Minority In Romania Research Articles

The Relevance of the Cross-Border-Student Mobility along the Hungarian-Romanian Border Region

The settlements inhabited by the Hungarian minority in Romania have mixed (with Hungarian and Romanian language) and partly segregated (Hungarian) school network. After the Romanian integration to the European Union and the simplification of border crossing, the Hungarian minority along the Hungarian-Romanian border, a new process appeared: the cross-border commuting of university and secondary school students the two-step migration. This process fills some of the demographic deficit in the Hungarian education network, but, at the same time it is creating hiatus in the Hungarian school network in Romania. This process has a negative effect on the sustainability of minority institutions in the short term, and in the medium term it has a negative effect on the available human resources and limits the development opportunities of the local economy. Over the past four years, we have followed the process of choosing a high school with the help of quantitative and qualitative studies. The results are suitable for exploring the significance and proportion of the process of cross-border two-step migration.

Community-Driven Brakes on Violent Extremism: The Case of Non-Radicalization of the Czech Romani Minority

This paper introduces intra-community brakes on domestic violent extremism within the Czech Romani minority. We discuss how the community’s ties to nonviolent networks, approach to ideology, and family attachment worked against manifestations of violent extremism during three major episodes of political violence affecting the Romani in Czechia. The study draws on extensive empirical data gathered through ethnographic and netnographic methods and analytical tools provided by constructivist grounded theory for data analysis. Our work aims to contribute to the growing body of scholarship on the role of protective factors in preventing engagement in extreme forms of political violence. It would also like to encourage scholarly debate on the notion of marginalized groups as active agents maintaining security within their own communities.

The Career of Students who Use a Different Language at Home and at School

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The objective of the research is to understand how the ethnic composition of the family and the choice of the language of the school are related. THE RESEARCH PROBLEMS AND METHODS: Minorities are often the subject of research, and within, bilingualism, language use arenas and state language education are prominent topics, how‑ ever, the issue of ethnic minority students studying in majority institutions is relatively unexplored. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Our research is focused on the ethnic Hungarian minority in Romania, their decisions and their experiences of education in the majority language. The present qualitative research was carried out in a semi‑structured interview format in November 2023 with 14 respondents, reached by snowball method. RESEARCH RESULTS: Our results show that, in addition to proximity to the institution and the increased possibility of doing well in the country, the school experience of parents and older children are factors behind the decision made by parents. Nevertheless, we also find that extended family, even the third generation, has an impact on school choice. CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND APPLICABLE VALUE OF RESEARCH: The research presents a perspective that focuses on the educational results of respondents most of whom proved to be successful in their respective fields. The results we found confirm hypotheses from the literature regarding the language choices of different nationalities. The research is a part of a larger project which aims at the exploration the research upon the students attending non‑native language schools.

Romani Bildungsroman – On the Cultural Trauma of Coming-of-Age as Presented in the Novels - City of Pain and City of Sin by Meti Kamberi

The aim of this paper is to analyze the articulation of cultural trauma of coming-of-age as depicted in the novels City of Pain and City of Sin by the young Romani author Meti Kamberi. The common feature of these two novels is that they both explore the traumatic childhood and coming –of-age experiences through the main protagonist’s point of view, suggesting that they either belong to the genres of autobiography and bildungsroman. Both novels are examined from the ethnic/minority bildungsroman perspective, with a particular focus on the personal experience narrative of coming-of-age of a Romani minority member in post-socialist Serbia as described in either of the two. Through illustrative examples, this paper demonstrates that the literary and artistic creations of minority populations can be a valuable ethnographic source for investigating their self-representations. The pages of these novels represent a space for articulating ethnic as well as racialized traumas, caused by both personal and transgenerational experiences of discrimination, stigmatization, and marginalization of the Romani population in this region. The thematization of life between two worlds, the dichotomy between the community of origin and the mainstream society, is a key characteristic of the Romani bildungsroman.

