Ambiguous Attachments and Industrious Nostalgias

Heritage Narratives of Russian Old Believers in Romania

in Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
Author:
Cristina Clopot Heriot-Watt University c.clopot@hw.ac.uk

Search for other papers by Cristina Clopot in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2017.260204
Keywords:
belonging; heritage; narratives; nostalgia; Romania; Russian Old Believers
Restricted access

All currencies in US Dollar

PayPal Logo

Abstract

This article questions notions of belonging in the case of displaced communities’ descendants and discusses such groups’ efforts to preserve their heritage. It examines the instrumental use of nostalgia in heritage discourses that drive preservation efforts. The case study presented is focused on the Russian Old Believers in Romania. Their creativity in reforming heritage practices is considered in relation to heritage discourses that emphasise continuity. The ethnographic data presented in this article, derived from my doctoral research project, is focused on three major themes: language preservation, the singing tradition and the use of heritage for touristic purposes.

Contributor Notes

Cristina Clopot, Intercultural Research Centre, Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh. E-mail: c.clopot@hw.ac.uk

  • Collapse
  • Expand

Anthropological Journal of European Cultures

(formerly: Anthropological Yearbook of European Cultures)

Cover Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
21
Keywords:
belonging; heritage; narratives; nostalgia; Romania; Russian Old Believers
Print Publication Date:
01 Sep 2017
Online Publication Date:
01 Sep 2017
Copyright:
© Berghahn Books 2017

  • Aidarov, A. (2006), The Preservation of Old Belief in Estonia: Social Capital as End and Means of Public Policy (Tartu: University of Tartu).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • AlSayyad, N. (2007), ‘Consuming Heritage or the End of Tradition: The New Challenges of Globalization’, in Y. Kalay, T. Kvan and J. Affleck (eds), New Heritage: New Media and Cultural Heritage (London: Routledge), 155–169.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Angé, O. and D. Berliner (2015), ‘Pourquoi la Nostalgie?’, Terrain: Revue d’Ethnologie de l’Europe 65: 4–11.

  • Anore, C. (2011), ‘Poșta Redacției pe Facebook’ [Editor’s Mail on Facebook], Zorile, 11, no. 229: 11.

  • Anttonen, P. (2008), ‘Tradition and Heritage in Ethnological Practice and Theory’, Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 17, no. 2: 84–97.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bauman, R. (2012), ‘Performance’, in R. F. Bendix and G. Hasan-Rokem (eds), A Companion to Folklore (Malden, MA: Blackwell), 94–118.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bendix, R. (1999), ‘Heredity, Hybridity and Heritage from One Fin-de-Siècle to the Next’, in P. Anttonen, A-L Siikala and S. R. Mathisen (eds), Folklore, Heritage Politics and Ethnic Diversity (Botkyrka, Sweden: Multicultural Centre), 37–54.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bendix, R. (2008), ‘Expressive Resources: Knowledge, Agency and European Ethnology’, Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 17, no. 2: 114–129.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Berliner, D. (2012), ‘Multiple Nostalgias: The Fabric of Heritage in Luang Prabang (Lao PDR)’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 18, no. 4: 769–786.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Berliner, D. (2015), ‘Are Anthropologists Nostalgist?’, in O. Angé and D. Berliner (eds), Anthropology and Nostalgia (New York: Berghahn), 17–35.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bhabha, H. (1994), The Location of Culture (London: Routledge).

  • Boyer, D. (2010), ‘From Algos to Autonomos: Nostalgic Eastern Europe as Postimperial Mania’, in M. Todorova and Z. Gille (eds), Post-communist Nostalgia (New York: Berghahn), 17–28.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Boym, S. (2001), The Future of Nostalgia (New York: Basic).

  • Boym, S. (2007), ‘Nostalgia and Its Discontents’, Hedgehog Review 9, no. 2: 7–18.

