Coord. Carmen Ionela Ban]a MINORITIES IN OLTENIA CULTURAL STUDIES Coord. Carmen Ionela Ban]a MINORITIES IN OLTENIA CULTURAL STUDIES Bibliotheca Publishing House T@rgovi[te 2 0 1 5 Coordonator: Carmen Ionela Ban]a Authors: Nicolae Panea, Irineu Ion Popa, Dumitru Otovescu, Alexandrina Mihaela Popescu, R#zvan Nicolae Stan, George G\rle[teanu, Emil }\rcomnicu, Floren]a Simion, Cornel B#losu, Gabriela Rusu, Gunnar Heiene, Solvor M. Latzen Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Na]ionale a Rom@niei Minorities in Oltenia : cultural studies / Nicolae Panea, Irineu Ion Popa, Dumitru Otovescu, ..; coord.: Carmen Ionela Banţa. – T@rgovişte Bibliotheca, 2015 ISBN 978-606-772-078-5 I. Panea, Nicolae II. Popa, Irineu Ion III. Otovescu, Dumitru II. Banţa, Carmen (coord.) 323.1(498.2) FOREWORD This volume comprises a complex collection of studies that analyse the minorities in Oltenia from a multidisciplinary point of view, at both the macro- and micro- levels. This research was done within the project „Revitalisation and promotion of the Oltenia minorities cultural heritage in the context of cultural diversity”, financed by means of a grant offered by Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the Romanian Government. We have tried to make a relevant analysis of several ethnic groups in Oltenia in the context of cultural pluralism and to cover a wide area of interdisciplinary research. Intended to resemble a „puzzle”, the volume attempts to encompass most of the social and cultural domains (law, religion, ethnology, ethnography, cultural anthropology) presented in a coherent succession. Thus, in his research on The Legal System and the Minorities, George Gîrleşteanu states that his aim is to outline „the coordinates and the normative consequences of the non- legal concept of minority within the legal system, from the point of view of the rights guaranteed and of the legal protection offered to members of a minority group”. The reader is to gain a legal „understanding” of the cultural, religious and linguistic identity of the national minorities. In order to have a general perception of The Promotion of the Human Person and of His Inestimable Value in the Context of Cultural Diversity – Theological Principles, His Eminence Irineu Ion Popa states that „considering the theological principles which substantiate Christian anthropology in general and the Christian-Orthodox anthropology in particular, it has been established that, irrespective of the social status, ethnicity or other social, cultural or other differences, each human person has an inestimable value and therefore has to be respected accordingly. Responsibility towards our fellow creatures is crucial, and our own redemption depends on how it is fulfilled and realised”. All these can occur within the current multicultural, globalising context, characterised by ethnic diversity, migration and other realities that have various influences on the social environment and on our living conditions. The lengthy, thorough and very well documented study Historical and Ethnological Aspects of the Oltenia Minorities: Beliefs, Customs and Traditions offers relevant and nuanced information on the diachronic history of the settlement, continuity and socio-cultural activities of the Oltenia minorities. In order to have the clearest and most relevant research, the two authors (Emil Tîrcomnicu şi Florenţa Simion) mention ab inition the ethnic minorities of the province, stating how compact, how numerous or how scattered they have been. In fact, this data stands proof of the socio-cultural and political relations established between the majority and the minorities. Thus, there follows a thorough presentation of the Greek, Albanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Jewish, Italian, German, Roma and Gipsy woodworker communities. In the same context, the authors analyse eloquent and harmonious aspects related to religion, mentalities, as well as to the psycho-social type of ethnic cohabitation and communication. The research also includes rich, well-balanced ethno-folkloric data, which proves the thorough, professional field research of the two specialists, as well as their objective documentation. The next survey included in the volume is Cornel Bălosu’s An Ethnographic Outline of the Oltenia Minorities – Types of Dwellings, Activities, Architecture, Household Space Management, Folk Costume. The research aims to reinterpret several rural communities of ethnic minorities (or majorities – see Eibenthal and Sviniţa) by means of an objective, 5 nonprejudiced point of view, out of a constant wish to present reality in an open-minded and objective manner. First and foremost, this „reality” concerns the identitary representation of the other, starting from the traditional way of organising the