Different studies argue that the impact and the appropriation of international emancipatory movements, such as Decolonize This Place, are overlooked and under-researched topics in Eastern Europe. Our project asserts that in the field of memory studies dedicated to the space of the Republic of Moldova, even less attention was given to the decolonizing memory from the legacy of Soviet influence and domination. Our project proposes to look, using a collaborative approach, at cultural forms and expressions through which this movement manifested and acted and to its impact in shaping the public discourse of memory. Acknowledging the connections between Romania and the Republic of Moldova in terms of the common cultural and literary scene created for and by Moldovan-born writers and artists, we ask how the Soviet legacy was and is dealt with in this space through literary, aesthetic and artistic forms. The decolonisation includes both the issue of remembering and remediating the past by using cultural forms and that of the mechanisms used to articulate the position assumed towards the Soviet legacy. Thirdly, it refers to their impact in terms of shaping the public memory discourse. Therefore, our aim is to study, develop and implement common research practices following these three levels.
Simona Mitroiu, PI, Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7600-3484
Nina Corcinschi, PL, ”Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu” Institute of Romanian Philology, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4903-4477
Andreea Mironescu, Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9454-8792
Camelia Gradinaru, Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3019-3056
Doris Mironescu, Faculty of Letters, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2241-5971
Oxana Gherman, "Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu” Institute of Romanian Philology, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7366-2599
Cristina Dicusar, PhD student, "Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu” Institute of Romanian Philology, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6480-994X
Cristian Serdeșniuc, PhD student, "Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu” Institute of Romanian Philology, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8522-2523
PANEL: "Decolonizing Memory. The Post-Soviet Novel in the Republic of Moldova", International Conference For the Study of the Novel Migration and Economic Inequalities in the History of the Novel: Discourses, Representations, Identity (Re)Construction, "Sextil Pușcariu" Institute, Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 21-22 June 2024; Chairs: Nina Corcinschi & Doris Mironescu
Nina Corcinschi, Representations of Decolonization of Post-imperial Memory in Times New Roman 12/18 by Emilian Galaicu-Păun
Simona Mitroiu, The Novel of Workforce Migration: Liliana Corobca, Claudia Partole
Cristina Dicusar, Attachment, Detachment, and the Limits of Confession. The Bronze Dog by Emanuela Iurkin
Oxana Gherman, Gender Emancipation from the Soviet False Egalitarianism to the Inequalities of Post-transition: Tatiana Țîbuleac, Sașa Zare
Doris Mironescu , The Ashes of Empire. The Perestroika Novel in Vasile Ernu and Liliana Calancea's Works
ROUNDTABLE and WORKSHOP: "Decolonization of Memory in Post-Soviet Literature. Emancipatory Narratives", ”Bogdan Petriceicu-Hașdeu” Institute of Romanian Philology, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova, 10-11 October 2024
Participants: Doris Mironescu, Simona Mitroiu, Nina Corcinschi, Oxana Gherman, Cristina Dicusar, Cristian Serdeșniuc, Arleen Ionescu
ROUNDTABLE: "Literary Generations and Decolonization of Memory in the Republic of Moldova after 1991", Institute of Romanian Philology "Alexandru Philippide", Iasi, Romanian Academy, Romania, 16-18 October 2024
Participants: Doris Mironescu, Bogdan Crețu, Simona Mitroiu, Nina Corcinschi, Oxana Gherman, Cristina Dicusar
WORKSHOP: "Literary History and Memory: the Novel in Post-testimony Age", Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 30 April 2025 (coordinator Andreea Mironescu)
ROUNDTABLE: "Decolonization of Memory in Literature from the Republic of Moldova: Key Elements and Provocations", Institute of Interdisciplinary Research, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 30 April 2025 (Invited Speakers: Nina Corcinschi and Oxana Gherman, coordinator Simona Mitroiu)
PANEL "The Memory of Pluri-Crises: Challenging Power Relationships through Cultural Expressions in a De-Sovietization and Decolonization Context", Memory Studies Association Conference 2025, Prague (July 2025); Chair: Simona Mitroiu
Oxana Gherman & Simona Mitroiu, The Ordinary Crises of Violence: Gendered Experience in Moldovan Writers' Novels
Camelia Gradinaru & Cristina Dicusar, Multimodal Activism in a World of Perpetual Crises and #permanentprotest: OccupyGuguta"
Doris Mironescu & Nina Corcinschi, Performing Masculinity in Between: Post Soviet Moldovan Writers and the Political Uses of Literary Violence
Kateřina Fuksová (Charles University, Prague), Navigating Liminality: Memory, Identity, and the Post-Colonial Condition of Contemporary Moldova
Caterina Pislari (Independent Researcher), Chisinau as a Case Study of Moldova's Post-colonial Condition: Fractured Memories, Settler Colonial and Identity-making Policies, Claiming and Alienation
Conference presentation: Cristina Dicusar & Andreea Mironescu, Post-imperial Nation Rebuilding: Strategies of Mixed Synchronization in the Republic of Moldova, CONFERENCE Theorizing (Sub)peripheries: Strategies of Synchronization in Southeast European Literary and Cultural Criticism (1821–2025), Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania, 9-10 May 2025.
