Old Blouses, Old Houses: Hauntings of Romani Slavery in the Production of Romanian Nationalism

Abstract

International organizations often hide under a veil of multiculturalism and inclusivity to enable neoliberal and nationalistic governmentalities in postsocialist Eastern Europe. In the context of UNESCO’s admittance of Romania’s hand-embroidered blouse on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, I symptomatically read a project coordinated by Eugen Vaida, an influential architect famed for restoring heritage sites in Romania. Vaida’s project engages in a selective erasure of Romani women’s oppression by validating their subaltern’s experience only through their saving of nationalistic elements of the dominant culture. Further, I make conscious the unconscious intentions behind Vaida’s project and behind the ideology of international standards. Through this critique, I address the often-marginalized Eastern European spaces in academia and foreground the history of Romani people’s oppression in Europe.