The Making of an Empty Moldovan Category within a Multiethnic Transnistrian Nation

Abstract

To legitimize separation from Moldova, Transnistrian elites have been constructing a civic Transnistrian nation, subsuming local ethnic Russian, Ukrainian, and Moldovan identities. This article first identifies changes to the Transnistrian nation-building strategy: from an emphasis on Moldovan nationhood in the early 1990s to oppose “Romanianization” in Chisinau, to Transnistrian nationhood mainly after Moldovanism was adopted in Chisinau in 2001. It then shows how this multiethnic nation is being constructed, with a particular emphasis on the place of Transnistrian Moldovans. While the Moldovan identity category is being institutionalized as a part of the Transnistrian civic nation, its ecological niches are being emptied of Romanian/Bessarabian attributes and invested with Russianness. As a result, “Moldovan” now seems an empty identity category in Transnistria.

Carving out the nation with the enemy's kin: double strategy of boundary‐making in Transnistria and Abkhazia

“…Romanian attributes are being squeezed out to differentiate ‘our’ Moldovans from right‐bank Bessarabian Moldovans, and a parallel process of russification is underway for these Transnistrian Moldovans. The fact that, ‘[a]s a result [of this double process], “Moldovan” now seems an empty identity category in Transnistria’ is beside the point here and has been elaborated elsewhere by Dembińska and Danero Iglesias (Dembińska and Danero Iglesias : 413).…”

“…Anticipating a disadvantaged status in an independent Republic of Moldova, and keen to secure their economic advantage, local elites posed as the guardians of ‘true’ Moldovans—those who do not self‐identify with Romania and who write in Cyrillic alphabet, not Latin (Dembińska and Danero Iglesias : 2–3). The naming of Transnistria as ‘Pridnestr Moldovan Republic’ (PMR) reflects this initial endeavour.…”

“…Transnistrian ideologues, particularly Anna Volkova (de facto president Igor Smirnov's advisor) and Ilia Galinsky (director, Institute of History, Government and Law, Tiraspol University), argued then that it was ‘incorrect and pointless’ to propagate Moldovanism. Supported by Smirnov, Volkova established her own institute of history of the PMR (for the struggles between the two history institutes, see Dembińska and Danero Iglesias ; Matsuzato ). In 2007, Galinsky wrote: ‘there are two post‐Moldovan states: the Republic of Moldova and the Pridnestr Moldovan Republic.…”

“…Even if, in practice, the Russian language dominates all aspects of life in Transnistria (Dembińska and Danero Iglesias ), the Transnistrian Constitution states that the official languages of the PMR are Russian, Moldovan and Ukrainian. The law on education stipulates that if one studies in an official language, one must learn a second official language (Comai and Venturi : 891).…”

“…Artists and writers, in order to have an audience and readership, express themselves in Russian. Pragmatic reasons of social mobility and future job opportunities also explain the incentive for most Moldovans to go to Russian schools (Dembińska and Danero Iglesias ). According to official Transnistrian statistics, 82 per cent of the schools are Russian‐speaking, 13.5 per cent are Moldavian, written in Cyrillic (Cojocaru and Suhan : 163; Comai and Venturi : 893).…”