Re-examining a theoretical framework for researching xenophobia in post-communist Romania

• Author: Mihai Burlacu
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 89-98

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 10 (59) No. 1 - 2017

RE-EXAMINING A THEORETICAL

FRAMEWORK FOR RESEARCHING

XENOPHOBIA IN POST-COMMUNIST

ROMANIA

Mihai BURLACU1

Abstract: In this paper I re-examine a theoretical framework developed for

researching xenophobia in Romania’s post-communist contexts. I begin by

emphasizing several relevant anthropological considerations regarding the

fear of the Other. Subsequently, I review the conceptualization of the Other in

the anthropology of the past century. Next, I emphasize the analytic potential

of three ternary grammars of identity/alterity, developed by Gerd Baumann

and André Gingrich. Lastly, I present Johannes Fabian’s theses regarding

the Other and their significance. Instead of treating xenophobia intrinsically,

I advocate a ‘weak’ interpretation of it from a logical standpoint. Thus, I

suggest approaching xenophobia as part of a “conceptual constellation”.

Key words: xenophobia, xenophilia, Other, Self, identity/otherness.

1. Introduction

As an expression of collective fear, xenophobia is arguably a factor for both

constructing and maintaining cultural boundaries. It entails the misrecognition of the

Otherness of various cultures. Xenophobia can manifest itself in diverse situations as the

fear, contempt and/or hatred of the Other. In a broader sense, xenophobia refers also “to

attitudes, prejudices, and behaviour that reject, exclude, and vilify its targets based on the

belief that they are perpetual outsiders”, who cannot be assimilated or deemed

trustworthy (Canefe, 2008, p. 159). As any type of fear, xenophobia is projected on a

“target” or multiple “targets”: the various exponents of the Other. It is important to

emphasize that the perceived threat varies with context. Accordingly, the manifestations

of xenophobia depend on particular contexts that are variable in time and space.

In Romania, xenophobia was epitomized in a slogan that spread rapidly in the 1990s:

“We do not sell our country!” The slogan expressed a state of confusion and anxiety

present among certain groups from Romanian society, after the fall of the communist

regime. In an interval of almost fifty years, the Romanians living behind the Iron Curtain

were influenced via education and mass media into believing that everything that comes

from abroad in ways uncontrolled by official censorship was threatening the Romanian

values, and in a broader sense, the Romanian society. More than twenty years later, many

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, mihai.burlacu@unitbv.ro