National Identity

Natona Case Study
Natona Identty and the

Meda (WP4)
Romana
Gabriela Iuliana Colipc (film)
Ioana Ivan-Mohor (film)
Michaela Praisler (film)
Gabriela Dima (written press)
Antoanela Marta Dumitracu (written press)
Mariana ea!u (written press)
Dunrea de |os Unversty of Gaa[, Romana
Grant Agreement no. 216065
"omanian "esearch #eam$
%Dunrea &e 'os( )niversit* of Gala+i
Main researchers$
,ilm$
Gabrea Iuana Copc
Ioana Ivan-Mohor
Mchaea Praser
-ritten Press$
Smona Antof
Gabrea Dma
Antoanea Marta Dumtrascu
Marana Neagu
GeMIC. Natona Report on WP4 - Romana
#able of Contents
./ Goal of "esearch/ General 0*pothesis ///////////////////////////////////////// 1
2/ Conte3t Presentation ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 4
5/ Corpus Description ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 6
3.1. Fm. Corpus structure and seecton crtera ............................................... 8
3.2. Wrtten press. Corpus structure and seecton crtera ............................... 17
1/ Corpus Anal*sis //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 22
4.1. Mgraton ................................................................................................. 22
4.2. Gender n Mgraton ................................................................................. 54
4/ Conclusions ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 7.
8/ Polic* recommen&ations /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 71
7/ "eferences ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 78
6/ Appen&i3$ ,ilm 9verviews ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 77
8.1. Feature Fms ............................................................................................ 77
8.2. Documentares ......................................................................................... 80
3
./ Goal of "esearch/ General 0*pothesis
Any thorough study of mgraton and of the dentty (re)constructon that t
entas shoud not gnore the representatona power of the meda n postmodern
socetes, whch can contrbute to creatng, enforcng or, on the contrary,
deconstructng mages of the mgratng (gendered) sef n her/hs own eyes as
we as n the eyes of the other, wth a sgnfcant nfuence on the mgrant - host
encounters. Essentay defned by sub|ectvty, meda representatons pay an
mportant part n shapng up mentates, a process n the context of whch
cutura, natona and gender dfferences are reconsdered, often sub|ect to
stereotype-engenderng generasatons, wth an mpact on the (n)vsbty of the
Other at varous herarchcay-organsed eves n the pubc sphere. Taken
proper nterest n, meda representatons of mgraton, gender and ntercutura
nteractons, a wth a drect mpact on dentty constructs, coud draw attenton
upon the dynamcs of auto-/hetero-mage renegotaton n the framework of
cutura encounters, warn aganst the dangers of oversmpfcaton and abusve
generasaton, and rase awareness of the need to better apprecate the benefts
of mobty and cutura dversty n the present-day European socetes.
Such a study coud encompass a wde range of texts from wthn the
constanty enargng scope of meda ncudng prnt meda (books, newspapers,
magaznes), eectronc meda (broadcastng for rado and teevson, fm,
dfferent forms of audo and vsua recordng, etc.) and nternet meda (bogs,
message boards, podcasts, vdeo sharng). Keepng n mnd that, for a hgh-
quaty, n-depth anayss of meda dscourse, the anayss shoud cover a
reatvey narrow category of texts whch, nonetheess, woud meet the
requrements of reevance for the thematc research frame, avaabty and
sgnfcant mpact on the pubc at arge, the Romanan researchers decded, n
agreement wth the partner teams, to focus on (feature and documentary) fms
and wrtten press. Therefore, they set as ther man goa that of deneatng the
man stereotypca/non-stereotypca patterns of representaton of mgraton,
gender and ntercutura reatons as they emerge n the Romanan meda and,
to some extent, n the meda of the Romanan mgrant-recevng socetes, wth
a vew to pontng out ther mpact on dentty (re)shapng n both the sendng
and the recevng cutura spaces, reveang the mechansms underyng them
and, utmatey, proposng potenta soutons for the mprovement of
representaton poces n the sense of encouragng ntercutura daogue and a
postve approach to mgraton amed at the ntegraton of mgrant cutures nto
the constructon of a European dentty. To be more specfc, makng use of the
methodoogca toos specfc to magoogy, textua anayss of fm and crtca
dscourse anayss (CDA), respectvey, the Romanan researchers anaysed ther
corpus of fm and wrtten press texts referrng to mgraton from Romana, n
genera, and to Romanan women mgrants, n partcuar, payng speca
attenton to:
- the arger soca and potca context as we as the nsttutonased
frames n whch fmc and/or |ournastc texts were produced;
- the representatona (non/stereotypca) patterns used n addressng
gender and mgraton-reated ssues n the meda, whch coud contrbute
4
to naturasng and egtmsng power herarches and nequates or, on
the contrary, to chaengng them;
- the mechansms nvoved n the daectca process of dentty formaton
by means of magotypca representatons, .e. auto- and hetero-mages,
whch coud nfuence the target audences and, mpcty, the pubc
poces amed at causng meda representatons to become more
senstve to gender and cutura encounter ssues.
