Abstract

This paper aims at capturing a paradoxical situation of modern Romanian nationalism that is both a symptom and a consequence of the country’s post-communist “liquid” modernity: the tension between the essentialist and the constructionist discourses related to nationalism and ethnic identity. Approaching this topic can be an important endeavor not only for a better understanding of the condition of an eminently liminal geography in Europe’s late modernity (East/West, democracy/totalitarianism, tradition/modernity), but also for addressing two questions of major importance to political anthropology: (1) which are the political consequences of exposing a certain community to the scientific discourse produced in the sphere of the social sciences about that very community? (2) how is it possible for modern national identity to be commodified and for citizenship to be contractualized?