Abstract
The chapter focuses on a gallery of representative figures of Romanian women imagery, with a view to fostering the cultural dialogue. It is an approach to understanding Romanians in general, with their history, traditions, symbols, and myths, seen from a women's studies point of view. The women who are chosen as examples are real personalities, such as historic characters, creators of Romanian symbols, past or present public figures who have had a significant impact on the women's national imagery. The chapter also uses fictional examples, eg. protagonists of folk or cultured literature or national legend heroines. Through these female figures, the author aims at assembling an image of the Romanian society with a focus on women's representations, in order to “decode” key cultural and civilizational elements, explain attitudes, and thus, guide non-native learners through their understanding process of Romanian culture and values.
TopBackground
Present day representations of women in the Romanian society come from a normal evolution of mentalities, influenced by both Oriental and Western models. These mentalities are enhanced by multiple factors, such as: geography (Romania is considered a “borderland of Europe” (Boia, 2007)), history (oriental domination in the Ottoman Empire’s time, with all its heritage, and orientation towards Western values, especially from the 19th century onwards), culture (different models adopted in arts, manners, everyday life), and politics (50 years of communism), etc.
Throughout the last 30 years one can find frequent debates in the public space about “the two Romanias” (e.g. Adameșteanu, 2000): traditional vs. modern, rural vs. urban, educated vs. uneducated). This dichotomy can also be identified in the way women are seen in the Romanian society, as presented by specialists in different fields. For this chapter, the author refers especially to Ursa, 2006, an authority in the field of women imagery in Romania, who presents this dichotomy very clearly, illustrating it with interesting examples. This researcher, specialized in compared literature and cultural studies, identifies two categories of stereotypes of women in contemporary Romania:
In general, the stereotypical descriptions of (men and) women in Romania can be found at the crossroads between two types of gender imaginaries. Firstly, there is the Western imaginary – the active woman, with multiple competences (…). This Western imaginary (used especially by women) is short-circuited in Romania by another one, which, for the moment has a stronger influence: the Eastern-European, or even the oriental view, in which gender images are strongly segregated and well polarized. In this stereotype, the woman is a domestic and passive fantasy (positively viewed by male psychology) and a seducing, erotic presence (often blamed, as she tries to usurp the public role, reserved to men (Ursa, 2006, p. 16) [my translation from Romanian].
Ursa (2006) offers interesting contemporary examples that led her to this categorization, e.g. male politicians who imply in their public discourse that they credit the image of women in their traditional role (“women should mind their business”) or female figures who declare – in the public space – that they are proud of “violating the traditional ethic codes” or “having a male-hating attitude” as a sign of their independence, thus confirming their adhesion to the stereotype of the independent woman and the polarization mentioned above.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Gallery of Female Portraits: A list of feminine figures, representative for a specific culture, as ingrained in the collective mentality.
Strong Women: Feminine figures with powerful character traits, such as bravery, perseverance, strong will, resilience, persuasive communication. As these characteristics are often attributed to men rather than women, these women and their actions are considered exceptional, which is why they often become symbols and role models.
Real Feminine Prototypes: The first example of a typology in a given culture, based on real examples of women (identified in real life, e.g., belonging to history, politics, and the everyday life of a country).
Traditionalism (in the Romanian Society): A characteristic of the Romanian society, marked by a certain type of family structure.
Collective Representations: General ideas, shared by a collectivity, related to its symbols, values, etc. The concept, introduced by Durkheim in 1912, is used here to refer to beliefs about typologies of women in Romanian society.
Imagined Feminine Prototype: The first example of a typology in a given culture, based on fictitious female characters (identified in either literary or popular writings).
Courses in Romanian Culture and Civilization for Foreign Students: Academic courses currently available in about 50 universities around the world, in faculties of Philology, Letters or Journalism at various levels of studies (bachelor, master) that aim at familiarizing students with aspects of Romanian language and culture. These courses can be taught either in Romanian or the official language of the country. They cover topics such as geography, history, mythology, literature, relevant cultural phenomena, etc.
Mentality (as Used Here): A group’s way of thinking about things.