Title: ³La ville alternative / The Alternative City´

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Title: ³La ville alternative / The Alternative City´

Author: Anca Manolescu

How to cite this article:

Manolescu, Anca. 2000. ȃLa ville alternative / The Alternative City.Ȅ Martor 5: 9-‐‑10.

Published by: Editura MARTOR (MARTOR Publishing House), £ȱ o©ȱ ¦ (The Museum of the Romanian Peasant)

URL: http://martor.muzeultaranuluiroman.ro/archive/martor-‐‑5-‐‑2000/

Martor (The Museum of the Romanian Peasant Anthropology Journal) is a peer-‐‑reviewed academic journal established in 1996, with a focus on cultural and visual anthropology, ethnology, museum studies and the dialogue among these disciplines. Martor Journal is published by the Museum of the Romanian Peasant. Interdisciplinary and international in scope, it provides a rich content at the highest academic and editorial standards for academic and non-‐‑academic readership. Any use aside from these purposes and without mentioning the source of the article(s) is prohibited and will be considered an infringement of copyright.

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La ville alternative

Marlor V diffo re en quelque sorte des nu- meros precedents en Se proposa nt de traiter ^Ll!l th eme d'ethnologie urbain e: ,,Bu carest au temps du communisme: resista nce, normalite, survie" . 11 s' agit de presenter les alternatives que des m icro-communautes urbain es (d ' amis, de pa- rents, de coreligionnaires, ou professionnelles) ont inventees pour vivre une vie aulre que celle im po see par le reg im e e n pla ce. Qu elles solutions pour Creer des espa ces prives ^OUse mi- prives ou les gens me naient une vie

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^{peu pres}

,, normale'', des espaces de refuge, de difference

OU de r esista n ce par rapport

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!'oppress ion ideologique de l' espa ce officiel? Quell es techniques (concernant l'edu cation, la culture, l'aJi- mentation, le loisir, !'habitation) pour se pro- tege r contre les mesu res uniformisantes, de plus en plus agressives, corn; ues par une imagination totalitaire febr ile, jamais sati sfaite du degre de realite que son reve avait atteint?

Different des autres num ero s, Martor V le sera aussi par l'attitud e des auteurs envers leur matiere. La plupart d'e ntre eux, qu'iJs soient architectes, ethnologu es, anthropologues, hi sto- riens, philosophes ten tent une analyse de leu r propre experi ence de vie; en citant An- ghelescu, ,,ils se retrouvent pour la premiere foi s clan s la posture de suj ets d'une enquete menee par etL'X-m emes". La di stance et la participation ,

The Alternative

City

Photo: Ana Blidaru

The fifth issu e of Ma rlor differs somehow from the previou s iss ues, sin ce it deals with a topic of urban ethnology: ,,Bucharest in communi st times: resistance, normality, survival" . Our aim is to pres ent th e alte rnatives that certain urban micro-communiti es (of fri ends, of rela- tives, of a religious or professional nature) in- vented in ord er to live a life other than the one imposed by the regim e in power. Which we re the solutions for creatin g pri vate or semi-private spaces wh ere people could live a life tending to normality, spaces of refu ge, of difference or even of resistance in relation to the id eological op- pression of the official space? were th e techniques (regarding education , culture, nou- ri shment, leisure, dwelling) used as a protection against the leveling and co nstraining, increas- ingly aggressive, measures conceived by a fever- ish totalitarian imagination , never satisfi ed with the degree of reality its dream had attain ed?

Marlor V also differs from the other prev ious issues in point of th e authors' attitude toward s their subject matter. Most of them, be they eth- nologists, anthropologi sts, architects, historians, or philosophers, und e rtake an analysis of their own lives; as $erban Anghelescu puts it, ,, th ey find themselves for th e first time in the position of subjects of th eir own inquiry." Both at a di s- tance and involved, bearing witness and pa ssing

Marlor, V - 2000

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le temoignage et le jugement se conjuguent afi n que, dix ans apres la fin d'un mond e, sa matiere viva nte, qu otidienn e, commune, d iscrete so it proposee

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la memoire. Ca r le souvenir de toutes ces soluti ons de norm alite, de survie et peut-etre de resistance risqu e de se perdre cl ans la societe roum ain e actu elle: Jes pe rsonn es d' un certain age, q ui ont imagin e et mis en oeuvre ces solutions, so nt trop preoccupees main te nant par les exige nces nouvelles du qu otidien; Jes jeunes les ign orent OU tend ent

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les juger , de fa gon inadequ ate, selon les cri teres de la societe demo- cratiqu e, ouverte.

Adri an Cioroianu e t Mari ann e Mes nil e- voquent le Bucarest d'avant le co mmunisme, la ville qui dure et se developp e e n conjuguant l'acharne ment de vivre et la joie de vivre. Au theme de ,,la ville alte rn ative" - qu i est en fait notre suj et - succede celui de ,,la ville defiguree"

par le projet totalitaire et de la ville post-commu- n iste en cri se d'identite, themes traites surtout par des architectes. En choisissant de les presenter clans cet ordre, no us essayons de mettre en page la provocation qu e ,,la ville meurtrie" lance

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,,la ville viva nte", celJe de trouver des alternatives, des solutions no uvelles (A. M.).

judgments at th e same time, th ey co nfro nt me- mory with the li vely, day-to-d ay, co mmon a nd di scree t matter of a world whi ch expired ten ye a rs ago. T h e r e me m bran ce of all th ese at- tempts at normality, survival or maybe even resistance see ms to be fa ding away in today's Ro- manian society. Th ose wh o im agin ed and put into practice these solu tions, hav in g reached a certain age, are too bu sy to respo nd to th e new challenges of our day; th e young ignore th e m o r else ten d to judge th e m in an inadequ ate way, by u sing th e criteria of th e open democrati c society.

Adri a n Cioroi anu a nd Ma ri ann e Mesnil e- voke th e Bu ch ar es t fr om befo re communi st times, th e town whi ch e ndures and develops by both an obstinate cl in ging to life a nd a determi- nation to e njoy it. The theme of the ,,alternative city" - our theme, actu ally - is followed by those of th e ,,city di sfi gured" by th e totalitarian p ro- ject and of th e post-communi st city undergoin g an identity crisis, as approached mainly by th e a r chit e cts . By ch oo s in g thi s o rd er of pr e- sentation, we try to inscribe on pa per th e chal- lenge that the ,,slaughtered city" launch es to the ,,living city" : that of searching fo r alternatives, for ever renewed solutions (A. M.).

Title: ³La ville alternative / The Alternative City´