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Rock ‘n’ roll nation: counterculture and dissent in Romania, 1965-1975

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Madigan Fichter
Madigan Fichter*
Affiliation:
New York University, NY, USA
*
* Email: maf413@nyu.edu
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Abstract

A vibrant countercultural and dissident movement developed in Romania between 1965 and 1975. Young Romanians combined elements of the global youth movement with local cultural and political practices. Thus, Romanian counterculture and dissent shared the era's hippie aesthetic and anti-authoritarianism, but was highly isolationist, vehemently antisocialist and heavily couched in the language of the nation and nationalism. Furthermore, during this early Ceauşescu period, the socialist regime attracted some level of nonconformist support through a program of reform, opposition to Soviet interference, and nationalist rhetoric. These conclusions demonstrate that the rubric of 1960s counterculture needs to be extended to include a variety of ideological and cultural positions beyond the New Left that scholars generally emphasize. Furthermore, scholarly avoidance of Ceauşescu's early period has obscured the existence of an alternative culture, and has led to an un-nuanced interpretation of Romania's postwar history.

Keywords

counterculturedissidents1960snationalismRomania
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , July 2011 , pp. 567 - 585
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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