Building Moldova, Being Moldovan: Discursive and Institutional Entanglements of 'Development,' 'Citizenship,' and 'Cultural Propriety' Público

Fogarty, Patricia Lynn (2012)

Permanent URL: https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/pr76f4234?locale=pt-BR
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Abstract



Moldova is one of many new, multiethnic, sovereign states struggling to maintain
its borders and generate enough loyalty to keep its population from rebelling, or at least
keep its citizens from increasingly drifting away to richer countries. Moldova gained its
independence 21 years ago, and the question of its citizens' allegiances has been
important to the United States, the European Union, and Russia. Some scholars doubt
that feelings of a cohesive society could exist in a Soviet state fashioned out of several
historical regions in 1947, and containing many ethnolinguistic groups. Thus, the central
questions guiding this dissertation are: What processes guide the creation of a "cohesive
society"? How is social cohesion related to shared cultural experiences? And, How are
Moldovans navigating the transition of their lives from one type of state (and one type of
citizenship) to another?
This work investigates contemporary common experiences of Moldovans, more
narrowly asking how a "citizen" identity is constructed, as opposed to an ethnic or
ethnonational identity. Drawing on literature from linguistic anthropology and critical
discourse analysis, I hold that identities are formed through the mutually constituting
relationship between discourse and culture. The majority of data was collected through
ethnographic research with the Moldova Social Investment Fund (MSIF). By a close
examination of the process by which applicants obtain an MSIF grant, I show one way in
which Moldovans become exposed to Western ideologies and practices of participatory
democracy and community development. I also demonstrate how the ideologies
constitute powerful discursive formations that frame these new practices as appropriate
means of building community cohesion. The relatively new discursive formations were
compared to Moldovans' pre-existing ideas about development and citizenship, which
intersect with, overlap, and challenge more contemporary discourses of development and
citizenship. All of these are integrated, to varying degrees, into what Moldovans consider
"proper" ways of being, or what makes an acceptable member of Moldovan culture and
society. Through examination of the discursive formations of development, citizenship,
and cultural propriety, my dissertation shows how Western ideals of civic behavior and
social cohesion are being integrated into Moldovan life via MSIF development projects.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:...................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction............................................................................................................. 1

"Who knows what Moldova is?"................................................................................ 1

Why a discursive approach?....................................................................................... 7

Why development, citizenship, and cultural propriety?..................................... 12

Development.............................................................................................................. 14

Citizenship................................................................................................................. 16

Cultural Propriety...................................................................................................... 20

Why the Moldova Social Investment Fund?.......................................................... 25 The Researcher's Positionality............................................................................... 31

Methods....................................................................................................................... 33

Chapter descriptions................................................................................................. 36

Chapter 2:.................................................................................................................... 40

Theoretical Framework................................................................................... 40

Introduction............................................................................................................... 40 Language, Culture, and Society............................................................................. 43

Development theory and development as a discursive formation..................... 44

Identities...................................................................................................................... 50 Citizenship.................................................................................................................... 56

What is citizenship?................................................................................................... 57

Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 61

Chapter Three:......................................................................................................... 63

The Moldovan Context..................................................................................... 63

Introduction............................................................................................................... 63 Why Moldova?........................................................................................................... 63 Moldovans' identity in question............................................................................. 65 Moldova as a crossroads......................................................................................... 69 Riding Three Horses.................................................................................................. 71 The crossroads as a strong point............................................................................ 75 A Brief Political History.......................................................................................... 76 Early Years of Independence.................................................................................. 80

Development and Citizenship in the Soviet Era...................................................... 86

People's new relationship to the state........................................................................ 87

"Life is Better".......................................................................................................... 92

"Out of Backwardness"............................................................................................ 94

Post-Independence Development And Citizenship................................................ 97

Development in Moldova since 1991......................................................................... 97

Moldovan Citizenship.............................................................................................. 102

Demography and Geography................................................................................. 105 Continuing Tensions................................................................................................ 107 Identity Shift............................................................................................................. 109 Current Research on the Moldovan Context..................................................... 113 What is Moldovanness?.......................................................................................... 114

Thematic Group 1: Responsibility and allegiance to family, community, state; state- 118

society relations....................................................................................................... 118

Thematic Group 2: Power and diversity................................................................ 130

Summary.................................................................................................................. 133

Chapter 4:.................................................................................................................. 135

"We All Do It, and We All Think It's Bad!":............................................. 135

Communication about corruption as a marker of identity... 135

Introduction............................................................................................................. 135

Thematic Group 3: Corruption.............................................................................. 136

What is Corruption?................................................................................................. 141

Examples from international and regional official sources........................... 144

Examples from Moldovan official sources......................................................... 148

The President's Speech............................................................................................ 151

More examples from the NGO Sector................................................................... 158 Public Opinion Surveys............................................................................................ 162

Unofficial perspectives from NGO employees.................................................... 165

Kin and "Corruption".............................................................................................. 169 Conclusions.............................................................................................................. 174

Chapter Five:........................................................................................................... 177

The World Bank and MSIF................................................................................ 177

Introduction............................................................................................................. 177

Thematic Group 4: democracy and capitalism....................................................... 178

SIF's Beginnings........................................................................................................ 184 Social Funds.............................................................................................................. 188 The World Bank....................................................................................................... 190

World Bank documents: What do they tell us about the role of the Bank in 192

Moldova?.................................................................................................................. 192

Bank Mission in Moldova (2004)............................................................................ 193

Press release to announce SIF 2 (2004).................................................................. 202

Country Assistance Evaluation (2004).................................................................... 209

The World Bank evaluation visit.......................................................................... 214 Conclusions.............................................................................................................. 222

Chapter Six:............................................................................................................. 223

Participation and Procedure in SIF Subprojects............................ 223

Introduction............................................................................................................. 223 SIF Components and Subcomponents..................................................................... 225 SIF operating procedures....................................................................................... 227

The First step: Consultation and laying the groundwork for community action 234

The second step: Focus Groups.............................................................................. 245 The third step: the General Meeting................................................................... 248 The fourth step: Preparation of the application forms.................................... 256 The Fifth Step: evaluation visits............................................................................ 257 Consultation: another site visit............................................................................ 268

Appraisal and Negotiation: the Executive Committee meeting........................ 273

Chapter Seven:....................................................................................................... 287

SIF, Culture Houses, and Culture............................................................... 287

Introduction............................................................................................................. 287

Culture Houses as Infrastructure Development............................................... 292

SIF's work with culture houses............................................................................. 298 Communities' applications...................................................................................... 300 SIF-Community Interactions: SIF procedures take precedence....................... 307

Conclusion and Reflections on the Roles of SIF in Moldova.......................... 308

Chapter 8:.................................................................................................................. 320 Conclusions........................................................................................................... 320

Reflections on Moldovan culture and identity................................................ 326

What's next?.............................................................................................................. 331

References............................................................................................................... 334

Appendix A:................................................................................................................ 361

Original text in Romanian from town application to SIF for funds for repaving a main road 361

Appendix B: The President's Speech.......................................................... 362

Appendix C: Table reproduced from Carasciuc, 2000, p. 24........... 375

Appendix D: IBRD Articles of Agreement, Article 1: Purposes. 376

Appendix E: Executive Summary from the Moldova Country Assistance 378

Evaluation, produced by the World Bank........................................... 378

Appendix F: Excerpts in Romanian from SIF application materials from 384

Mayor Grosu's village..................................................................................... 384

Appendix G: Transcript from SIF Executive Committee Meeting 385

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