Building Moldova, Being Moldovan: Discursive and Institutional Entanglements of 'Development,' 'Citizenship,' and 'Cultural Propriety' Público
Fogarty, Patricia Lynn (2012)
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?....................................................................................... 7Why development, citizenship, and cultural propriety?..................................... 12
Development.............................................................................................................. 14
Citizenship................................................................................................................. 16
Cultural Propriety...................................................................................................... 20
Why the Moldova Social Investment Fund?.......................................................... 25 The Researcher's Positionality............................................................................... 31Methods....................................................................................................................... 33
Chapter descriptions................................................................................................. 36Chapter 2:.................................................................................................................... 40
Theoretical Framework................................................................................... 40
Introduction............................................................................................................... 40 Language, Culture, and Society............................................................................. 43Development theory and development as a discursive formation..................... 44
Identities...................................................................................................................... 50 Citizenship.................................................................................................................... 56What is citizenship?................................................................................................... 57
Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 61Chapter 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.................................................................................. 80Development 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?.......................................................................................... 114Thematic 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............................................................................................................. 135Thematic Group 3: Corruption.............................................................................. 136
What is Corruption?................................................................................................. 141Examples from international and regional official sources........................... 144
Examples from Moldovan official sources......................................................... 148The President's Speech............................................................................................ 151
More examples from the NGO Sector................................................................... 158 Public Opinion Surveys............................................................................................ 162Unofficial perspectives from NGO employees.................................................... 165
Kin and "Corruption".............................................................................................. 169 Conclusions.............................................................................................................. 174Chapter Five:........................................................................................................... 177
The World Bank and MSIF................................................................................ 177
Introduction............................................................................................................. 177Thematic Group 4: democracy and capitalism....................................................... 178
SIF's Beginnings........................................................................................................ 184 Social Funds.............................................................................................................. 188 The World Bank....................................................................................................... 190World Bank documents: What do they tell us about the role of the Bank in 192
Moldova?.................................................................................................................. 192Bank 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.............................................................................................................. 222Chapter Six:............................................................................................................. 223
Participation and Procedure in SIF Subprojects............................ 223
Introduction............................................................................................................. 223 SIF Components and Subcomponents..................................................................... 225 SIF operating procedures....................................................................................... 227The 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............................................................................ 268Appraisal and Negotiation: the Executive Committee meeting........................ 273
Chapter Seven:....................................................................................................... 287
SIF, Culture Houses, and Culture............................................................... 287
Introduction............................................................................................................. 287Culture Houses as Infrastructure Development............................................... 292
SIF's work with culture houses............................................................................. 298 Communities' applications...................................................................................... 300 SIF-Community Interactions: SIF procedures take precedence....................... 307Conclusion and Reflections on the Roles of SIF in Moldova.......................... 308
Chapter 8:.................................................................................................................. 320 Conclusions........................................................................................................... 320Reflections on Moldovan culture and identity................................................ 326
What's next?.............................................................................................................. 331References............................................................................................................... 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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