Mihai S. Rusu - NAMESCAPE

NAMESCAPE

The Politics of Street (Re-)Naming Practices: Symbolic Geographies and Identity Landscapes in Postsocialist Romania

Project code: PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-0238

Duration: 9 November 2020–8 November 2022

Funding agency: CNCS–UEFISCDI

Research team: Mihai S. Rusu – research director, Adela E. Popa – senior researcher, Alin Croitoru – researcher, Anabella Beju – researcher.

Project description

ABSTRACT

Starting from the theoretical premises articulated in the field of critical toponymies according to which street names constitute important means of toponymically inscribing the landscape with the ideological ethos and historical memories cultivated by state authorities, this project aims to analyze the politics of street names in postsocialist Romania.

For this purpose, the project will construct an integrated dataset comprising all the street names across the country, alongside with the complete list of the streets renamed in the aftermath of the regime change of 1989.

The results of these statistical analyses which will make possible discerning the patterns underpinning the structure of Romania’s street nomenclature and its postsocialist transformation will be corroborated with a further set of analyses: first, with a qualitative inquiry methodologically grounded on interviewing the relevant social and political actors involved in the process of (re)naming the public landscape at the level of local administration, and, second, a web-survey aiming to capture the attitudes of residents from multiple cities across Romania on the street name politics and toponymic change.

Through such a methodological strategy that combines quantitative and qualitative approaches, this project will discern three constitutive dimensions of the politics of urban toponymies: a) the statistical regularities describing the street nomenclature at the national level alongside the patterns of postsocialist renaming, b) the dynamics of the decision-making process of (re)naming the streetscape within the public administration, and c) the residents’ attitudes towards these various aspects.

OBJECTIVES

The research project aims to unpack the politics of street renaming enacted during the period of postsocialist transformations as part of the wider process of coming to terms with the communist past in Romania. In this regard, the project pursues a series of four specific objectives, as follows:

(1) The first objective sets out to analyze the structure of street names currently existing in the street nomenclatures of Romanian cities. For this purpose, the project will construct a comprehensive empirical dataset encompassing the entire collection of urban street names in contemporary Romania.

(2) The second objective consists of examining the patterns of toponymic change in postsocialist Romania. The dataset constructed for this purpose will be subjected to a series of multivariate statistical analysis that aim to identify the factors that shape the process of street name changes after 1989 in Romanian cities.

(3) The third objective aims to understand the decision-making process of attributing and modifying names at the level of local politics as well as the possible tensions underpinning this process. The method employed in grasping the often-contentious process of negotiating the naming and renaming of the urban landscape will consist of semi-structured interviews conducted with relevant stakeholders from the local public administration.

(4) The fourth objective aims to understand how ordinary people perceive the process of toponymic change during Romania’s postsocialist period. In this sense, a web-survey focused on capturing the opinions of citizens located in multiple cities throughout the country will be conducted.

RESULTS

Conference participations

International conferences abroad

Rusu, Mihai Stelian. The 27th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS) (online conference), Jagiellonian University of Krakow, Polonia, 22-27 August 2021, with the paper “Post-socialist Change in Romania’s Urban Street Nomenclature: A Quantitative Analysis at the National Level”.

2Rusu, Mihai Stelian. European Sociological Association (ESA) Research Network 37 (Urban Sociology), IV Midterm Conference “Urban Theory and Urban Praxis: Past, Present and Possible Futures,” 27-29 January 2021, University of Bologna, Italia (online), with the paper “Post-socialist Changes of Urban Nomenclature: A Quantitative Analysis of Street Renaming in Three Romanian Cities”.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian. Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) Annual World Convention, 5-8 April 2021, Harriman Institute, Columbia University, New York, Statele Unite ale Americii (online), with the paper “Street Renaming in Post-Socialist Romania: A Quantitative Analysis of Toponymic Change”.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian. The 5th Annual Conference of the Memory Studies Association (MSA) “Converges” (online), University of Warsaw, 5-9 July 2021, with the paper “Winds of Toponymic Change: Mapping the Patterns of Street Renaming in Post-communist Romania”.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian. The Global Council for Anthropological Linguists (COMELA) Conference 2022, 19–23 July 2022, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, with the paper “Gendering Urban Namescapes: The Gender Politics of Street Names in a Central-Eastern European Secondary City.”

Rusu, Mihai Stelian. The British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) Annual Conference, 8–10 April 2022, Robinson College, University of Cambridge, UK, with the paper “Rubbles of Memory: The Memorial Afterlives of Communist Monuments in Postcommunist Romania.”