“Glory and Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ”: Linguo-Cultural Analysis of Prayers among Baptist Serbs in Romania

In this paper, our case study is the Serbian Baptist community in the Danube Gorge in Romania, from the settlements Radimna, Pojejena, Moldova Veche, Divici and Liubcova. The objective of the ethnographic field research was to collect data on non-Orthodox Serbs living outside the borders of their home country and having experienced conversion to one of the Evangelical communities during the second half of the twentieth century. One of the most significant elements of the narrative of the Serbian Baptists is the place of prayer in their daily life. This paper is analysing prayer in the wider context and more specifically using linguo-cultural analyses it provides several examples of Baptist prayer narrative, its main characteristics and patterns. The analyses focus on the question how the religious identity of Baptists can be defined or strengthened through prayer. From the aspect of linguistics and communicology, prayer is a speech act having a specific internal and external structure: it contains the beginning, duration and finalization, including the abundance of accompanying nonverbal acts. Based on the collected ethnographic data, we analyse several fragments of prayers among the Baptist Serbs which illustrate the modalities of communication through prayer. Keywords: Baptists, Serbian minority in Romania, prayers, Evangelicals, language and religion.

Der Völkerbund und der Schutz der deutschen Minderheit in Rumänien

The study analyzes the way in which the German minority in Romania related, in the period 1920–1933, to the system ensuring the protection of linguistic, racial and religious minorities that operated under the authority of the League of Nations. We note that, while the German minorities in other European states (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia) were more active in their relationship with the League of Nations, sending petitions to Geneva, the sizable German minority in Romania did not turn to this “international court” in order to raise the problems it was facing in its relations with the Romanian state authorities. Although they were dissatisfied with the content of some laws adopted in the first interwar decade, the Germans in Romania did not refer to the League of Nations, as the Hungarian, Jewish or Russian minorities in Romania did, on issues related to agrarian reform and education laws. The German community in Romania chose the path of internal politics to make their demands known and pursue their economic, political and cultural objectives. Even if at certain moments the Germans in Romania considered the option of appealing to the League of Nations, this option had rather the role of “sensitizing” the ruling parties to the needs of the German minority. Nevertheless, I have identified and analyzed two petitions accepted by the League of Nations Secretariat, which are related, in a way, to the particular problems of the German minorities and to Romania’s post-imperial state status

Carol Király (1930-2021)

Carol Király (Király Károly) was born on 26 September 1930 in Târnăveni, Mureș County, into a Hungarian family. He attended four primary classes between 1939 and 1943, after which he worked as a construction worker in various construction sites in Luduș, Cluj region. In April 1946, Carol Király volunteered at the Salva-Vișeu construction site, and in 1949, he went to the Danube-Black Sea Canal construction site, where he also worked as a carpenter. He attended evening party courses. In October 1954, he was accepted as a member of the Communist Party, but remained a U.T.M. activist. In September 1956, he was sent to attend the Central School of the Moscow Comsomol for a year. After graduation in August 1957, he was appointed first secretary of the regional U.T.M. committee of the Hungarian Autonomous Region. His real rise began after Nicolae Ceausescu came to power. He became a member of the Council of State and afterwards member of the CC of the Communist Party of Romania and substitute member of the Executive Committee. On 1 April 1972 he sent a letter to the party leadership announcing that he was resigning as First Secretary of Covasna County and alternate member of the Executive Committee. In 1973, he was appointed president of the Union of Craft Cooperatives in Mureș County. In 1975 he ceased to be a member of the State Council. In the late 1970s and 1980s, he was an exponent of the rights of the Hungarian minority in Romania, publicly denouncing their violation through open letters to the state leadership, interviews and material published abroad. In the context of the 1989 revolution, Carol Kiraly was co-opted into the country’s new leadership. He died on 4 November 2021.

Grupul Etnic German din România și Serviciul Special de Informaţii (1940-1944)

