Minority In Romania Research Articles

Die Rolle des Radiointerviews im Landeskundeunterricht Ein Mediascher in Paraguay

Abstract The tendency to apply media in regional studies for students of German as a foreign language (Deutsch als Fremdsprache, DaF) is no longer a novelty. Thus, we see media applied as such in multiple different forms, like videos, press releases, radio segments or online statements. This contribution is focused on the radio interview, as a constitutive part of the regional studies’ courses for DaF students of Germanistik in Romania. As a starting point serves the assumption, that the application of visual media can be enhanced through dialogue sequences, which further highlight the subject of the course. Through chosen interviews, that have been aired by the state channels, students can become familiar with such issues, that affect the German minority in Romania. The authenticity that is being sought for, will result from the primary situation of the interviewer and the interviewee communicating, as well as through the utilization of Rumäniendeutsch as the standard language of the German minority, living in Romania. Thus can cultural, social, historical and linguistic phenomena that are specific for the local German speaking population and that are (re)constructing the cultural inheritance of Germans in Romania, be regarded in greater detail.

Recent developments regarding the integration of the ethnic roma minority in Romania: The National Roma Inclusion Strategy for 2021-2027

Recent developments regarding the integration of the ethnic roma minority in Romania: The National Roma Inclusion Strategy for 2021-2027

30 years of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Germany

Abstract Thirty years have passed since Germany ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and is now on the verge of incorporating it into its Basic Law. This article takes a closer look at recent developments in strengthening children's rights in Germany, focusing on vulnerable children and youth, such as members of the Romani minority, and their educational development. While some improvements have been made in education, the COVID-19 pandemic brought new dimensions into play and exacerbated their vulnerability.

Minorities as citizens: The legal advocacy of language rights by the Hungarian minority in Romania

AbstractThis article investigates the assertion of language rights through legal mobilization by the Hungarian minority in Romania, thus examining this emergent kind of mobilization aimed at the claiming of rights, often rights recognized by law, but not enforced in practice. This incongruity between rights on paper and their execution provokes interethnic rivalry for the visibility of language and culture, in which the exclusive ownership of sovereignty is marked by the dominance of national language in physical spaces coined as ‘linguistic territoriality’ (Csergő, 2007), fostering parallel, monolingual public spheres. Applying Rancière's theory to the case of the Hungarian minority in Romania, it is argued that civil society activists' legal mobilization initiatives are a manifestation of ‘politics’ in the Rancièreian sense as they challenge the distribution of public spaces along ethnic lines through pushing forward their integrative vision of the same spaces—thus ‘seeking the litigious distribution of places and roles’ (Rancière, 2003, p. 201).

Social Mobility and Political Regimes: Intergenerational Mobility in Hungary, 1949–2017

This paper measures social mobility rates in Hungary during the period 1949 to 2017, using surnames to measure social status. In those years, there were two very different social regimes. The first was the Hungarian People’s Republic (1949–1989), which was a communist regime with an avowed aim of favouring the working class. The second is the modern liberal democracy (1989–2017), which is a free-market economy. We find five surprising things. First, social mobility rates were low for both upper- and lower-class families during 1949–2017, with an underlying intergenerational status correlation of 0.6–0.8. Second, social mobility rates under communism were the same as in the subsequent capitalist regime. Third, the Romani minority throughout both periods showed even lower social mobility rates. Fourth, the descendants of the eighteenth-century noble class in Hungary were still significantly privileged in 1949 and later. And fifth, although social mobility rates did not change measurably during the transition, the composition of the political elite changed rapidly and sharply.

ACCESS TO JUSTICE - TRUST AND PERCEPTIONS OF THE ROMA MINORITY

Discrimination and inequality for various reasons continue to be a reality of everyday life throughout the European Union, as confirmed by the results of surveys and various national studies and research published in recent years. At the level of vulnerable groups (including people in poverty, ethnic minorities, young people, the elderly or women) discrimination and inequality are more pronounced. Access to justice for these disadvantaged groups should contribute toincreasing inclusion, increasing socio-economic integration, but barriers (lack of education, information, lack of identity documents, lack of material resources, etc.) in the way of access to justice are sometimes too extended for these people. Thus, theinability of disadvantaged people to access legal services is both a result and a cause of the low degree of inclusion and development, as well as the high degree of vulnerability. This article highlights the trust and perceptions of Roma minority in Romania in the justice system in the context in which justice is still far from meeting the expectations of citizens, access to justice being unequal especially due to geographical, economic, cultural, social, psychological / temporal barriers. The article makes an important contribution to a broader understanding of the size and nature of the legal needs of members of the Roma minority and the obstacles they face in seeking legal protection in general, but especially for guiding public policies in the field ofjustice based on reality perceived by those involved in this complex phenomenon.

