Abstract
This article presents an experimental anthropological method for researching memories about the communist past in Bucharest, Romania. Focusing on collections of ordinary objects in individual households, it examines how domestic spaces function not solely as repositories for artifacts of remembrance, but as containers for things that have been forgotten. Viewing these items as triggers of Proustian/Benjaminian ‘involuntary’ or inadvertent memories, rather than intentionally commemorative souvenirs, I explore how these new encounters offer alternative insights into perceptions of Romania’s past, present, and future. Such an approach reveals forms and contents of remembrance work that counter dominant academic and popular discourses about how Romanians are currently reflecting upon their communist past.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Maria Eriksson Baaz, Anja Karlsson Frank, and Elizabeth Olsson for reading earlier drafts of this article, and I would like to thank them, as well as my anonymous reviewers, for their comments and suggestions.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Alyssa Grossman
Alyssa Grossman is a post-doctoral research fellow in critical Heritage Studies at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. As social and visual anthropologist, she incorporates visual and experimental methodologies into her work exploring everyday sites and practices of remembrance work in post-communist Romania. [email protected]