One can safely state that the «Andreas Schmidt era» (1940-1944) could be considered one of the most difficult periods of the history of the German minority in Romania. From the very beginning, the activity of Nazi controlled organization entitled the German Ethnic Group in Romania and its leader (Andreas Schmidt) was perceived by the Romanian authorities with suspicion and concern. This concern was legitimate since the aggressive policies of the leadership of the German Ethnic Group in Romania let to increasing tensions between the latter, on one side, and the Romanian authorities and the Romanian local population in mixed Romanian-German communities, on the other side. Consequently, the Special Intelligence Service (Serviciul Special de Informaţii, one of the Romanian secret services in the interwar period), the intelligence service of the Romanian army (entitled in Romanian: Secţia a II-a Informaţii a Marelui Stat Major), the General Inspectorate of the Gendarmerie, and the General Directorate of the Police kept under close surveillance the hostile activities of the German Ethnic Group towards the Romanian state. The reports of these aforementioned intelligence institutions emphasized the totalitarian character of the German Ethnic Group in Romania and illustrates how this Nazi controlled organization turned under the leadership of Andreas Schmidt into an effective tool of the Third Reich in South Eastern Europe.

Konstruowanie siebie w opowieści – o historii i tożsamości w "Domu kata" Andrei Tompy

The main purpose of the article is to present the literary output of Andrea Tompa, using her debut collection entitled 'Dom kata' as an example. In her work, the Hungarian writer uses her creative potential connected with the experiences of growing up in a discriminated national minority in Romania in the 1980s. In the paper, I demonstrate how the history of the area and biography intertwine in the literary transformation of experience in a quasi‑autobiographical story about entering adulthood. In Andrea Tompa’s work, one can see how the geo‑cultural experience has an impact on both the way the story is constructed and the narrative strategies applied, as well as its influence on the reception of the work among readers. The trauma of the regime and exclusion associated with Romania in the second half of the 20th century is conveyed by means of a hybrid form and fragmented narratives. This unique combination that makes up the book of the Hungarian writer provides an inspiring material for literary research, both from the perspective of memory studies and the poetics of experience. As for the way of constructing the story, which is hard to categorize according to strict genre classifications, it only enlivens the reception.

Romanian state policy regarding minorities and civil liberties after 1990. Security aspects

With its post-1989 policy on national minorities, Romania is considered by Western capitals a successful model. For more than 30 years, Romania has constantly harmonised its policies regarding the national minorities with the historical factor on the one hand, and with the provisions of the international organisations to which it has become a part on the other, cultivating historical and ethnic values within a well-defined framework, not only from a historical and cultural point of view, but also from a legal perspective. Currently, 20 national minorities are officially recognised in Romania, represented in parliament by 19 organisations. This article aims to highlight the generous legislation regarding national minorities in Romania and to launch a new approach, namely the security approach. The theoretical framework proposed for this article consists of two fundamental theories designed to support the placement of the field of national minorities in Romania within a security framework: the five dimensions of security theory, as presented in the seminal works of the Copenhagen school of thought, in particular in Barry Buzan's Peoples, states and fear (1991) and in Security. A new framework for analysis by Barry Buzan, Ole Waever and Jaap de Wilde (1998) and the theory of the triadic national minority-host state-motherland relationship by professor Rogers Brubaker (1996).

The gypsylorist as occultist: anti-gypsy stereotypes and the entanglement of esotericism and scholarship in Charles Godfrey Leland’s work on ‘gypsy magic’

ABSTRACT Magic and fortune-telling have been standard elements in stereotypes about Europe’s Romani minorities since the fifteenth century. These stereotypes produced two mutually contradictory images of the Roma: That they possess real occult powers, and that they are frauds. Both images were perpetuated by nineteenth-century ‘gypsylorist’ scholarship, which construed ‘the gypsies’ as Europe’s internal Orientals. This article demonstrates that the most influential gypsylorist author on magic, the folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland (1824–1903), sought to harmonize the two images through a new theory of magical efficacy – building on established work in folklore as well as his own life-long engagement with esotericism. Leland’s alignment with occultism is a textbook example of the entanglements of esotericism and scholarship in the period. Seeing occultism as a constitutive context for gypsylorist speculation on ‘gypsy magic’ sheds new light on the history of Romani studies and helps explain the perpetuation of anti-gypsy stereotypes in alternative spirituality.