The man nes aong whch the Romanan team carred out ts nvestgaton are
refected n the structure of ths report whch devotes speca sectons to the
comments on mgraton and gender n mgraton as represented n meda texts
focusng on Romana as a mgrant-sendng country from a three-fod
perspectve amed at:
- the dentfcaton of the soco-economc reates trggerng or trggered
by mgraton,
- the nsttutona and pocy framework reguatng such phenomena n
both the home and the host socetes, and
- the menta software underyng pubc reactons to dfferent
manfestatons of otherness.
These dmensons eventuay converged nto a set of concusons and pocy
recommendatons that hopefuy coud contrbute to estabsh|ng| modes of
pubc seeng and hearng based on normatve schemes of ntegbty that
woud encourage (women) mgrants humansaton (Buter, 2006: 141-7),
counterbaance sensatonasm and combat the pre|udced recepton of
mgraton as a probem/threat.
2/ Conte3t Presentation
The status of post-communst Romana can be descrbed as that of a
sendng, transt and recevng country at the same tme. However, takng nto
account the fact that out-mgraton fows have been by far the most
representatve (See The Natona Insttute of Statstcs,
http://www.nsse.ro/cms/rw/pages/anuarstatstc2008.en.do) - hence,
partcuary refected upon n meda texts, whether they be products of the
home or host cutures - the foowng bref re-mappng of mgraton n the
Romanan context w focus on Romana as many a sendng country.
The restoraton of Romanan ctzens freedom of movement across
natona borders, after the fa of the communst regme n 1989, caused
sgnfcant changes n the reasons behnd and the dynamcs of mgraton fows
from Romana. Some of the pre-1989 emgraton trends contnued to exst, yet
ther evouton took new turns, especay as emgraton for potca reasons was
repaced by emgraton for many economc reasons. Next to decreasng asyum-
seekng (whch argey ost ts potca connotatons and came to be rather
regarded as a cover up for mgraton for abour - see Badwn-Edwards, 2005:
10; Smna, 2005: 9, and Ncoescu and Constantn, 2005: 56), ncreasng
mgraton for study, and moderate permanent mgraton based on marrage wth
5
foregn ctzens or the enroment n speca vsa-grantng programmes
(stmuatng the emgraton of persons hodng certan quafcatons requred n
recevng countres ke the USA, Canada, Austraa and New Zeaand) (Ncoescu
and Constantn, 2005: 56 and Smna, 2005: 9), permanent mgraton of ethnc
mnortes contnued at hghy ncreasng rates especay n the eary 1990s. By
far the most numerous Romanan ctzens who mgrated egay and setted ther
permanent resdence abroad were, as ndcated by the Romanan Insttute of
Statstcs (2006: 2.30), the Saxons/Germans and the Szkey/Hungarans from
Transyvana. Ther mgraton fow graduay decreased unt more or ess ceasng
n the eary 2000s, but t eft vsbe marks at home: fu Transyvanan vages,
formery nhabted by Saxons, were depopuated, whe the Hungaran mnorty
was reduced to under 1.5 mon (.e. 6.6% of the tota popuaton, accordng to
the 2002 census). (Ethnobarometer, 2004: IV. 4 and Badwn-Edwards, 2006: 6).
Nonetheess, n genera terms, t was abour mgraton that graduay
emerged as the man form of out-mgraton of the Romanans. As the process of
transton from the communst regme to a free captast market n Romana
turned out to be sow and dffcut, resutng, among other thngs, n an ncrease n
unempoyment rates and, hence, precarous vng condtons for many Romanan
workers, emgraton came to be regarded as the ony hope for sgnfcant fnanca
gan and a better fe. Under the crcumstances, dependng on factors ke age,
educaton, gender, regon, etc., severa abour mgraton trends -
permanent/temporary, ega/ega - deveoped n tme.
At an eary phase, .e. 1990-1996, there were two ma|or tendences: on
the one hand, especay n the case of hgh-educaton graduates, certan
preference was shown for permanent emgraton from Romana especay to the
USA and Canada, but aso to European countres ke Germany (whch marked the
begnnng of an on-gong process of bran dran wth severe ong-term
consequences for the Romanan economy); on the other hand, there was a sow
but steady growth n ega mgraton, whch nvoved partcuary sem- and
unsked Romanan workers, targetng Germany, France, Israe, and, to some
extent, Turkey. (Badwn-Edwards, 2005: 2-13, Horvth, 2007: 3) Wth Germany
graduay ncreasng contro over mgrants and Israe becomng a ess attractve
market because of governmenta restrctons, durng the so-caed second phase
of emgraton from Romana, .e. 1996-2002, the favourte destnatons for the
many ega mgraton of especay sem- and unsked Romanan workers were
Itay and Span, whch, n tme, became hosts of the argest Romanan dasporas
n Europe. (Smna, 2005: 8)
2002 was a cornerstone for Romanan emgraton owng to sgnfcant
changes n the nsttutona and pocy framework reguatng ths phenomenon.
