Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building and Ethnic Struggle, 1918-1930 [Hardcover]

Irina Livezenu (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801424453
• ISBN-13: 978-0801424458
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,542,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Title should have been "Education in Greater Romania", November 17, 2007

By 

Roger Crowley "amateur historian" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918-1930 (Paperback)

After World War I, Romania acquired major portions of territory that had until then been part of other countries (Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bucovina). Each of these territories had their own non-Romanian elite who resented the fact that they were suddenly subservient to the Romanians, who had previously been the underdogs even though they were the majority of the citizens.

Now Romania wanted to reverse the centuries old practices and somehow eject the old non-Romanian elite out of their cushy positions and replace them with Romanians. But since, in many cases, Romanians represented the rural class who lived primarily in villages they were often the uneducated masses. Most of the schools, however, were in the cities and Romanian "peasants" weren't welcome (sometimes extending to violent denial).

Romania felt that the only way to reverse the trend was to educate the masses of often illiterate Romanians. But at every turn, they met with resistance from the "old guard" ... teachers who refused to teach classes in the Romanian language. And so, Romania forced the issue, insisting that non-Romanian teachers either pledge their allegiance to the Romanian state or face being fired.

But even when Romanian students showed up at the schools, they were faced with schools overcrowded with existing non-Romanian students. The Bucharest politicians forced the issue ... but not without a great deal of strife between the former non-Romanian and the current Romanian students.

Universities were especially hard hit because they were seen as the pathway to better jobs for Romanians. But universities were only found in the larger cities ... and were already overcrowded with urban non-Romanians, including a large number of Jews. This constant conflict might have been one of the reasons, according to the book, that fascist nationalism recruited such great numbers of Romanian students, especially at the University of Iasi where Codreanu, the future leader of the fascist Iron Guard, was a law student who sat through lectures by A.C. Cuza, a vehement anti-Semitic.

The book does an excellent job of covering the many pressure-cooker conflicts that existed in each of the gained territories. Each territory had a different and unique set of problems that the book covers very well.