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Russian and East European Institute 
The Hour of Romania, International Conference
Is Romania Europe? Reconfiguring National Identity East of the Prut
Dr. Jennifer R. Cash,
Managing Editor, East European Politics and Society , University of Pittsburgh
In this paper, I take a question that has long been asked by and about Romania in various forms, most recently through EU accession negotiations, and reflect on its importance for political and social debates in the neighboring Republic of Moldova. Since 2005, when Moldova's Communist Party was re-elected on a platform that emphasized the country's eventual entry into the European Union, social and political debates have increasingly incorporated "Europe" as a key political symbol. Discourse about "Europe" has now covered-over and given new life to older debates about Moldova's relationship to Romania. As ministries and other state bureaucracies were re-organized during the past two years, individuals have negotiated their political alliances to keep their jobs, advance particular work agendas, and make personal identity statements with recourse to the symbols of "Europe" and "Romania." I will examine several instances of this negotiation from individuals within the cultural sector, demonstrating what I think is an important dimension of political process in the region - namely, the ways in which people adapt ideas and symbols to carry-out other agendas. In this case, the process is double with "communists" attempting to take "Europe" from the "nationalists," and the nationalists trying to take "Europe" back.
Conference Co-sponsors
Indiana University Russian and East European Institute
Indiana University Office of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculties, Multidisciplinary Ventures and Seminars Fund
Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences
Indiana University College Arts and Humanities Institute
Indiana University Office of International Programs
Indiana University Department of Comparative Literature
Indiana University Department of History
Indiana University Department of Political Science
Indiana University Department of Sociology
Indiana University European Union Center of Excellence
Romanian Cultural Institute - Institutul Cultural Roman
Consulate General of Romania – Chicago, IL
Georgetown University - Ratiu Chair
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