For one thng, the endeavours of the Romanan authortes to provde
opportuntes for ega empoyment abroad materased n the creaton of the
Offce for Labour Mgraton, whch, next to the batera agreements (wth
Germany, Span, Portuga, etc.) and/or the prvate recrutment agences,
encouraged ega temporary abour mgraton. (However, despte these efforts, at
east up to 2007, ega abour mgraton contnued to take second pace to ega
mgraton to varous European destnatons and not ony.) Furthermore, the
emnaton, n the same year, of the Schengen vsa requrement brought about a
boom of crcuar (/ega) mgraton. Thus, many Romanans eft the country on
6
ega tourst vsas to actuay fnd work on the (back) European abour market; at
the end of the three-month ega stay, some chose to reman n the country of
ther destnaton and assume the rsks of ther ega status, whe others traveed
back home, beng repaced, unt they coud return abroad for another perod of
three months, by (more often than not) frends and reatves who wanted to
mgrate. (That resuted n the creaton of we-organsed soca networks based on
recommendaton systems that sometmes turned nto powerfu nstruments of
coercon and manpuaton wthn the Romanan daspora.)
In 2007, after Romana was granted the status of an EU member state,
the Offce for Labour Mgraton was dssoved and ts functons were taken up by
the Natona Empoyment Agency whch |oned the EURES (European
Empoyment Servces) network amed at factatng the free movement of
workers wthn the European economc area (http://eures.anofm.ro/ndex.php).
Apart from provdng nformaton and gudance wth regard to soca securty
poces as we as assstance n protectng the rghts that Romanan mgrant
workers (egay empoyed) coud beneft from, EURES Romana keeps an up-to-
date record of the |ob offers comng from dfferent EU empoyers and of the
restrctons for empoyment n dfferent EU countres whch nfuence the access
to ega empoyment of Romanan mgrant workers.
(http://eures.anofm.ro/anuntur/restrct_mpuse_romane2.htm) That may
account for the fact that, over the years that passed after Romanas accesson
to the EU, a certan baance between ega (ganng ground) and ega
(decreasng n number) outfows coud be sad to have been reached n abour
mgraton from Romana. (Copc and Stan, WP8 Natona Report, 2010: 8)
A n a, to summarse the presentaton of the man abour mgraton
trends after 1990, dstncton shoud be made between four man axes: Itay -
Span - Portuga (many sought for by sem- and unsked Romanan workers);
Germany - Austra - Hungary and France - Begum - the UK (attractng sem-
sked and sked abour force, as we as a sgnfcant percentage of hghy
quafed professonas ke IT specasts and physcans); and the USA - Austraa
- Canada (mosty targeted, as prevousy mentoned, by hghy quafed abour
force). (Co|ocaru et a., 2006: 5; The Natona Empoyment Agency
http://www.anofm.ro/146_munca-n-stranatate)
Further dstnctons n the trends of emgraton from Romana coud be
dentfed n gender terms: takng nto account the femnsaton of certan work
sectors (e.g. ceanng and domestc work, nursng and care, agrcuture, servce
sectors ke hotes and restaurants, etc.) and the pecuartes of certan
European abour markets, over the years, evdence of the femnsaton of
Romanan out-mgraton partcuary towards such destnatons as Itay and
Span, but not ony, came to be statstcay sustaned. (Smna, 2005: 14;
Constantn et a., 2004: 51; van den Anker, 2006: 170-1) (E.g. Accordng to a
statstca assessment of Romanan emgraton n 2006, out of the mons of
Romanans workng abroad at that moment, amost two thrds were women,
50% havng an upper secondary dpoma and 17% a tertary degree. - UNFPA -
State of Word Popuaton 2006. A Passage to Hope - Women and Internatona
Mgraton, Fact Sheets: Mgraton by regon - Europe,
http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2006/presskt/ndex.htm) In the Romanan socety st
domnated by patrarcha norms, the femnsaton of Romanan emgraton was
7
ndssouby connected to one of the negatve consequences of the phenomenon
n the home socety, namey chd abandonment.
Another expct connecton between gender and mgraton was made n the
context of the pocy framework for traffckng n human bengs. Whether the
purpose of traffckng be sexua expotaton, forced abour (n the domestc sector,
agrcuture, sex/entertanment ndustry, etc.), beggary and/or petty crme, t has
been statstcay proven that most of the vctms are femae (despte a sgnfcant
growth n number of mae vctms traffcked especay for forced abour, over the
ast years). In ther desperate attempts at fufng ther dreams of a better fe
abroad, these vctms often gnored the rsks nherent n apparenty attractve |ob
offers, n vng and workng off the mts of the aw, thus exposng themseves to
dfferent forms of expotaton. Steps have been taken at natona eve to prevent
and combat traffckng (whether externa or nterna) by the mprovement of the
ega and nsttutona framework wth a vew to ts harmonsaton wth the
nternatona and European ega and nsttutona requrements and
recommendatons. Statstcs ndcate the reatve progress made by the
mpementaton of ant-traffckng strateges and natona pans that foow the
trends n nternatona and European frameworks. Yet, as the US State Department
Report ponts out (|une 2009 -
http://www.state.gov/documents/organzaton/123357.pdf), there s st a ot to be
done n Romana n terms of the efforts to enforce aws aganst traffckng, to
protect vctms, and to prevent traffckng. (See Copc and Stan, WP8 Natona
Report, 2010)
Whe havng extoed the advantages of mgraton (mprovement of the
Romanan workers knowedge, sks and vng condtons, reducton of soca
pressure at home through ower unempoyment rates, substanta remttances
and brand new nvestments), Romanan mass meda have equay refected
upon ts dsadvantages, repeatedy foregroundng, n ths respect, the home
aone generaton, depopuaton (many of rura areas), negatve work
ncentves created by remttances, tense famy reatons, oss of vauabe
human capta, and, ast but not east, the rsks of beng ega and an easy prey
to dfferent forms of voence, human traffckng n partcuar. The meda texts
seected by the Romanan team contan representatons of many of the
abovementoned out-mgraton fows wth ther postve and/or negatve
consequences, |uxtaposng the home and the host socetes perspectves on
them wth an am at not ony nformng the audences on facts regardng the
movement of Romanan mgrants across natona borders but aso at drawng
attenton upon the renegotaton of the mgrants dentty n the context of
cross-cutura encounters.