Conference presentation: Andreea Mironescu & Cristina Dicusar, Born in Moldova: Music and Soft Decolonization in Post-Soviet Republic of Moldova, ASEEES Virtual Convention 23-24 October 2025 .
Conference presentation: Andreea Mironescu & Cristina Dicusar, Inter- și postimperialitate în poezia milenială din Republica Moldova, Filologia Modernă. Realizări și perspective în context european, 2–3 October 2025, Republic of Moldova.
Conference presentation: Nina Corcinschi & Doris Mironescu, Discursul memorialistic basarabean ca expresie a decolonizării. Trecutul (i)mediat în scrisul lui Gherasim Păduraru şi Nicolae Negru. Cotidianul: ritmuri, repere și reprezentări ale vieții din fiecare altă zi. Institute of History „A. D. Xenopol”, Romanian Academy, Iasi, 16-18 September 2025.
Conference presentation: Oxana Gherman & Simona Mitroiu, Imaginarul cotidianului rural în romanul Legată cu funia de pământ, de Lorina Bălteanu. Cotidianul: ritmuri, repere și reprezentări ale vieții din fiecare altă zi. Institute of History „A. D. Xenopol”, Romanian Academy, Iasi, 16-18 September 2025.
Conference presentation: Oxana Gherman, The identity redefinition in Moldovan memory novels. Decommemoration – Recommemoration – Oblivion. Transformations of the Memory of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, Faculty of International and Political Studies, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, 15 October 2025.
ROUNDTABLE: "Memories and journals: decolonization autofictions in Romanian literature from Bessarabia" (Coordinator: Nina Corcinschi), Institute of Romanian Philology "Alexandru Philippide", Iasi, Romanian Academy, Romania, 8 October 2025.
Invited Speakers:
Paula Erizanu, writer and journalist, Republic of Moldova
Constantin Cheianu, writer, Republic of Moldova
Oxana Gherman, researcher, "Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu” Institute of Romanian Philology, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova
Cristina Dicusar, "Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu” Institute of Romanian Philology, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova
Doris Mironescu, researcher, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, România.
ROUNDTABLE: "Literature and Interstices of Memory: processing of transgenerational traumas," "Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu” Institute of Romanian Philology, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. (Coordinators: Oxana Gherman, Andreea Mironescu), 2 October 2025.
Invited Speakers:
Bogdan Cretu, writer, Romania.
Nicolae Negru, writer, Republic of Moldova.
Nina Corcinschi, "Sașa Zare – emanciparea de gen. Metabolizări ale rușinii de-a fi „greșită”, FILOLOGIA MODERNĂ: REALIZĂRI ȘI PERSPECTIVE ÎN CONTEXT EUROPEAN, Chișinău: Editura Pro Libra, 2024, 39-47.
