What is the Romanian Salon?

What is the Romanian Salon?

 (Jean François de Troy, Reading from Molière around 1728)

University is supposed to be fun, but frequently it isn’t. The aim of the Salon is to try to make university life a little more fun, a little more enlightening and a lot less stressful. Less heat and noise and a lot more light. This group aims to create a friendly environment for those working on or interested in Romania and Romanian Studies to get feedback and dialogue with others regardless of the stage in their careers.

There are quite a few of us working on Romanian Studies. While we are at various stages in our careers and take different approaches, as a community, we can serve as a valuable resource for one another.

Perhaps you are planning to give a paper at a conference, but would like to do a test-run and get feedback first? What about that old seminar paper you¹ve thought about dusting off and trying to publish, but you¹d like to hear people¹s reaction to your argument before you get going? Maybe you saw a movie or read a book that you¹d like to write about, but want to discuss it in order to flesh out your ideas? Or possibly you are starting to think about your dissertation proposal and are looking for a forum where you can talk over approaches to the questions and problems that you plan to address? Maybe there are a group of you in the same boat and you'd like a group discussion. The Salon is the place for you.

The Salon, can best be described as between a traditional presentation and a trip to the pub. It is a place where you can be both intellectual and relaxed. It is a chance to play with ideas, to practice and to experiment with projects that need some work. Work that is rough around the edges is exactly the kind of work that the Salon wants to see and hear.

Nor is the Salon limited to IU. If you can get to us and you have something you want to talk about then do get in touch.

We encourage everyone to present their own work (papers, research proposals, etc.), offer topics for discussion (ideas for/works in progress, books for group analysis, films for viewing, etc.).

The schedule for this semester is as follows: 

Monday, 18 November: Bodgan Popa will present: “Radical or Conservative Politics? Rethinking the Romanian New Wave,” including a screening of Pozitia copilului.

Thursday, 19 December:  Presentation and workshoping of Alex Tipei’s “How to Make Truth from a File: Private and Public Uses of Securitatea Files.”

Other events tbc include

Daniel Brett: ‘What was the Romanian Peasant Party?

Irina Marin (University of Leicester): ‘Rumours and violence on the Triple Border 1900-1910’

Further details at https://www.facebook.com/groups/170542173143326/

(Madame Geoffrin`s salon in 1755)