5/ Corpus Description
5/./ ,ilm/ Corpus structure an& selection criteria
Three crtera were many taken nto account n the seecton of the fm
corpus anaysed by the Romanan team. Frsty, gven the fact the study amed
at focusng on representatons of Romanan dentty after the turnng pont of
8
the 1989 revouton, when t was argey re-shaped by sgnfcant soceta
changes ncudng emgraton, nterest was taken n feature fms and
documentares produced between 1990 and 2009. Secondy, due attenton was
pad to the reevance of the productons for the specfcty of the natona case
as we as for the man ob|ectve of ths work package, namey to dentfy the
ways n whch domnant and manstream conceptuazatons about gender and
mgraton as we as tensons and contradctons about us and them are
reproduced n the fmc dscourse. Thrdy, corpus seecton was essentay
determned by the avaabty of fm copes on the fm market. The st mted
crcuaton/broadcastng of documentary fms n Romana caused the members
of the team to contact, n order to get free access to the documentares of ther
choce, the organsers of by far the greatest festva of documentary fm n
Romana, .e. Astra Fm Festva.
1
Wth the hep of ts representatves to whom
the members of the UD|G team are deepy ndebted, a data base of contact
addresses of both Romanan and foregn documentary drectors, who showed
nterest n mgraton and gender-reated ssues, was created. Unfortunatey,
ony some of the foregn drectors chose to repy to the request for coaboraton
and kndy provded copes of the seected fms.
Thus, on the one hand, reference was made to Romanan feature fms
representng Romanan mgrants dentty from the perspectve of the sendng
socety: Weekend cu mama (Weekend wth my Mother, 2009) - -M, Schmb
vautar (Exchange, 2008) - :, Legunea strn (The Foregn Legon, 2008) - ,;,
Itaencee (The Itaan Women, 2004) - I, Occdent (Occdent, 2002) - 9, and
Asfat Tango (Asphat Tango, 1996) - A#. However, as a cutura encounters
presuppose the cash of cutura spaces wth dfferent menta software, and
therefore, dfferent mages of the foregn other, for a more comprehensve
nvestgaton of features fm mages of Romananness n the context of
mgraton, nternatona productons ke I Resto dea Notte (The Rest of the
Nght, 2008) - ", and |e vous trouve trs beau (I Fnd You Very Nce, 2005) -
#< were aso consdered.
On the other hand, due nterest was taken n documentares focusng on
dfferent aspects of mgraton from Romana, on factors that trggered
mgraton, as we as on the consequences for the Romanans sense of natona
dentty of the experence of becomng the other n a foregn cutura
envronment. The st of anaysed documentares ncudes, for the
aforementoned reasons, ony the foowng ttes: Beyond the Forest (2007) -
<,, Stea (2006) - => Leavng Transyvana (2006) - ;#, Inhuman Traffc (2006)
- I#, The Last Peasants. |ourneys (2003) - '; The Last Peasants. Temptaton
(2003) - #; The Last Peasants. A Good Wfe (2003) - G-.
2
For a better understandng of the comments made n some of the
subsequent sectons of ths report on the ways n whch Romanan and foregn
fm drectors chose to refect upon Romananness n the context of mgraton,
the summares of the anaysed feature and documentary fms are ncuded
beow:
1
See the webste of the festva: http://www.astrafm.ro/
2
The above mentoned abbrevatons of the fm ttes have been used for practca purposes wthn
the report n order to pont out the fms that the comments make reference to.
9
,eature films
-ee?en& cu mama (-ee?en& with m* Mother, 2009) @ -M
When Luza eft Romana for Span 15 years ago, she eft her daughter
Crstna behnd, to be rased by her aunt, Eena. Luza now has a new famy and
ves n comfort n Span. She returns to Bucharest to be wth Eena, who has
suffered a stroke and s paraysed. Another reason for her return seems to be
that of seeng her daughter once more. She ends up convncng reuctant
Crstna to spend the weekend wth her. The Crstna Luza graduay dscovers s
metonymc and symptomatc for the stuaton focused upon. She has run away
from home, accusng her stepfather of havng moested and abused her (a
reatonshp whch has resuted n a chd, now n an orphanage) and s vng
wth Gon[ (Buet), takng hgh rsk drugs, deang and steang for the money
that presupposes. She re|ects Luza, refusng to get to know her, but s brbed
nto acceptng to spend a few days wth her, at her grandfathers, n the
countrysde. The weekend proper nforms Luza on the dark sde of Crstnas
exstence and makes her do her best to savage the ast shreds of normaty.