household, moving on to activities and ending with the spiritual values of the community. Field notes gathered during the visits to the ethnic communities of the Serbians in Sviniţa and of the Czechs in Eibenthal make up a lengthy analysis. The authors of the interdisciplinary research The Socio-cultural Profile of the Oltenia Minorities (Dumitru Otovescu, Alexandrina Mihaela Popescu şi Răzvan Nicolae Stan) use an exemplary methodology, which has engendered equally valuable scientific results. The pre-eminent aim of their endeavour is the identification of the system of values specific to these minorities and their promotion within the cultural space of Oltenia by various means of public communication. By making use of an honest scientific approach and methodology, the researchers analyse relevant data which certify the important aspects (social, cultural, religious and political) in the life of the minorities and their coexistence with the majority. The scientific observations refer to aspects related to demography, activities, types of education, various situations of material and spiritual life, means of subsistence, the challenge of facing society, psychosocial convergence, traditional cultures and their importance to the group, group mentalities, social factors revealed by the rituals of passage, by wedding traditions, by other rites and social order mentalities, the observation and reception of the idea of tradition by all age groups, etc. The volume is synthetically prefigured in Nicolae Panea’s Anthropological Outline, where the suggested themes are essentialised. In his turn, the author makes use of multidisciplinary research, which is understandably accompanied by field work. This study is the one that, by means of an academic approach, may scientifically cover the entire theoretical and practical context demanded by this project. Research, claims the author, „can be considered a diagnosis” that not only relates to ”a minority’s condition within the national context”, but also implies a comparison with other European spaces that decided to solve the problem of minorities a long time ago and to this purpose designed „integration grids” and implicitly grids „of formation and of coexistence” in an administrative unit such as a Euroregion. Case studies round the scientific segment of the volume. Thus, towards the end, there are several personal stories of some representatives of the Oltenia minorities, presented by Gabriela Rusu, who outlines them in a literary manner, this way increasing the emotional perception of certain events and ontological experiences. The survey of the Norwegian partners (Gunnar Heiene şi Solvor M. Lauritzen) nuances the information on national minorities (especially the Roma population), in an attempt to make a diachronic presentation of their presence in Norway, as well as „an X-ray” of their status, different from the one in Romania. In conclusion, we can say that the main idea of the volume is related to the wish to rediscover, reunite with, reconsider and reintegrate THE OTHER, the one next to us, who is similar to us, but at the same time different. Thus, the image of the other and the way in which we see him are essential in a socio-cultural, existential and political relation. The coexistence between the ethnic communities and the majority has triggered limits and changes, feelings and resentment, acceptance and refusal, identification and nonidentification, communication and lack of communication, violence or tolerance, intra muros or extra muros. We should also mention the fact that the outcomes of this project financed by Norwegian funds include, besides this socio-cultural identity volume „The Oltenia Minorities. 6 Cultural Studies”, a consistent and hopefully valuable museum product – the multiethnic exhibition hosted by the University of Craiova. We wanted to create within the project a collection of museum artefacts aimed to reanalyse the cultural history of the ethnic minorities in Oltenia, as a result of a museal „narrative” that does not wish to imprison objects (patrimonial or not), but to open new doors to cultural and scientific interpretation and to the acknowledgement of the history of communities. It is, de facto, a display including instruments, significant objects, social and political experiences, other written documents, images and museological adjuvants. Therefore, for now, at least, the exhibition of the University of Craiova expresses, reveals and gathers the characteristics and the cultural and mentalitary identity of those that are next to us... whether Bulgarian, Roma, Albanian, Greek, Jewish, Czech, Serbian or of any other ethnicity. Unfortunately, instead of being fully illuminated, as it was supposed to, the 20th century proved to be marked by tremendous ethnic grimness and „massacres”.