Building Socialism, Constructing People

This volume focuses on the issue of identity within the context of the radical shift that took place in Romania during the late 1940s and early 1950s, as a result of the process of Sovietisation, or “cultural colonisation” (a concept analysed in particular detail in this book). It adopts a novel approach to this theme, by studying the issue of identity within the context of the first decade of the Romanian communist regime, with the help of a series of concepts and theories belonging to the disciplines of Western cultural, media and gender studies, as well as those relating to colonialism and imperialism. Of particular interest to this volume is the use of the press as an essential instrument for Romanian propaganda in terms of spreading, as well as controlling, the new set of politically-established identity patterns. As such, the press provides one of the most relevant environments for the analysis of the major cultural, social and political identity shifts that took place in Romania during the late 1940s and the 1950s. The book follows the evolution, deconstruction and reconstruction of identity at both the micro- and macro- levels, focusing on some of the most significant identity pattern constructs in terms of reconfiguring cultural identities. The volume consists of a series of theoretical, as well as cultural, press analyses and case studies, based on a set of influential concepts and theories referring to identity, media discourse, and propaganda, in association with newly-introduced concepts such as “cultural colonialism” and cultural “canon” negotiation, amongst others.