Mother and daughter rebud ther reatonshp, Luza nvtes Crstna to |on her
n Span (together wth her young daughter) and Crstna accepts to undergo
detox treatment. A seems to go perfecty unt Gon[ shows up agan askng for
more money and kdnappng the tte gr the two women had |ust taken out of
the orphanage. Gong after her daughter, Crstna dscovers that she had been
stoen by a network of human traffckers who se chdren abroad to medca
centres specasng n organ donatons. Her attempts to recuperate her chd
go wrong and she ends up at the morgue, where Luza s summoned by the
poce to dentfy her.
=chimb valutar (:3chan!e, 2008) - :
Em s a worker n a town n the Prahova regon, supportng hs wfe and
son from hs wages. When he s eft unempoyed, he starts ookng for |obs, tres
to earn a vng hepng hs father n aw n agrcuture, but everythng s n van.
Eventuay, after consutatons wth hs wfe, Ana, he decdes to se ther fat,
and goes to Bucharest to change the money nto Amercan doars n vew of
emgratng. Cheated by Streche (who gves hm worthess counterfet money for
the Romanan e he got for the fat and furnture), Em s ashamed to return
home and decdes to stay on n Bucharest to ook for money whe, a the tme,
he es to hs famy that he s n Germany, dong we, earnng reasonaby and
watng to make somethng of hmsef before askng them to |on hm. Homeess
and hungry, ed on by the poce, he fnds day |obs that are bady pad, but
whch hep hm survve. One day, he meets L (a aw student vng on
prosttuton money), who takes hm n, heps and advses hm as best she can.
Em graduay turns nto a crook and a crmna who, havng earnt the esson
the hard way, now ruthessy cheats others out of ther fe savngs. When he
fnay has enough or, better st, when he s afrad that he mght be taken to
prson, Em brbes the poce offcer who had faed to hep hm, obtans fake
passports for hmsef and hs famy and pans to emgrate egay. He s about
to get on the pane to freedom (that hs wfe and son are aso booked for), when
he s recognsed by one of the men he has stoen from, hs fortune s bown by
the wnd, hs sons attenton s caught, he s exposed but, deformed by money,
he pretends not to know the peope dear to hm and embarks on hs |ourney
westward to the promsed and.
10
;e!iunea strin (#he ,orei!n ;e!ion, 2008) - ,;
Whe brd fu s ravagng a sma vage n northern Modava, varous
owfes start thrvng busnesses: Marce (an nvestor n scrap ron) - who makes
a proft from frozen chcken mported from Hoand, from brd fu dsnfectant and
from seng dreams (sgnng men n for the French Foregn Legon); Lca
(returned from Span, where she had emgrated and aegedy made money from
prosttuton) - who partcpates n the Dutch chcken busness aongsde Marce
and who trans vagers at a proft to pck Spansh strawberres; the coone of the
mtary base nearby - who smugges petro and ses German chcken to the
peasants eft wthout ther poutry. Three frends fa prey to Marces
machnatons, athough very aert at the scams of others: Mtu - a soder carryng
out hs mtary servce n the vage; Aure - marred, wth a pregnant wfe and no
money to hs name; Stec - one of the oca pocemen. They pot to have Mtu
stea the bura money that Stecs grandmother has saved so as to make the
600 euro depost (that Marces men coect), they work out to be ft for
egonnares, they dream of eadng better ves abroad. When no news comes n
of the Foregn Legon, Mtu decdes to eave n advance. He makes t to Austra,
where he s caught, mprsoned and shot tryng to escape. Aure s summoned to
the post offce n the neghbourng town, where he hopes to pck up some parce
that Mtu has sent, but dscovers that he s gven a coffn contanng the remans
of hs frend. At the morgue, where he takes the dead mans body to, he s tod
that a of Mtus organs have been removed. Affected, ncapabe of spreadng the
news, Aure returns to the vage, but nstead of gong home, goes for a swm and
fas aseep, haf naked, ony to be found by someone next mornng covered n
eeches that have draned hm of hs bood.
Italiencele (#he Italian -omen, 2004) - I-
Set at the tme of the Kosovo confct, the fm tes the story of two
Romanan ssters, |en and Lenu[a, who decde to eave ther sma vage
communty n Otena, eavng behnd an unrequted over (Gge) and a drunken
uncarng father n order to go and work (egay) n Span as strawberry pckers.
A year ater, they return home wth a vctorous sme and a western atttude,
havng supposedy gone rch not n Span, but workng n Itay. However, the
truth w come out when |en decdes to stand up to Govans (her former over
and escort to the grs on ther way out of the country) attempt to run for the
vage Mayors Offce. As the vagers are gathered at the oca ha and shown
a porno fm n whch the two ssters are the recognsabe protagonsts, Lenu[a
bursts n wth a terrbe confesson: a shockng denouement whch ays bare a
bruta and horrfc experence. The two ssters were n fact traffcked and sod to
be expoted as prosttutes n Kosovo by Govan and hs companon, Fane, to be
reeased ony wth the arrva of the Amercan troops. The confesson works ke
an exorcsaton of gut and trauma, and the fm ends on an mage of hope: as
the two ssters try to mend what has been eft of ther famy goods, an
Amercan soder drves through the vage headng towards the house of the
two. The man narratve reated to the two ssters ncudes three reated stores:
the story of Gges desperate efforts to convnce |en to gve up the mrage of
Span and reman n the vage, marry hm and ead a poor but honest
exstence; the story of the grs egay mgratng and ts consequences; the
story of the ssters return to ther natve vage and ther attempts to
11
rentegrate n the communtys fe set aganst the background of the oca fghts
for potca power.
