Recurring exceptionalism. Protochronism, cultural autarky, and national identity in (post)socialist Romania.
This article locates the socialist cultural policy of protochronism within the broader narratives of national self-thematization that framed the emergence of semiperipheral Romania as a modern nation-state. I start from an overview of how traditional Romanian nationalism was resourcefully mobilized...
| Publicado en: | Studies in East European Thought Vol. 78; no. 3; pp. 557 - 576 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Jun2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=192413192&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 192413192 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09259392 GGL jtl: Studies in East European Thought issn: 09259392 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 78 iid: 3 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 192413192 10.1007/s11212-025-09729-7 ppf: 557 ppct: 19 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 923KB tig: atl: Recurring exceptionalism. Protochronism, cultural autarky, and national identity in (post)socialist Romania. aug: au: Ţăranu, Ana affil: https://ror.org/02rmd1t30 Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania https://ror.org/01a77tt86 University of Warwick, Coventry, UK su: Nationalism Historiography National character Socialist societies Communist countries Ethnonationalism Cultural nationalism Primordialism Ceauşescu, Nicolae, 1918-1989 Romania sug: subj: Romania Nationalism Historiography National character Socialist societies Communist countries Ethnonationalism Cultural nationalism Primordialism Ceauşescu, Nicolae, 1918-1989 keyword: Communication and Culture Cultural Studies Literary Studies History and Archaeology Historical Studies Language Memory politics National communism Protochronism Romanian nationalism ab: This article locates the socialist cultural policy of protochronism within the broader narratives of national self-thematization that framed the emergence of semiperipheral Romania as a modern nation-state. I start from an overview of how traditional Romanian nationalism was resourcefully mobilized both during and before Nicolae Ceauşescu's rule, mutating into cultural autarky due to the increased centralization of local political economy during the final communist decades. Correlating Verdery's Bourdieusian approach and a constructivist understanding of nationalism, protochronism is depicted as a rampant cultural expression of the nation-building process unfolding in socialist Romania from the late 1950s onwards. I exemplify the most striking ideas of its practitioners, as presented in the cultural press and theoretical texts, before questioning its main renditions within postsocialist historiography. Finally, I trace the link between protochronism and the contemporary Romanian radical right, highlighting their embeddedness in the ever-pressing project of ethnonational identity (the inception of which precedes the interwar period, its most widely invoked attendant). I argue that construing protochronism within these historical parameters is conducive to discerning which of its historiographical inertias are retained by contemporary Romanian culture, and how they are mobilised to various—and most often illiberal—political ends. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Studies in East European Thought is a copyright of Springer, 2026. All Rights Reserved. item: Studies in East European Thought holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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