  • Cashman, R. (2006), ‘Critical Nostalgia and Material Culture in Northern Ireland’, Journal of American Folklore 119, no. 472: 137–160.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Chhabra, D., R. Healy and E. Sills (2003), ‘Staged Authenticity and Heritage Tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research 30, no. 3: 702–719.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Chirilă, F., S. Feodor and V. Filat (2015), Comunitatea Rușilor Lipoveni din România: Scurt istoric [The Community of Lipovan Russians in Romania: Short History] (Bucharest: Editura C.R.L.R.).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Čiubrinskas, V. (2009), ‘Reclaiming European Heritages of Transatlantic Migration: The Politics of Identity of East European Immigrants to the U.S.A.’, Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 18, no. 2: 50–68.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Clopot, C. (2016a), ‘Weaving the Past in a Fabric: Old Believers’ Traditional Costume’, Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore 66, no. 4: 107–124.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Clopot, C. (2016b), ‘Liminal Identities within Migrant Groups: The Old Russian Believers of Romania’, in D. Downey, I. Kinane and E. Parker (eds), Landscapes of Liminality: Between Space and Place (London: Rowman & Littlefield), 153–176.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Clopot, C. and M. Nic Craith (forthcoming), ‘Gender, Heritage and Changing Traditions: Russian Old Believers in Romania’, in W. Grahn and R. Wilson (eds), Gender and Heritage: Performance, Place and Politics (London: Routledge).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Constantin, M. (2015), ‘A Fishermen’s Village: On the Lipovan Belongingness to the Danube Delta in Jurilovca (Northern Dobroudja)’, Sociologie Românească 13, no. 1: 58–69.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • CRLR (2008) ‘Statutul Comunității Rușilor Lipoveni din România’ [Statute of the Community of Lipovan Russians in Romania], <http://www.crlr.ro/statut-crlr.html> (accessed 10 February 2017).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Crummey, R. (1970), The Old Believers and the World of Antichrist: The Vyg Community & the Russian State, 1694–1855 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Crummey, R. (1993), ‘Old Belief as Popular Religion: New Approaches’, Slavic Review 52, no. 4: 700–712.

  • Crummey, R. (2011), Old Believers in a Changing World (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press).

  • Curte, C. (2015). ‘Galina Teleucă (Viceprimar): “În Lipsa Peştelui, Lipovenii s-au Reinventat”’ [Galina Teleucă (Vicemayor): ‘In the Absence of Fish, The Lipovans Have Reinvented Themselves’], Formula As, 1168, <http://www.formula-as.ro/2015/1168/spectator-38/galina-teleuca-viceprimar-in-lipsa-pestelui-lipovenii-s-au-reinventat-19237> (accessed 20 July 2016).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Deacon, H., Dondolo, L., Mrubata, M. and Prosalendis, S. (2003), The Subtle Power of Intangible Heritage: Legal and Financial Instruments for Safeguarding Our Intangible Heritage (Cape Town: HSRC).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Descoperă Delta Dunării (2016), ‘Descoperă Delta Dunării’ [Discover the Danube Delta], <http://www.descoperadeltadunarii.ro/index.php?route=extras/blog&amp;amp;page=2> (accessed 13 June 2016).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Fenoghen, A. (2005), Jurnal de Pelerin [Pilgrim Journal] (Bucharest: Editura Bizantină).

  • Feodor, S. (2012), ‘Un Eveniment Religios Deosebit’ [A Special Religious Event], Zorile 7–8, no. 237–238: 16.

  • Fortier, A. (1999), ‘Re-membering Places and the Performance of Belonging(s)’, Theory, Culture & Society 16, no. 2: 41–64.

  • Gille, Z. (2010), ‘Postscript’, in M. Todorova and Z. Gille (eds), Post-communist Nostalgia (New York: Berghahn), 278–289.

  • Haarmann, H. (2002), ‘Identity in Transition: Cultural Memory, Language and Symbolic Russianness’, in P. Gubbins and M. Holt (eds), Beyond Boundaries: Language and Identity in Contemporary Europe (Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters), 59–72.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hafstein, V. (2007), ‘Claiming Culture: Intangible Heritage Inc., Folklore©, Traditional Knowledge™’, in D. Hemme, M. Tauschek and R. Bendix (eds), Prädikat HERITAGE: Wertschöpfungen aus kulturellen Ressourcen: Studien zur Kulturanthropologie/Europäischen Ethnologie (Berlin: Lit), 75–100.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hafstein, V. (2012), ‘Cultural Heritage’, in R. Bendix and G. Hasan-Rokem (eds), A Companion to Folklore (Malden, CA: Wiley Blackwell), 500–519.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Ivanov, A. (2010), ‘Moscova e Locul unde toate Visele se împlinesc’ [Moscow Is the Place Where All Dreams Come True], Zorile 7, no. 213: 15.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Ivanov, V. (2011), ‘România Salută Rusia, la Tulcea’ [Romania Greets Russia, in Tulcea], Zorile 6, no. 224: 3.