Rusu, Horațiu și Croitoru, Alin. Midterm Conference of ESA RN36: „Sociological Knowledge and Social Transformations in Global Crises”, September 2-3, 2022, Prague, Czech Republic, with the paper „Romanians’ Solidarity towards the Ukrainian Refugees. The Way from Individuals’ Pro-Ukrainian Attitudes to Acts of Solidarity.”

International conferences in Romania

Rusu, Mihai Stelian. The 6th International Conference of the Romanian Sociologists Society “Curators and Actors of the Social Fabric: Views Through ‘Post-Lenses’” (online), Universitatea Transilvania din Brașov, România, 16-18 June 2021, with the paper “Post-socialist Changes in Urban Nomenclatures: A Quantitative Analysis of Three Romanian Cities”.

Croitoru, Alin. The 6th International Conference of the Romanian Sociologists Society “Curators and Actors of the Social Fabric: Views Through ‘Post-lenses’” (online), Universitatea Transilvania din Brașov, România, 16-18 June 2021, with the paper “Between Integration and Dissociation: Intra-European Immigrants’ Life Experiences in Romania”.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian. The 11th Edition of the International Colloquium of Social Sciences and Communication (ACUM 2022) and the National Romanian Sociologists Society Conference, 27–28 October 2022, Transylvania University of Brașov, Romania, with the paper “Street Renaming in Postsocialist Romania: A Quantitative Approach.”

Rusu, Mihai Stelian și Croitoru, Alin. The 11th Edition of the International Colloquium of Social Sciences and Communication (ACUM 2022) and the National Romanian Sociologists Society Conference, 27–28 October 2022, Transylvania University of Brașov, Romania, with the paper “Surveying Attitudes towards Street Name Changes and Statues’ Removal: A Quantitative Analysis at the National Level in Postsocialist Romania”.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian și Beju, Anabella. The 11th Edition of the International Colloquium of Social Sciences and Communication (ACUM 2022) and the National Romanian Sociologists Society Conference, 27–28 October 2022, Transylvania University of Brașov, Romania, with the paper “‘Gușterland’ – What’s in a Name? The Promise and Perils of Entrepreneurial Governance and Toponymic Democracy for Community Development”.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian. The Society for Romanian Studies (SRS) Conference “Borders and Transfers,” The West University of Timisoara, Romania, 15–17 June 2022, with the paper “Fallen into Disgrace: The Memorial Afterlives of the Communist Monuments in Postsocialist Romania.”

National conferences

Rusu, Mihai Stelian. #România100+, The CoMIst Conference 2021b, “Trecuturi controversate, prezent conflictual, viitor incert?” (online), Universitatea din București, 26 November 2021, with the paper “Recunoștință fără recunoștință: politicile germanității în Sibiu”.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian și Croitoru, Alin. #ComunismulînRomânia100, The CoMIst Conference 2021 (online), Universitatea din București, România, 14 May 2021, with the paper “Relicve memoriale: atitudini sociale față de redenumirea străzilor și înlăturarea statuilor în România postsocialistă”.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian. Congresul Național al Istoricilor Români (CNIR), Universitatea „1 Decembrie 1918” din Alba Iulia, 8–10 September 2022, with the paper “Geografia memorială a lui Avram Iancu: monumente, nume de străzi și toponimie școlară.”

Research stages

Mihai S. Rusu performed a two-months research stage as Visiting Researcher at the University of Bologna, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Bologna (Italy), between 1 September 2021 and 31 October 2021.

Books

Rusu, Mihai Stelian și Croitoru, Alin (2022). Politici ale memoriei în România postsocialistă: atitudini sociale față de redenumirea străzilor și înlăturarea statuilor. Iași: Editura Institutul European, 230 pp. ISBN: 978-606-24-0329-4.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian (autor unic) (2022). Locuri ale memoriei: politicile simbolice ale spațiului public într-un oraș memorial. Sibiu: Editura Universității „Lucian Blaga” din Sibiu, 420 pp. ISBN: 978-606-12-1935-3. Forthcoming.

Croitoru, Alin și Iorga, Alexandru (coord.) (2022). Dezvoltare comunitară în România. Concepte, procese, modele de analiză. București: Tritonic, 325 pp, ISBN: 978-606-749-614-7.

Book chapters

Rusu, Mihai Stelian (autor unic) (2020). Schimbarea denumirilor de străzi după 1989. O analiză cantitativă la nivel național. În Dragoș Petrescu (coord.). Comunismul în România. Memorie și istorie. București: Pro Universitaria (pp. 83-115).

