On the fringes
Why Romania is being ignored
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Even though Romania has been a member of the European Union since 2007, the country has almost no presence among the German general public. It is ignored by the sciences and research. It is the focus neither of eastern European research nor south-eastern European research. Romanian studies have been almost entirely abolished at German universities. One the one hand, this lack of awareness is due to cultural geographical and historical science traditions. Other reasons are the Romanians’ mythical self-identification as part of European Romania and the lack of willingness among the Romanian political elites to promote external cultural relations and to build a stable infrastructure for developing tourism. As a result, “Dracula” – a mythological figure created by the West – has become the most well-known symbol of Romania.
(Osteuropa 6-8/2019, pp. 325–339)