Disrupted Landscapes: State, Peasants and the Politics of Land in Postsocialist Romania

by Marco Armiero

How many times have we repeated to each other that there is a need, an urgent need, for a political ecology of post-socialist countries? Thereby, we should warmly welcome Stefan Dorondel’s insightful ethnographic research on two villages in post-socialist Romania: Disrupted Landscapes: State, Peasants and the Politics of Land in Postsocialist Romania (Bergham Press, 2016).

First of all, let’s start with a disclaimer which I believe it is appropriate for the Entitle blog. In writing about this volume I do have a conflict of interest; I know the author well and we are friends. I have been following Stefan’s work since many years, always learning from him and enjoying the company of an acute colleague and a kind friend.

Academia is a strange planet, where we pretend to be blind, while we see very well and sometimes we believe we see everything while being rather blind. As a community…