  • Kordiš, M. (2015), ‘The 1980s and Present in Maribor: Creativity and Déjà vu: Between Ethnography and the Construction of Heritage’, Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 24, no. 2: 55–75.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kuutma, K. (2013), ‘Between Arbitration and Engineering: Concepts and Contingencies in the Shaping of Heritage Regimes’, in R. Bendix, A. Eggert and A. Peselmann (eds), Heritage Regimes and the State (Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen), 21–36.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kuutma, K. and H. Kästik (2014), ‘Creativity and “Right Singing”: Aural Experience and Embodiment of Heritage’, Journal of Folklore Research 51, no. 3: 277–309.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Lee Silva, A. (2009), ‘Unsettling Diaspora: The Old Believers of Alaska’, Unpublished MSc dissertation (Montreal: McGill University).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Lupinin, N. (1984), Religious Revolt in the XVIIth Century: The Schism of the Russian Church (Princeton, NJ: Kingston).

  • MacCannell, D. (1999), The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class (Berkeley: University of California Press).

  • Macdonald, S. (2008), ‘Museum Europe: Negotiating Heritage’, Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 17, no. 2: 47–65.

  • Macdonald, S. (2013), Memorylands: Heritage and Identity in Europe Today (London: Routledge).

  • National Institute of Statistics (2011), ‘Romanian Population and Homes Census 2011’, <http://www.recensamantromania.ro/en/> (accessed 14 March 2015).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Naumescu, V. (2011), ‘The Case for Religious Transmission: Time and Transmission in the Anthropology of Christianity’, Religion and Society: Advances in Research 2: 54–71.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Naumescu, V. (2013), ‘Old Believers’ Passion Play: The Meaning of Doubt in an Orthodox Ritualist Movement’, in M. Pelkmans (ed.), Ethnographies of Doubt: Faith and Uncertainty in Contemporary Societies (London: Tauris), 85–118.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Neculai, L. (2014), ‘Master Class la Sarichioi’ [Master Class in Sarichioi], Zorile 11–12, no. 264–265: 7.

  • Nic Craith, M. (2012), Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language: An Intercultural Perspective (New York: Palgrave Macmillan).

  • Nic Craith, M. (2013), ‘Living Heritage and Religious Traditions: Reinterpreting Columba/Colmcille in the UK City of Culture’, Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 22, no. 1: 42–58.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Noyes, D. (2011), ‘Traditional Culture: How Does It Work?’, Museum Anthropology Review 5, no. 1–2: 39–47.

  • Paert, I. (2003), Old Believers: Religious Dissent and Gender in Russia, 1760–1850 (Manchester: Manchester University Press).

  • Pickering, M. and E. Keightley (2006), ‘The Modalities of Nostalgia’, Current Sociology 54, no. 6: 919–941.

  • Rowmania (2015), ‘Pescaturism’ [Pescatourism], <http://pescaturism.ecodeltadunarii.ro/home-EN-2.html> (accessed 20 July 2017).

  • Salazar, N. (2009), ‘Imaged or Imagined? Cultural Representations and the “Tourismification” of Peoples and Places’, Cahiers d’Études Africaines 49, no. 193/194: 49–71.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Smith, L. (2006), Uses of Heritage (London: Routledge).

  • Smith, L. and G. Campbell (2017), ‘“Nostalgia for the Future”: Memory, Nostalgia and the Politics of Class’, International Journal of Heritage Studies 23, no. 7: 612–627.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Spaskovska, L. (2008), ‘Recommunaissance: On the Phenomenon of Communist Nostalgia in Slovenia and Poland’, Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 17, no. 1: 136–150.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Timofte, I. (2010) ‘Limba rusă cu Belka-strelca / [Russian Language with Belka - strelca]’, Zorile 10, no. 216: 16.

  • Turner, V. (1969), The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-structure (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).

  • Ungureanu, L. (2013), ‘Corul Sinicika, “Sirenele” lui Patzaichin de la Mila 23’ [Sinicika Choir, Patzaichin’s ‘syrens’ from Mila 23], Adevărul, 11 October. <http://adev.ro/muigxl> (accessed 20 March 2016).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Urry, J. and J. Larsen (2011), The Tourist Gaze 3.0 (Los Angeles: Sage).

  • Vișan, L. (2006), ‘Bilanțul Anului 2005 pentru CRLR’ [CRLR’s Account for 2005], Zorile 1 no. 161: 3.

  • Wang, N. (1999), ‘Rethinking Authenticity in Tourism Experience’, Annals of Tourism Research 26, no. 2, 349–370.

  • Waterton, E. and L. Smith (2010), ‘The Recognition and Misrecognition of Community Heritage’, International Journal of Heritage Studies 16, no. 1/2: 4–15.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Wulff, H. (2002), ‘Yo-yo Fieldwork: Mobility and Time in a Multi-local Study of Dance in Ireland’, Anthropological Journal on European Cultures 11, no. 1: 117–136.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 1469 719 67
Full Text Views 29 2 0
PDF Downloads 17 3 0