Rusu, Mihai Stelian și Beju, Anabella (2022). Numele dezvoltării comunitare: antreprenoriat municipal și democrație toponimică în Sibiu. În Croitoru, Alin și Iorga, Alexandru (coord.). Dezvoltare comunitară în România: concepte, procese, modele de analiză. București: Tritonic, pp. 165-200.

Croitoru, Alin (2022). Migrație, navetism și antreprenoriat în mediul rural românesc – argumente pentru o analiză integratoare. În Croitoru, Alin și Iorga, Alexandru (coord.). Dezvoltare comunitară în România. Concepte, procese, modele de analiză. București: Tritonic (pp. 303-326).

Rusu, Mihai Stelian (autor unic) (2022). Street Renaming in Post-Socialist Romania: A Quantitative Analysis of Toponymic Change. În S. Gensburger and J. Wüstenberg (Eds.). De-Commemoration: Making Sense of Contemporary Calls for Tearing Down Statues and Renaming Places. Oxford și New York: Berghahn Books. Forthcoming.

Rusu, M. S. & Croitoru, A. Ambivalențe memoriale în România postsocialistă: atitudini generaționale față de moștenirea simbolică a socialismului. În Petrescu, Dragoș. (coord.). Comunismul în România. Istorie și memorie. Forthcoming.

Voicu, Bogdan și Croitoru, Alin (2023). Between Integration and Dissociation: Intra-European Immigrants’ Life Experiences in Romania. În Roxana Barbulescu, Sara Wallace Goodman și Luicy Pedroza (coord.), Revising the Citizenship-Integration Nexus in Europe: Sites, Policies, and Bureaucracies of Belonging. IMISCOE Research Series, Springer. Forthcoming.

Articles

Peer-review articles publiched in journals indexed by Web of Science (WoS)

Rusu, Mihai Stelian (autor unic) (2022). Gendering Urban Namescapes: The Gender Politics of Street Names in an Eastern European City. Names: A Journal of Onomastics. Names: A Journal of Onomastics este indexată în Web of Science, 70(2), pp. 12-25, https://doi.org/10.5195/names.2022.2233. Arts and Humanities Citation Index și Social Sciences Citation Index: Factor de impact 2021: 0.800 (zona gri, Q3).

Croitoru, Alin (autor unic) (2021). Diaspora Start-Up Programs and Creative Industries: Evidence from Romania. Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, 63(E), pp. 5-29, DOI: 10.24193/tras.63E.1. Revista Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences este indexată în Web of Science, Social Sciences Citation Index: Factor de impact 2020: 0.742 (zona gri, Q3).

Croitoru, Alin (autor unic) (2021). Soviet Signoras. Personal and Collective Transformations in Eastern European Migration (book review). Europe-Asia Studies, 73(4), pp. 776-778, https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2021.1912925. Revista Europe-Asia Studies este indexată în Web of Science, Social Sciences Citation Index: Factor de impact 2020: 2.102 (zona roșie, Q1).

Peer-review articles published in journals indexed in international databases (B.D.I.)

Rusu, Mihai Stelian (autor unic) (2020). Street Names through Sociological Lenses. Part I: Functionalism and Conflict Theory. Social Change Review, 18(1), pp. 144-176. DOI: 10.2478/scr-2020-0001.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian (autor unic) (2021). Street Names through Sociological Lenses. Part II: Constructionism and Utilitarianism. Social Change Review, publicat online, DOI: 10.2478/scr-2021-0001.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian și Croitoru, Alin. Memorial Ambivalences in Romania: Generational Attitudes towards the Symbolic Legacy of Communism. Societies, 11(3), 99, DOI: 10.3390/soc11030099.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian (autor unic) (2022). Mercurialul denumirilor stradale: restructurările spațiului simbolic în Sibiul postbelic, 1945-1948. Transilvania, 6-7, pp. 24-34, DOI: 10.51391/trva.2022.06-07.03.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian (autor unic). Street Naming Practices: A Systematic Review of Urban Toponymic Scholarship. Onoma: Journal of the International Council of Onomastic Sciences, 56, pp. 269-292, DOI: 10.34158/ONOMA.56/2021/14.

Rusu, Mihai Stelian (autor unic) (2022). Managing Troubled and Troubling Places of Memory. Review of Xosé M. Núñez Seixas (2021). Sites of the Dictators: Memories of Authoritarian Europe, 1945–2020, Social Change Review. Forthcoming.

Șerban, Monica și Croitoru, Alin (2022). The COVID-19 pandemic as an Opportunity to Bring the Migration of Agricultural Workers into Focus through Media Coverage, Estudios Geográficos. Forthcoming.