Discrepancies between CLT Principles and the Romanian Language and Literature for Hungarian Minority Curriculum and Its Implementation

Abstract The study of the Romanian language and literature is a compulsory subject for students of Hungarian minority in Romania. However, the most effective language learning methods and paradigms take into account and exploit students’ language awareness and linguistic repertoire. Such a didactic approach builds on students’ language skills and teaches children to use their language resources through teaching situations embedded in everyday school life that focus on observing and comparing different languages. In recent years, there have been several attempts to bring about a paradigm shift in the teaching of the Romanian language and allow Hungarian students to learn Romanian as a foreign language. However, a significant shift can be observed between the levels and contents of the 4th-and 5th-grade textbooks, causing serious difficulties for 5th graders. Our study presents the initial stage of a textbook analysis. We examine the extent to which the available textbooks for the 5th grade follow the methodological changes in communicative and post-communicative language teaching and the extent to which they take advantage of the language opportunities provided by students’ linguistic repertoire.

The Trickster and the Witch

At the centre of this article stands a striking but poorly understood artefact held at the Nordic Museum in Stockholm (NM.0159389): A piece of bovine leg bone carved in the likeness of a human skull. Traditionally described as an “idol”, the artefact belongs to abundle of “witchcraft tools” (trolltyg) that have been attributed to the legendary witch, “captain Elin”, loosely built on the historical person Elin Eriksdotter from Mofikerud, who was tried in a late witch trial in Näs, Värmland, in 1720. Scholars have long knownthat the attribution of the skull figure and most of the other items to Elin is false. In this article, we first describe how the association with “captain Elin” arose, shedding new light on the creation of the legend and its association with the “witchcraft tools”. Secondly,we present new archival evidence that suggests an entirely different context for the bone artefact, namely in the encounters between Romani people and the majority population at the end of the Swedish Great Power era. We discuss the significance of this new contextfor the cultural memory of magic and witchcraft in Sweden, and for our understanding of the Romani minority’s place in early-modern society.

Disease Progression, Clinical Features, and Risk Factors for Pneumonia in Unvaccinated Children and Adolescents with Measles: A Re-Emerging Disease in Romania.

Measles causes in vaccinated children, with some exceptions, a mild disease, while the unvaccinated can suffer complications that result in serious consequences and even death. Although the introduction of the measles vaccine has reduced the number of cases and the viral spread, the current downward vaccination trend has resulted in the resurgence of the disease. Currently, Romania has a measles vaccination coverage below the 95% safety threshold. Thus, an outbreak started in 2016 and still ongoing in Romania, many cases being identified in the Western region in the pediatric population. Our objective was to conduct a thorough examination of clinical characteristics, evolution, and risk factors in vaccinated and unvaccinated children in this region. To reach our objectives we used a retrospective cohort analysis. The authors reviewed clinical and laboratory data from patients hospitalized at “Victor Babes” Hospital for Infectious Diseases and Pulmonology in Timisoara. We found a total of 136 qualifying cases of measles among the children admitted to this facility. The two comparison groups consisted of 104 children under 10 years and 32 patients between 10 and 18 years. An important characteristic of both study groups was the high prevalence of patients from the Roma ethnicity, which, although represents a minority in Romania, the prevalence was over 40% in the current study. The infection source was in 40.4% of children under 10 years inside the family, while 71.9% of infections in the group of adolescents were isolated (p-value = 0.047). The multivariate risk factor analysis identified as independent risk factors for the development of pneumonia the older age of patients (OR = 1.62), poor nutritional status (OR = 1.25), Roma ethnicity (OR = 2.44), presence of anemia (OR = 1.58), and procalcitonin (OR = 3.09). It is essential to handle these risk factors in a patient with measles, especially in conjunction with an unknown vaccination status. To achieve a vaccination rate greater than 95 percent for Romanian children, measles vaccination awareness must be promoted, moreover in the Roma population. More comprehensive preventative methods must be developed promptly with the objective of eradicating measles in Romania via a vigorous vaccination campaign.