Doris Mironescu, "Romanul memoriei ca instrument al decolonizării", FILOLOGIA MODERNĂ: REALIZĂRI ȘI PERSPECTIVE ÎN CONTEXT EUROPEAN, Chișinău: Editura Pro Libra, 2024, 48-56.
Oxana Gherman, "Reprezentări identitare în romanul basarabean contemporan (Tatiana Țîbuleac, Sașa Zare)", FILOLOGIA MODERNĂ: REALIZĂRI ȘI PERSPECTIVE ÎN CONTEXT EUROPEAN, Chișinău: Editura Pro Libra, 2024, 57-66.
Simona Mitroiu, Repetiție, anxietate și prăbușire. Expresii ale decolonizării memoriei în lucrările lui Iulian Ciocan, FILOLOGIA MODERNĂ: REALIZĂRI ȘI PERSPECTIVE ÎN CONTEXT EUROPEAN, Chișinău: Editura Pro Libra, 2024, 67-72.
Cristian Serdesniuc, "Grigore Vieru: discursul emancipator al Albinuței”, FILOLOGIA MODERNĂ: REALIZĂRI ȘI PERSPECTIVE ÎN CONTEXT EUROPEAN, Chișinău: Editura Pro Libra, 2024, 73-79.
Cristina Dicusar, "Strategii de decolonizare a discursului poetic. Metamodernismul român basarabean", FILOLOGIA MODERNĂ: REALIZĂRI ȘI PERSPECTIVE ÎN CONTEXT EUROPEAN, Chișinău: Editura Pro Libra, 2024, 80-86.
Simona Mitroiu & Oxana Gherman (2025). Violence and Its (In)Visibility: Forms and Expressions in Moldovan Women Writers’ Novels. Women’s Studies, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2025.2524378, AHCI, Q2.
Abstract. The collapse of the socialist system in Eastern Europe opened a transitional space where new forms of agency and new subjectivities could come into being, but it also created a void in the lives of many people and a struggle to redefine themselves. These “changes had different speeds and directions,” ranging from a strong desire to be identified as part of Europe through democratization to “experimenting with the ideals of a strong authoritarian state, religion, and a ‘return to tradition’ to build a new society” (Morell and Gradskova 1). In this paper, we explore the ways in which these challenges and transformations affected the memory of the past and how they are expressed in literature, what forms and mechanisms are used, and how the process of challenging memories and narratives about the past is articulated. Through a close reading of several case studies, such as Tied to the Ground with the Rope by Lorina Bǎlteanu, Uprootedness by Sașa Zare, and Glass Garden by Tatiana Ṭîbuleac, problematic relationships of power will be discussed as mirroring past and current dependency and challenging narratives that connect political, social, and cultural facets.
Doris Mironescu & Nina Corcinschi (2025, in print). "The Memoir Discourse in the Republic of Moldova as an Expression of Post-Soviet Decolonization." Hermeneia. Journal of Hermeneutics, Art History and Criticism (ESCI).
Abstract: From all the territories with Romanian population, the Republic of Moldova is the only one in modern times that has known the direct experience of colonialism. After the fall of the USSR, but also for a long time before that, Moldova struggled to work through the colonial inheritance of Soviet times. An excellent opportunity to study this struggle is offered by literary memoirs, where while cultural prestige and social responsibility balance each other in the task to write up the collective pasts and to conduct a meaningful and aesthetically relevant self-analysis. Memoir-writing as an expression of the decolonization is what concerns us, and we choose two recent publications, Nicolae Negru’s A Hostile Offspring (2024) and Constantin Cheianu’s Mother Made Me an Existentialist (2025), which explore the abuses of the colonizer and the symmetric mistakes of the colonized, or the way in which the violence of the state infiltrates itself unwittingly inside the relationship between mother and son. We examine differing models of constructing the self in relation to the past and different types of autobiographical writing. In these memoirs, we see the decolonization of power as an ongoing creative, hermeneutical and memorial praxis that seeks to overcome already existing mental frames and behaviors and to deconstruct their colonial origin and design.
Work in progress