Grama, Emanuela. Socialist Heritage: The Politics of Past and Place in Romania. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019. 247 pages.

Abstract

A central theme in critical heritage studies is the political nature of heritage definition, exhibition, and management. Instead of reducing heritage to things or places with inherent and "objective" value, this field engages with topics such as the role of knowledge and power in heritage production and preservation. In her book, Socialist Heritage: The Politics of Past and Place in Romania, Emanuela Grama presents the fascinating case of the Old Town in Bucharest, raising similar questions about heritage regimes during communism and after 1989. Her analysis of power negotiations, criteria for belonging and practices of exclusion revealed by "heritage making (and unmaking)" (p.2) does not lose sight, however, of visual and material factors such as archaeological sites, ruins, building facades and scripts.Drawing on archival and ethnographic research, the book is a detailed examination of the power negotiations between politicians, various professional groups, and state tenants as reflected in the valuation and devaluation of buildings in the Old Town. The introduction places the aim and