Multiple and contested geographies of memory: Remembering the 1989 Romanian ‘revolution’

Authors: Young, C. and Light, D.

Pages: 56-73

DOI: 10.4324/9781315685168-12

Abstract:

This chapter is concerned with the memory and commemoration of the violent events and civil war that were part of the complex downfall of Romanian Communism in 1989-1990. The departure from state-socialism in Romania was distinguished by its violent nature, with the Romanian ‘revolution’ leaving over a thousand people dead and around 3, 500 wounded, with more deaths and injuries in the Mineriadă of 1990. What exactly happened during the fall of the Ceauşescu regime in December 1989 is still the subject of debate. Together with the subsequent trajectories of Romanian post-socialist politics, which have been marked by considerable continuities from the Communist regime, this has produced a complex context in which commemoration and memory of these events remain highly contested. Official, state-led processes of commemoration do not resonate with popular memory, which remembers in different ways that ignore or contest the narratives of the post-socialist nation-state.

https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/23759/

Source: Scopus