9cci&ent (9cci&ent, 2002) - 9
Occdent s a btter comedy about the ure of emgraton and the
responses ths trggers n those eft behnd. Its three parts te bascay the
same unrequted tae by focusng on a dfferent story. Nevertheess, the three
happen at the same tme, ther pots ntertwne, the same events are shown
from dfferent anges as man characters from one story are cast as secondary
n another one, n order to prove how ther actons unknowngy nfuence each
others destnes. A young coupe, Luc and hs fance, Sorna, are evcted from
ther home n the sordd outskrts of Bucharest. Whe n cemetery watng for
otherwordy gudance from Sornas dead father, Luc s unexpectedy ht on the
head wth a fyng botte. The rest of the story focuses on the young mans
desperate efforts to wn back Sorna, who has moved n the meantme wth
|erome, the Frenchman who heped hosptaze Luc. Beng offered a sheter by
Aunt Leana, the od fra mother of hs former frend who eft for Germany durng
the Communst tmes, Luc s forced to become underempoyed as a beer botte
mascot, befrendng Mhaea, hs feow teephone advertser. Thngs precptate
when a poceman arrves unexpectedy wth news that Ncu, Aunt Leanas ong
estranged son, has ded n Germany, the od woman apparenty des n shock
and Luc runs to te Sorna that they can move back together n Aunt Leanas
vacant apartment ony to fnd that hs fance has aready eft for France wth
the eder sutor. On the eve of her marrage, Mhaea, a romantc gr who thnks
she has a gft for poetry, s deserted by the groom. Desperate to fnd a
repacement, the mother opts for a foregn husband that w hep her daughter
estabsh not ony a prosperous fe abroad but aso one unencumbered by the
shamefu ncdent at the weddng. Whe the mother vsts a matrmona agency
and arranges bnd dates for her daughter, Mhaea gets an empoyment wth an
advertsng agency where she meets Luc. The two are drawn to and confde n
each other as they are kndred sprts n ther mutuay wounded hearts. But the
news come that an Itaan sutor ntends to vst them. In the mdst of the
exctement of the famys preparatons there appears Lug, who s young,
handsome, we-to-do, a poetry-over, but back and Mhaeas parents are
desperate once agan as ther daughter voces her decson to eave wth hm,
anyway. Mhaeas father, a retrng poce offcer wth od Securtate-stye
atttudes and tactcs, dscovers hs daughters groom drunk n the nearby
cemetery and scares the young man off both of hs botte and of the marrage.
Afterwards he s reuctanty convnced by both hs wfe and hs mstress that the
ony means of settng thngs we for hs chd s to consent to a foregn
marrage. Then, he meets Nae, who has returned from Germany to brng the
news of a frends death to hs mother and needs assstance n fufng hs task.
Shocked by the prospect of seeng hs chd eave wth a Back Itaan, the offcer
asks Nae to do hm a counter favour and take Mhaea to Germany wth hm.
Asfalt #an!o (Asphalt #an!o, 1996) - A#
Set n the mmedate post-communst decade, the fm s a buresque
comedy nvovng a group of eeven beautfu Romanan grs who are persuaded
by a French agent (Maron) and a dubous Romanan mpresaro (Gg) to
embark on a bus that woud ead them to Pars and future gory as cabaret
dancers. Ths East-West |ourney, whch nvoves crossng Romana from
12
Bucharest, through Brasov, Cu| and Oradea, to reach the Hungaran border and
beyond, s compcated by the desperate efforts made by Andre, the husband of
the opera baet dancer Dora, to stop hs wfe from embarkng on what he
strongy beeves to be a fe of prosttuton, and to persuade her to return home
to the safety of ther marrage. Wthn the framework of the groups |ourney
through the wndng (at tmes pcturesque, but more often desoate and dusty)
Romanan andscape, a number of stores are embedded: the story of Dora and
Andres marrage set aganst the soca and economc ceavages charactersng
post-revoutonary Romanan socety; the story of Feca, wth a bourgeos
background and cutura aspratons that code wth the aberrant behavoura
codes of a socety n transton; the story of Grazea, who has embarked on ths
trp as punshment to her Itaan fanc, who has ceased returnng phone cas.
Il resto &ella notte (#he "est of the i!ht, 2008) - "
After havng been ambushed by what ooked ke Romanan gypsy
beggars n the street, Svana Boarn comes home determned to fre her mad,
Mara - an mmgrant from Romana (that they had, up to that pont, consdered
as a member of the famy). Accusng her of steang a par of expensve
earrngs (whch actuay proves to be true), the Boarns et her go, despte the
opposton from ther daughter, Anna, Maras frend.
