On Memory Work in Post-communist Europe

Abstract

Taking the memory of pronatalism in contemporary Romania as a case study, this article is an attempt to view the national politics of memory of contemporary Europe with regard to its communist past from an anthropological perspective. From 1966 to 1989, the communist regime imposed extreme policies of controlled demography in Romania, as it was imputed, for 'the good of the socialist nation'. Profamily measures were developed in parallel to the banning of abortion on request and the making of contraception almost inaccessible. The social remembering of such a difficult past is still a taboo in contemporary Romanian society. This general lack of public remembering, which is still playing a role in the current situation of Romania's reproductive health, is influenced by the interrelations between the different forms of pronatalist memory. The analysis is based on oral history fieldwork conducted between 2003 and 2008, and is theoretically informed by the interdisciplinary field of Memory Studies.

Sexual Dysfunctional Beliefs of Romanian Women (Mothers and Daughters): An Intergenerational Approach

“…The result of mothers having more sexual dysfunctional beliefs could be explained, as since the beginning of their adolescence and maybe even more into their adult sexual lives these women had lived in the communist regime (before the year 1989), compared to their daughters, who lived in the democratic regime most of their adolescent and adult lives. The communist totalitarian regime did not allow for abortion and made contraceptive use almost inaccessible as it controlled demography for "the good of the socialist nation" (Anton, 2009;David & Baban, 1996;Berelson, 1979).…”