Ambiguous Transitions : Gender, the State, and Everyday Life in Socialist and Postsocialist Romania

Focusing on youth, family, work, and consumption, __Ambiguous Transitions__ analyzes the interplay between gender and citizenship postwar Romania. By juxtaposing official sources with oral histories and socialist policies with everyday practices, Jill Massino illuminates the gendered dimensions of socialist modernization and its complex effects on women’s roles, relationships, and identities. Analyzing women as subjects and agents, the book examines how they negotiated the challenges that arose as Romanian society modernized, even as it clung to traditional ideas about gender. Massino concludes by exploring the ambiguities of postsocialism, highlighting how the legacies of the past have shaped politics and women’s lived experiences since 1989. Contents Illustrations Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION Ambiguous Transitions: Gender, the State, and Everyday Life in Romania from Socialism to Postsocialism CHAPTER 1 The Times, They Are A-Changin’ Gender, Citizenship, and the Transition to Socialism CHAPTER 2 Children of the Revolution: Gender and the (Ab)Normality of Growing Up Socialist CHAPTER 3 Career Opportunities: Gender, Work, and Identity CHAPTER 4 Love and Marriage: Gender and the Transformation of Marital Roles and Relations CHAPTER 5 It’s a Family Affair: Parenthood, Reproductive Politics, and State “Welfare” CHAPTER 6 Good Times, Bad Times: Gender, Consumption, and Lifestyle CHAPTER 7 Revolution Blues: Gender and the Transformation from Socialism to Pluralism Bibliography Index Drawing on evidence that ranges from government records to historical media and oral history interviews, Ambiguous Transitions provides an accessible, intimate exploration of gender and citizenship in socialist Romania. By connecting women's everyday lives to larger political, economic, and social processes, author Jill M. Massino challenges conventional understandings of life in socialist Romania as uniformly oppressive. Organized around four key aspects of everyday life-education, work, marriage and family, and leisure-these portraits of life in the Eastern bloc shed light on the Cold War, modernity, and the salience of socialist beliefs and practices in people's understanding of post-socialism The times, they are a changin' : gender, citizenship, and the transition to socialism -- Children of the revolution : gender, and the (ab)normality of growing up socialist -- Career opportunities : gender, work, and identity -- Love and marriage : gender and the transformation of marital roles and relations -- It's a family affair : motherhood, reproductive politics, and state welfare -- Good times, bad times : gender, consumption, and lifestyle -- Revolution blues : gender and the transformation from socialism to pluarlism -- Bibliography -- Index Ambiguous Transitions provides an accessible, intimate exploration of gender and citizenship in socialist Romania. Author Jill M. Massino connects women's everyday lives to larger political, economic, and social processes, challenging conventional understandings of life in socialist Romania as uniformly oppressive. This book provides a fascinating survey of the ways in which Jewish communities in Europe, North America, and the Middle East participated in and were changed by the Great War during and after the conflict.