The constant fear (of mmgrant ntruson/voence) Svana s governed
by s apparenty nonsensca, but takes matera shape n the events to foow. It
determnes, somewhat nexpcaby, the fms tragc denouement, as f, through
her ntense feeng, she brought dsaster upon her famy. Two other Romanan
mmgrants, Ionu[ (the fanc Mara had eft to fnd a better fe, through honest
work, wth the Boarns) and Vctor (hs teenage brother), ve n poverty and
promscuty somewhere n a ghetto. Whe Vctor earns hs vng by hard abour
and day empoyment, Ionu[ s after the easy fe; athough handsome and
charmng, he s a thef, a crook, a deaer. Together wth the good-for-nothng
Luca, hs Itaan mate, Ionu[ pans and carres out a burgary at the Boarn
resdence, based on the nformaton unknowngy provded by Mara. Ther
acton (that Vctor wtnesses) goes wrong, however. Whe her parents are away
at a concert, Anna entertans a boyfrend, who accdentay gets shot by the
burgars, as does her father, Govann, who surprses them by arrvng eary.
'e vous trouve trAs beau (I ,in& Bou Cer* ice, 2005) - #<
Aym, a badng mdde-aged farmer who unexpectedy oses hs wfe n
an accdent, seeks a new wfe to hep hm wth work on the farm. Not havng
tme to socaze, he goes to a marrage agency that arranges for hm a trp to
Romana, where numerous young women are eager to fnd a French husband
and escape thus the hard, grm fe at home. Growng more and more confused
wth each new canddate who thnks she woud make the perfect match due to
taents ke actng, sngng or dancng, Aym s reeved to encounter Eena, a
young, beautfu and cever woman who mmedatey understands what the
Frenchman needs and pretends to be nterested n farm work. The two eave for
France, Eena hdng the fact that she eaves a 6-year od daughter at home
whom she hopes to be abe to hep escape the msery n whch they ve wth
the money saved abroad. The comc arses out of the varous (cutura, ethnc,
gender, generatona) cashes between the two man characters, who graduay
earn to accommodate ther obvous dfferences and start to care for each other.
But despte Eenas charm and her openy dspayed affecton, Aym contnues
13
to pretend codness and sef-suffcency, reasng too ate, after Eena has made
her decson to return home, that he hmsef cares for the young woman as a
person and not |ust a housekeeper. But to ensure the happy denouement, an
accdent makes Eena, who s now back n Bucharest where she runs a baet
schoo, rease that there were Ayms savngs that have enabed her return and
the fnanca securty of her present fe and the fm ends back n the French
feds where a changed Aym comes across Eena and her young daughter who
have returned to be reunted nto a happy famy.
Documentaries
<e*on& the ,orest (2007) @ <,
Two symptomatc cases are under focus: one of the ast Saxons (|ohann
Schuff) and one of the ast Landers (Mara Huber) n Transyvana, Romana.
Both protagonsts are humorous, broken peope, havng wtnessed the
extncton of ther cutures. Now they are od, aone n the word, and ther ony
wsh seems to be that of dyng (|ohann - cose to the earth, to be eaten by dogs
and rentegrated n the unverse; Mara - naturay and be bured n the tomb
she has nscrbed wth the actua date of her death, aready fve years n the
past). However, they are now wng to rete ther tragc experences: |ohanns
fa, together wth the fa of Hter (that he s st nostagc for); Maras
deportaton to a Sberan abour camp and her subsequent sotary fe, havng
refused to marry a Romanan.
;eavin! #rans*lvania (2006) @ ;#
An edery Saxon coupe, Hans and Mara Kenze are centra to the fm.
Athough n ther sxtes, they decde to mgrate to Germany where the Saxons
had come from a ong tme ago. (Part of ther famy aready mgrated to
Augsburg, so they ntend to |on them.) Over the years, they payed an
mportant roe n the fe of the oca Saxon communty (they took care of the od
Saxon church and cemetery) and contrbuted to the preservaton of the Saxon
tradtons and way of fe. Ther fe story s constanty nterrupted and
competed by ntervews wth other Saxons from the vage of Arbegen, a of
whom speak hghy of the Kenzes (|utz Stueher - a very cose frend, who heps
Hans and Mara f n the papers to submt n order to get a passport and who s
aso to mgrate too, a few months ater, n December 2001; |rk Schneder - a
cose frend of Hans, who heps hm wth ookng after the church and the
cemetery; Inge Petru, Mara and Msch Wof - young and od neghbours and
members of the communty; Hans Hatt - a cergyman who comes occasonay
to take the oca prests pace, when the atter s or cannot organse the
regous servce).
=tella (2006) @ =
The fm presents ony one case: Stea Margeans. A Romanan former
watress and worker n a oca bscut factory, Stea and her gypsy husband
Marce mgrate to France to sove a medca probem that the atter has. Once n
France, they try to fnd |obs and to ve n decent condtons. However, snce
they are ega mgrants, they ve n a decrept ghetto, have no resdent
permts and constanty fear that they mght be arrested by the poce and
deported. To provde for themseves, Stea and Gab, her sster, are forced to
beg. Such precarous vng condtons graduay cause Steas heath to decne:
14
shes got bad teeth and suffers from herna. Eventuay dscovered by Vanna
Vgna and heped aong wth ther medca ssues, Stea, Gab and Marce return
home, to Bra and attempt rentegraton.