Oral Health Status in Romani Children in Slovakia

Purpose: The purpose of this monitoring was to learn about the oral health status of Romani minority in Slovakia. The children were educated in oral health, as was expected that the dental status of the children would improve with the increased level of knowledge about dental health. Materials and methods: Romani children were regularly educated from 2010 to 2015. In 2010 and 2015 Romani children aged 5 to 14 were examined in the Spis Region, Slovakia. Dental cariosity was expressed by the DMFT (decayed, missing, filled teeth) and DMFT index for permanent and temporary teeth, respectively. Parents were asked in 2015 whether they utilize free preventive oral care for their children. Results: In 2010, the average DMFT of all examined children was 1.11 ± 1.45 and DMFT 6.53 ± 3.57. In 2015, the average DMFT of all examined children was 1.81 ± 2.29 and DMFT 3.94 ± 4.19. 12 year old children in 2015 had DMFT 2.12 ± 2.19; permanent teeth of 35.1% of them were intact. In total, only 30.3% of asked parents visit dentists for preventive oral care of their children. In the villages with a segregated Romani community only 7.1% of parents visit dentists for preventive check-up of their children whereas in the villages with integrated Romani Community it is 51.1%. Conclusion: Conducted research showed that oral health status of Romani children in Spiš is slightly worse compared to the majority population in Slovakia. Oral health education of Romani children and their parents is necessary to meet Health21 goals in oral health in subsequent years.

Old Calendaristsʼ Religious Minority in Romania - Contribution to the Study of the History and Cultural Heritage

For centuries, Romania has been the center of numerous national, ethnic, and religious communities, each with its own cultural and religious organizations. The Christian faith group found in this country includes legally protected religious communities, marked by specific features such as perception of time, symbolism of space, patterns, as well as beliefs, rituals, and customs. The paper presents the religious minority of old calendarists in Romania, which emerged within the Romanian Orthodox Church at the beginning of the 20th century as a result of disputes over the use of the liturgical calendar. Fundamental issues associated with the Gregorian and Julian calendars, the history of old calendarists in Romania, and the churches currently using the Julian calendar in their liturgical practice in Romania are addressed. Additionally, the article presents key artifacts of the tangible cultural heritage of old calendarists. The analysis is based on qualitative methodology, including the results of field studies conducted in Romania during the period of 2010-2020.

Autonomy à la carte: The creative claiming tactics of the Hungarian minority in Romania

ABSTRACT Through a detailed case-study of the Hungarian minority in Romania, this article better understands the non-secessionist, non-violent claims to autonomy of ethnic minorities and the discursive framework in which claims operate. Analysis of policy documents and elite interviews demonstrates how ‘autonomy’ claiming is not only conducted explicitly. Rather, it also occurs creatively through a discursive word-play technique utilized by different minority actors which substitutes ‘decentralization’, ‘regionalization’ and ‘self-governance’ for ‘autonomy’. However, to elites across political persuasions, and unlike differentiations in the scholarly literature, these terms mean the same thing. Moreover, different minority actors have a preferred discourse for claiming: ‘historic autonomists’ favour strong, explicit and symbolic claims while ‘modern autonomists’ support a strategic and creative claiming tactic. These findings of the creativity of autonomy claiming discourse can be extended to other ethnic minorities seeking institutional recognition via non-violent means.

Роль європейської інтеграції в трансформації законодавств Румунії та Словаччини щодо прав національних меншин

The focus of the article is on reforming the systems of protection of the rights of national minorities in Romania and Slovakia in the context of these states’ accession to the EU. Special attention is paid to the deep factors that underlie the contradictions between ethnonational groups within the countries and affect contacts in the external arena. The purpose of the article is to study the connection between the integration of Romania and Slovakia into the EU and the transformation of their national legislation regarding the rights of national minorities. The need to analyse and, if necessary, adjust decisions in the field of ethnopolitics amid Ukraine’s integration into the EU makes such a study timely. In addition, the rights of national minorities remain a sensitive issue in European politics, which makes this topic relevant for research. As a result, the article examines the correlation between the requirements of European institutions regarding reforms in Romania and Slovakia before and after their accession to United Europe and the adoption of normative acts regarding national minorities in both countries. To achieve these goals, the prerequisites for the development of important normative acts of Romania and Slovakia in the field of ethnopolitics, the sequence of their adoption and the content of the relevant documents were investigated. In his research, the author is based on the assumption that the integration of Romania and Slovakia into the EU significantly influenced the systems of ensuring the rights of national minorities in both countries, and formed their current structure and mechanisms. The author states that the European integration of Romania and Slovakia stimulated changes in the systems of ensuring the rights of national minorities in both countries. In particular, it was reflected in the implementation of the basic principles of respect and protection of minorities, commitment to democracy and human rights to the legislation of each state. Therefore, the author proves that European integration helped countries lay a new foundation for their own ethnopolitics.

