowful memories

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Simona Rodat at Adventus University
Simona Rodat
  • Adventus University
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Abstract

Due to its character of regime enforced from outside and through the major changes imposed in the society, the communist regime in Romania between 1945 and 1989 represents a distinct period in the history of the country. A series of inflicted macrosocial processes, such as the strictly centralized economy, collectivization and nationalization, as well as some phenomena such as the control of citizens' lives, the impossibility of free expression, censorship of the press and culture, the lack of consumer goods, restrictions on utilities, and so on, negatively marked the fate of many Romanians during this period. However, many people remember this period with nostalgia. The present paper deals with the popular culture in Romania during the communist period (1947-1989), as seen, considered and remembered by people who lived in that era, or at least in a period of it. The research was based on the method of life histories and focussed on the viewings of the subjects regarding the practices, rituals, artefacts and products of popular culture in the communist time. Both folk culture and mass culture are discussed and analysed, as well as the elements of lifestyle, as described by the subjects. Moreover, the influences on the popular culture in that period are outlined, such as those of some large-scale phenomena like industrialisation and urbanisation, Western trends, Soviet propaganda, or the different impositions of the Romanian authorities, according to the various stages the communist regime has been going through in this period. The gathered data show that, while many memories of people are sorrowful and bitter, other recalls and considerations regarding the cultural practices of that time, and especially the human relations built by the means of these practices, are full of nostalgia. These aspects concerning popular culture in a particular historical period and nostalgia related to it are discussed in detail in the paper.
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Paper presented to the 5th Conference of Centre for the Study of Popular Culture
“Mainstream! Popular Culture in Central and Eastern Europe”
29 – 31 October 2020, Prague, Czech Republic
Popular culture in communist Romania (1945-1989) as retraced in life histories:
between nostalgia and sorrowful memories
by Simona Rodat
Professor, PhD
Adventus University, Faculty of Theology and Social Sciences, Cernica, Ilfov, Romania
E-mail: simona.rodat@uadventus.ro
Abstract:
Due to its character of regime enforced from outside and through the major changes imposed
in the society, the communist regime in Romania between 1945 and 1989 represents a distinct
period in the history of the country. A series of inflicted macrosocial processes, such as the
strictly centralized economy, collectivization and nationalization, as well as some phenomena
such as the control of citizens' lives, the impossibility of free expression, censorship of the
press and culture, the lack of consumer goods, restrictions on utilities, and so on, negatively
marked the fate of many Romanians during this period. However, many people remember this
period with nostalgia.
The present paper deals with the popular culture in Romania during the communist period
(1947-1989), as seen, considered and remembered by people who lived in that era, or at least
in a period of it. The research was based on the method of life histories and focussed on the
viewings of the subjects regarding the practices, rituals, artefacts and products of popular
culture in the communist time. Both folk culture and mass culture are discussed and analysed,
as well as the elements of lifestyle, as described by the subjects. Moreover, the influences on
the popular culture in that period are outlined, such as those of some large-scale phenomena
like industrialisation and urbanisation, Western trends, Soviet propaganda, or the different
impositions of the Romanian authorities, according to the various stages the communist regime
has been going through in this period. The gathered data show that, while many memories of
people are sorrowful and bitter, other recalls and considerations regarding the cultural
practices of that time, and especially the human relations built by the means of these practices,
are full of nostalgia. These aspects concerning popular culture in a particular historical period
and nostalgia related to it are discussed in detail in the paper.
Mainstream!
Programme
5TH CONFERENCE OF
CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF POPULAR CULTURE
POPULAR CULTURE IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
WITH THE SUPPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CZECH REPUBLIC,
FACULTY OF ARTS OF CHARLES UNIVERSITY
AND THE GERMAN HISTORICAL INSTITUTE WARSAW
28 – 31 10 2020
FULLY ONLINE, LINKS WILL BE PROVIDED IN SEPARATE EMAILS
LIVE FEED → FACEBOOK.COM/CENTREFORTHESTUDYOFPOPULARCULTURE
18:00-19:00
(Chair: Karel Šima)
10:30-12:00 – Keynote lecture
(Chair: Karel Šima)
Venue: Zoom
13:30-15:00 – Panel 1
(Chair: Irena Šentevska)
15:30-16:30 – Panel 2
(Chair: Tomáš Kavka)
Informal pre-conference get-together
Classed based shaming in Czech Reality
Programs
Hidden afnities of post-socialism and
makeover television
Irena Reifová
Netix versus TV
Transformation of TV
Series Culture in Turkey
Eren Ekin Ercan
New domesticity and political consumerism in
mainstream culture:
the case of Czech TV cook show Herbarium
Marta Kolářová
Transferring the Mainstream: Aesthetics of
Digital media and globalisation
Evelīna Tilta
Integration of originally subcultural bands
into the mainstream after the Velvet
Revolution
Ondřej Štěpánek
Licensed records – how did
Czechoslovak government shape
listener’s taste in pop music?
Petr Ferenc
WEDNESDAY 28 OCTOBER 2020
THURSDAY 29 OCTOBER 2020
FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER 2020
„Thievery is the worst disease
which could afict us.”
Reecting misappropriations
in the post-war Czechoslovak cinema
Lucie Dušková
Forgetting the Partizanka
Women in the Men’s Magazine Start
Iva Jelušić
Popular culture in communist Romania
(1945-1989) as retraced in life histories
between nostalgia and sorrowful memories
Simona Rodat
Performing National Irony.
Verka Serduchka and Sławomir
as examples of Critical disco
Dawid Kaszuba
Transforming the discourse:
How a nation-wide ban helped Laibach reach
international success and what came after
Katarina Lamešić
40 Years of Laibach:
A Long March on the Mainstream
Irena Šentevska
13:00-14:30 – Panel 3
(Chair: Jakub Machek)
14:45-16:15 – Panel 4
(Chair: Zdeněk Nebřenský)
16:30-18:00 – Panel 5
(Chair: Ondřej Daniel)
SATURDAY 31 OCTOBER 2020
Culture Wars and Popular Culture
Dina Iordanova
The Mainstreaming of Populism
through Popular Music in Hungary
Emília Barna and Ágnes Patakfalvi-Czirják
“Because of your eyes, those green
eyes of yours, I’ve gone mad”.
The Polish populist right’s
affair with Disco Polo
Marta Kotwas
Czechoslovak socialist discotheques
as the heterotopia of Western life
Jakub Machek
Disco Schlager and Late Socialism
Boney M in Eastern Europe
Marko Zubak
Conference wrap up
10:30-12:00 – Keynote lecture
(Chair: Karel Šima)
13:30-14:30 – Panel 6
(Chair: Marko Zubak)
15:00-16:00 – Panel 7
(Chair: Blanka Nyklová)
16:00-16:30
(Chair: Karel Šima)
Contact
Email/Chat/Hangout:
mainstream.cee@gmail.com
MAINSTREAM!
5TH CONFERENCE OF
CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF POPULAR CULTURE
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