A ‘Historical Reconciliation.’ The Romanian‑Hungarian Treaty of 1996

This article analyses Romania’s foreign policy during the transition from communism to democracy, between 1990 and 1996, through the lens of its relations with Hungary. These were conditioned by the historical background, antagonistic feelings best describing public opinion attitudes in the two states. The analysis considered the situation of the Hungarian minority in Romania and the way in which inter-ethnic tensions (such as the street fights in Târgu-Mureş in March 1990) influenced diplomatic cooperation, as well as the way in which the political class positioned on this issue. The study focuses on the adoption of the ‘Treaty of understanding, cooperation and good neighborliness concluded between Romania and the Republic of Hungary,’ a condition for the acceptance of the two countries in the negotiations for accession to NATO and the European Union. The tortuous process that led to the signing of this document was analyzed through the lens of specialized literature, but also by reference to some decision-makers at that time, such as the US ambassador to Romania, Alfred H. Moses, or President Ion Iliescu. As regards the reactions of politicians and the media in both states to the signing of the treaty, in the context of the Romanian electoral campaign that was taking place at that time, sources from the written press were used, Evenimentul Zilei and Adevărul being the most widely read dailies.

The Rights of the National Minorities in Romania from an Educational Perspective in the Interwar Period

The educational rights of minorities have always reflected not only the degree of openness of a state, but also the regime in power in that country. Currently, the national minorities in Romania enjoy full rights, which make our state an example of good practices in this regard, but this has not always been the case. This is the reason why, in this article, I chose to focus on the interwar period, a period that offers us an overview of the stages that Romania has gone through in regard of educational rights for the national minorities.

Past passive participles of intransitive verbs in the language of the Bulgarian minority in Romania: A closer look at contact-induced grammatical change. Našite bălgari să dojdeni or dušleli

This article discusses an innovative grammatical structure with past passive participles of intransitive verbs оbserved in the language of a Bulgarian minority in Brăneşti, Romania. The aim of this article is to reveal the mechanism of contact-induced grammatical change which seems to have occurred in the Bulgariandialect of Brăneşti under the influence of the Romanian language. The results of the analysis, based on materials from the author’s fieldwork, indicate that a grammatical structure involving the past passive participles of intransitive verbs hasarisen in the Brăneşti dialect as a result of grammatical replication of Romanianpast participles.

The Legal Status of Jewish Properties after the Second World War

The author examines the legislative means by which the Jewish minority in Romania was dispossesd of its assets prior to World War II by the Fascist regime, and in the wake if this war, by the Communist regime. The study examines how, the post World War II govermennt willfully hindered the restitution of unlawfully taken Jewish assets, and how it has allowed not only the perpetuation of the dispossession which took place during the Holocaust, but has also added measures for the nationalization of Jewish assets. The post 1989 restitution process is also examined briefly, to outline the successive failures of the Romanian Government to enact proper restitution.

Mniejszościowy etnobiznes w Rumunii. Przypadek słowiańskojęzycznej ludności w Marmaroszu

The author addresses the issue of ethno-business, which has been largely unresearched to date. In the approach proposed by the author, ethnobusiness is understood as a wide range of practices and behaviours related to the deliberate use of existing regulations going beyond the intentions of legislators that guarantee cultural and political privileges for national and ethnic minorities. Various activists and leaders gathered around ethnic organizations and co-creators of the discussed phenomenon most often pursue their private material or political interests. However, ethno-business is closely linked to the established Romanian legislation on national minorities. Thus, the author investigates the roots of this phenomenon, introducing readers to the regulations on minorities in Romania, and points to the social consequences of ethno-business. The analysis of the discussed problem is supplemented and illustrated by examples of specific behaviours observed by the author during his long-term and extensive ethnographic field research carried out on the Romanian-Ukrainian borderland between 2009 and 2010. Although this research project focused on aspects of ethnic and national identity among the Slavic-speaking community of the Maramures region, it also gave an opportunity to spot a number of behaviours that can be interpreted in the context of ethno-business. The ethnographic examples given in the article show how the policies related to the protection of national minorities in Romania can be exploited in various circumstances by different individuals who have relevant knowledge of the rights of national minorities.