Revue de Transylvanie (1934-1944): Creation, Structure and Research Themes

Revue de Transylvanie appeared in May 1934 in Cluj, at the initiative of Transylvanian intellectuals and with the financial support of Astra, its pages containing studies of good scientific quality, aiming at disseminating the results of Romanian historical research to the European scientific and public opinion. Our paper intends to outline the context in which the journal appeared, its editorial structure, its main contributors and topics throughout the years, as well as the context in which it ceased its activity. In the Foreword of its first issue, its initiators stated the reasons for starting the journal, as well as the objectives its founders had set for themselves. Silviu Dragomir, the director of the journal, and D.D. Roşca, its first editor-in-chief, intended the Revue de Transylvanie “to be a means of informing its Western readers on Transylvania through various aspects of life in a major province of post-1918 Romania”. The founders of the publication wished for the journal to be “an objective and accurate means of information” on the ethnic issues in Transylvania and particularly on minorities. Revue de Transylvanie also aimed at investigating the relations of minorities in Romania with its majority Romanian population. The journal also appeared as a reaction to the Hungarian external propaganda, which was trying to accredit the idea that, after having become a Romanian province, Transylvania experienced a regress. The journal was not founded immediately after 1918, but in 1934, when it became increasingly obvious that the political changes that had occurred in the states defeated during WWI were threatening Europe’s configuration. Even in this difficult political context, the Romanian State took a long time to get involved in financially supporting the publication. The journal achieved only some of the goals set by its founders, namely informing scientists and decision-makers in the Western states on the political and ethnic realities in Transylvania. This was due to the professionalism of the authors and their published studies on a great variety of topics, namely history, historical demography, cultural history, ethnography, linguistics etc., as well as to the 1200 free copies distributed to specialists in the country and abroad. Regarding the contributors to the issues of the journal, although their number was over 60, only a few of them were permanent contributors, i.e. Silviu Dragomir, with 9 published studies, George Sofronie, with 8 published studies, Laurian Someșan, with 6 published studies, Coriolan Petranu, with 5 studies, Ioachim Crăciun, with 5 published studies, Ioan Lupaș, with 4 studies. The journal was also a true training workshop for younger specialists who made their apprenticeship especially in the Notes and Reviews sections. Worth mentioning among the younger historians are Ioachim Crăciun, Aurel Decei, Ioan Moga, Andrei Oţetea, P.P. Panaitescu, Ştefan Pascu, Aurelian Sacer¬doţeanu, David Prodan, Virgil Vătăşianu. The journal contained good quality studies on a variety of topics, especially contributions on contemporary history, minority issues, international law, historical demography, language history, historical geography etc. Revue de Transylvanie proved to be an interdisciplinary journal in terms of both published studies and articles, and of its contributors’ formation. Disputes and polemics occurred mainly in Notes and Reviews. The political factor in Romania used only to a small extent the pertinent information provided by the specialists, and its editing team set itself difficult objectives, unachievable without political support.

Emigration and the care of older people ‘left behind’: the changing role of neighbourhood networks, ethnicity and civil society

ABSTRACT Rapid population ageing and international migration are demographic trends which intersect and contribute to far-reaching transformations of local networks and communities. Academic literature has often focused on the impact of migration on receiving communities or narrowly on ‘left behind’ individuals and households. Less consideration has been given to impacts on wider neighbourhood networks and social relationships in sending countries, or the agency of non-migrants in transforming and re-creating networks disrupted by emigration. This article draws on qualitative interviews among a German-speaking minority in Romania which experienced dramatic outmigration to Germany in 1990. The evidence shows that local networks adjusted to outmigration by bringing in new actors previously not involved in support provision; in this case, neighbours belonging to different ethnic groups with whom relations were previously distant. In addition, existing civil society institutions, such as the church, intensified and extended their role to offer practical support and physical care. By examining these transformations through the prism of care in later life, the depth of social transformations ensuant on migration can be brought into sharp relief.