"The main objective of the project has been to analyze luxury, fashion and consumption in South-Eastern Europe in relation with a series of processes, such as modernization and the construction of an elite. To achieve this objective we adopted a comparative approach and a longue durée perspective, in order to highlight the shifts from one period to another within the same geographical space. In fact, luxury, fashion, and consumption have been used as key-words enabling us to rediscover the past through objects, documents, languages, images, and people.
The present research topic has been of particular importance for those among the South-Eastern Europe societies that experienced the Communist regime. For a long time, history has been perverted and historical research was the first to suffer. Each step of the project has been brought into public debate important subjects, such as: the role of the past in the collective memory of a nation; material heritage and its relevance in re-writing the past; interpreting the Phanariot regime in light of archival documents. We aimed to connect the events and developments in the Romanian Principalities with the history of the region (Balkans), thus moving beyond the national and local historical interpretation.
Most of the scholarly events within the project were organized in Bucharest, which included noted specialists from various European countries, with the support of the host institution (New Europe College). Participants gave papers and the events were attended by a large public of scholars from various disciplines, proving once more the interest of this research topics. The project was also an opportunity for setting up a team which included international scholars, and to hold events at venues outside Romania, in prestigious institutions (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin, European University Institute of Florence), in thus establishing a large network of scholarly contacted with specialist interested in similar questions.
This European project is also an inspiration for the Romanian researchers, in encouraging them to apply for ERC grants.
In recognition of the integration of Romanian historical research in the international framework, the President of Romania, Klaus Werner Johannis, awarded to me the honorific medal ""Ordinul National Serviciul Credincios in grad de Cavaler "" / National Order of Faithful Service (rank of Knight) in a public ceremony.
http://www.presidency.ro/ro/media/album-foto/ceremonia-de-decorare-a-unor-personalitati-din-domeniul-cercetarii-unor-reprezentanti-ai-academiei-romane-si-a-unor-cadre-medicale(opens in new window)- The overall objectives:
1. An analysis of luxury in connection with power
a) the use of luxury by the Christian elites as a way of forging their identity by focusing on material goods, but also on cultural ideas
b) the routes of goods across South-Eastern Europe, focusing on the commercial aspects and on the networks, with people involved in all kinds of cultural and economic transfers
2. Luxury, “Europeanization” and the consumer society
a) the emergence of the Balkan nations, with a focus on changes leading to “modernization” seen as a process of „Europeanization” of these „new societies”
b) the consumer society and its definition in a new context brought about by the 19th century"