“Unicul Lucru Capabil Să Surprindă Un Crâmpei De VeȘnicie, Este Arta” Forestiera Feltrinelli, De Joachim Wittstock, Traducere De Maria Sass

Abstract Joachim Wittstock’s novella Forestiera Feltrinelli, translated into Romanian by Maria Sass, appeared under the aegis of the Honterus publishing house in Sibiu, in 2019. Combining present-day economic realities, with a parallelism of temporal planes, and the antonimy between the mythical past and the disillusioning present, Wittstock manages to interweave in his most recent volume social and historical analyses, love stories and subtle eroticism, existentialist concerns and political dimensions. The volume can be regarded as an important contribution to a better relationing of the Romanian readership with German literature in Romania, and to a better understanding of the complex thematic and narrative mechanisms in Joachim Wittstock’s works. A fascinating page of the history of Sibiu, of the Romanian Saxons, and of the author’s biography, the volume is a succesful and innovative attempt in the landscape of contemporary Romanian and European literature, and its Romanian translation a welcome and necessary initiative in view of a multicultural understanding of the literatures of ethnic minorities in Romania.

Designing Legitimate Institutions for Non-Territorial Autonomies. Insights from the Debates within the Hungarian Communities of Serbia and Romania

Abstract In this paper, I examine some problematic aspects of minority self-governments, more specifically non-territorial cultural or national-cultural autonomy, through an analysis of the cases of the Hungarian minorities in Romania and Serbia. Although the Hungarian minority élites have put forward demands and plans for various forms of autonomy in both countries after 1990, only one particular form of minority self-government, namely national-cultural autonomy, proved to be acceptable for the majority, and eventually such a system was only implemented in Serbia but not in Romania. The focus in the article is more on the form than on the content of autonomy as the design of the institutions of self-government is of central importance also with regard to the power relations within the imagined political community of the minority. Despite the differences between the legal-institutional systems of minority protection of the two states, the patterns of minority élite behaviour were rather similar in the two analysed cases, the institutional form of the envisaged autonomy becoming a very divisive issue and exerting a strong impact on the internal political dynamics of the minorities.

Political Activity of Kwiek ‘Dynasty’ in the Second Polish Republic in the Years 1935–1939

The coronation of King Janusz Kwiek, which took place in 1937, was meant to integrate the Romani elite in the interwar sociopolitical life of Poland. Unfortunately, the creation of a homogeneous and centralized Romani representation through the royal institution ended in a fiasco. Firstly, the centralized model of power was in conflict with the Romani nomadic system in Poland, which was based on a multitude of leaders, including women whose power resulted from hierarchical dependence. Secondly, it quickly became clear that from the mid-1920s onward, when the presence of Polish Romani in mainstream social life crystallized, there has been no bottom–up social initiatives promoting King Janusz Kwiek’s attempts towards sociopolitical reform. Therefore, the Romani population was not prepared for changes and no effective state coercive measures were created to enforce the introduction of the postulated changes. Thus, although the activities of both actors—the Kwieks and the Polish authorities—often had a facade character, consisting in more or less weak ‘governance’ of the Romani minority, their joint activity favored the political maturation of the Romani elite and its comprehensive development. This was despite of the many shortcomings of the close relationship between the Romani people and the Polish administration, as a result from the dictatorial rule in Poland at the time.

Health through the Eyes of the Romani minority

Cél: A tanulmány célja a Transcultural Assessment Modell segítségével megismerni a roma közösség saját egészségi állapotának szubjektív megítélését a társadalmi integráció és a környezeti hatások kontextusában.Módszer: Kvantitatív kutatással kérdőíves adatgyűjtés. A felmérésben résztvevő csoport 600 fő roma kisebbséghez tartozó egyén.Eredmény: Az eredmények megmutatták, hogy az egészség az egyik legfőbb érték a roma kisebbség számára. A válaszadók jelentős hányada szerint gyakran aggódnak az egészségük miatt, ugyanakkor nem járnak egészségügyi vizsgálatokra.Következtetés: Az egészség és betegség fogalma egyénenként jelentősen eltérő. Továbbá, az a kultúra, melyhez az egyén tartozik, azon a tényezőkhöz egyike, melyek befolyásolják az egészségről kialakított felfogásukat. Ennek következtében az egészségügyi ellátást nyújtónak tisztában kell lennie a beteg kultúrájával és azzal, hogy mi a felfogása az egészség-betegségről.

Parliamentary representation of minorities in romania: current challenges

Presented article is prepared within the Research Project “Law of Political Parties” held by the faculty of Law and International Relations of Georgian Technical University. Тhe purpose of the article is to analyze the main mechanisms that guarantees the parliamentary representation of national and ethnic minorities in Romania. Authors review in detail the correlation of concept of equality principle and positive discrimination in regard with national and ethnic minorities. Clear distinction is given between Hungarian minority, as a successfully political movement and all other minorities, which were able to gain mandates only through positive discrimination. In conclusion authors underline some advantages of Romanian electoral system, but also refer to weaknesses, which should be eliminated and suggest some recommendations for possible improvements.

The Treaty for the Protection of Minorities in Romania as a Result of Saint- Germain and its Consequences for the Education System of Minorities

Since the immigration of German settlers in what later became Romania, a native-language school system has been one of the essential foundations for the preservation of the minority in a foreign national environment. For centuries, Hungarian kings guaranteed this legal right for the minority, who usually designated their own church as school authorities. The situation changed with the foundation of the Romanian state in the 19th century, as the Romanian people had no historical school tradition. After the end of the First World War, a national school guarantee was therefore a completely new situation of international law in an international treaty for Great Romania.

Periods of Romanian Communism from the Perspective of Policy towards Minorities

In correspondence with the international platform, communism in Romania has gone through a series of different stages of evolution. One could speak about different phases as far back as even the post 1944 development of Romanian communism. Some of the factors that influenced the development of communism in Romania could be said to be: the fight for power, the stages of Soviet-type political transformations, evolution of the USSR’s policies and attitude, the great global or regional political and economic crises, and/or the development of political life in the socialist countries. All these political changes have had great influence on the Romanian Party’s policies towards minorities in Romania itself. These policies started from an ideological base of Marxism and Leninism, though many times having their own interpretation. The development phases of the policy towards minorities were part of the general directions of the regime’s development but also show some specific characteristics. Despite the theory and interpretation of Marxist and Leninist ideas being the same for all minorities, some differences could be observed in the Party’s national policy, even within a given phase. Taking all this into consideration and within the Party’s policy towards ethnic minorities, five great stages have been identified: the transition period (1945-1948), integration through their own elites (the paradigm of mass organisations from the Hungarian Autonomous Region, 1948-1956), the period of the impact of the Hungarian Revolution (1956-1964), from apparent liberalisation to the effects of the cultural mini-revolution (1964-1975), and the period of unchaining of communist nationalism (1976-1989).

Minority Politics of Hungary and Romania between 1940 and 1944. The System of Reciprocity and Its Consequences

Abstract The main objective of the paper is to highlight the changes in the situation of the Hungarian minority in Romania and the Romanian minority in Hungary living in the divided Transylvania from the Second Vienna Arbitration from 30 August 1940 to the end of WWII. The author analyses the Hungarian and Romanian governments’ attitude regarding the new borders and their intentions with the minorities remaining on their territories. The paper offers a synthesis of the system of reciprocity, which determined the relations between the two states on the minority issue until 1944. Finally, the negative influence of the politics of reciprocity is shown on the interethnic relations in Transylvania.

Езикът на българските общности извън България / The Language of Bulgarian Communities abroad

Езикът на българските общности извън България / The Language of Bulgarian Communities abroad