Inhuman #raffic (2006) @ I#
Two case studes are presented: Annas and Tatanas. Offered a |ob n
Greece by a frend she trusts, Anna (Romanan) eaves her young daughter
behnd, but s traffcked by Luan Pakc; sod to a pmp, she s taken by car to a
deserted house fu of young women that turns out to be n Serba, not Greece;
she s ater taken to Macedona and sod reguary on the human meat market
(two men every haf hour.). She spends two and a haf years traffcked and s
freed durng an accdenta poce rad. Bndy n ove, Tatana (Modovan)
accompanes her boyfrend of 6 months to Hoand; she s not nterested n her
parents warnngs and advce, and ends up sod at the tran staton to a pmp,
spendng sx months as a sex abourer n Amsterdam, whe her famy s
contnuousy threatened. In an attempt at provdng a fu pcture of the traffckng
chan, the two man narratve nes are cosey ntertwned wth other embedded
stores by: potenta vctms (Ludma, a Modovan gr), cents and empoyers of
traffcked grs (Govan, a Dutch cent; Steve, the owner of a strp cub n Prague),
as we as representatves of nsttutons nvoved n protectng the vctms and
combatng traffckng (Stefano, an undercover offcer from a UN Centre for
Traffckng Unt - Kosovo, Serba; Mara, a Romanan ant-traffckng actvst; Ana,
a Modovan counseor of the La Strada NGO).
#he ;ast Peasants/ 'ourne*s (2003) @ '
The fm focuses on the Daman famy from the vage of Budet,
Maramure. Vase Daman has two sons, Petru and Ion, and they both seem to
have grown obsessed wth the dea of mgratng to Western Europe. More
determned, Petru made the frst step to fuf hs dream and, together wth hs
wfe, Mara, and son, Adran, eft for France. Soon after Petru, Mara and Adran
reach Pars, Petru s arrested as an ega mgrant, but somehow manages to
escape and makes t to Ireand. Separated from hs wfe and son, Petru ves a
oney fe as a mgrant n Dubn, whe Mara remans n Pars, together wth
ther son. Ths storyne s cosey nterwoven wth that centred on Petrus
brother, Ion. He and hs wfe Mara st ve wth ther two chdren, Vase and
Mruca, n Budet, but a they dream of s |onng Petru or Mara abroad. After
surmountng dffcutes, Ion and two younger men from the vage set out wth
a gude who promses to get them to Itay. They trave across Hungary under
the tran and reach Venna, but the gude abandons them there and steas ther
uggage. They set out for Pars on ther own, but do not make t, beng caught,
mprsoned and deported. Dsapponted by Ions faure, hs wfe Mara decdes
she shoud try her uck and eave abroad. The more she wants to eave and
reproaches her husband for hs weakness, the more they get estranged. Mara
borrows the equvaent of 2 years ncome to buy fase trave papers from a
oca mddeman. As she s to pose as a busness woman, she buys make-up and
tres to change her ook. But she s not ucky ether: a week ater, she s tod that
the man arrangng for her passport was arrested. So, heavy n debt, she has to
get used to the dea of gong on wth her fe n the vage, next to her husband
and her chdren.
#he ;ast Peasants/ #emptation (2003) @ #
15
Two fames from the vage of Budet - Opr and Bud - are presented
as torn apart by the confct between generatons and by the reates of
mgraton. Both sons of Gheorghe and Irna Opr choose to mgrate and do not
take nterest n the famy busness, despte the fact that t has prospered over
the years and has sgnfcanty contrbuted to ther status as a we-off, hard-
workng, respectabe famy. After the edest son settes n the USA, the
youngest son, Lauren[u, wshes to foow n hs footsteps and to make hs own
way n fe, ether as the manager of hs own busness or as an ega mgrant.
The faure of hs attempts at dong busness at oca eve eventuay makes hm
more determned to mgrate. He s supported n hs decson by hs grfrend
from the sma town nearby and w pursue t even f that brngs about an
rremedabe break wth hs parents. Smary, Forca and Lorn[ Bud prefer to
mgrate rather than to work at the famy m, even f the |obs they have access
to are not nteectuay and fnancay rewardng. Lorn[ makes t to London as
an ega mgrant and he ntends to stay there for at east two years to make
good money. Under the crcumstances, Forca s supposed to contnue the
famy tradton, gettng marred n the vage and settng at the m. Yet, she
has other pans too: she wants to get marred abroad, or at east to fnd a we-
pad |ob there. For her, n partcuar, mgratng s a matter of emancpaton, of
ganng ndependence from a mae-domnated, cosed knd of communty.
Unfortunatey, she fas n a her attempts at mgratng ether egay or egay:
the fake vsa provder s not trustworthy, and, though she goes to Bucharest to
attend an ntervew for a |ob n Begum, she s not seected because she acks
the requred sks. So, Forca returns home very dsapponted and tres to cope
wth the frustratons that fe n the countrysde presupposes. The two stores
somewhat ntersect ony once, at the end of the fm, when the entre vage
communty (ncudng Gheorghe and Irna Opr, on the one hand, and Forca
Bud, on the other) attends the pubc performance of a Natvty pay acted out
by the very few young peope eft n the vage.
#he ;ast Peasants/ A Goo& -ife (2003) @ G-
Two more fames from Budet are presented here. The Marcas, whose
son Vase has not managed to emgrate, mss hs good wfe Mhaea who,
havng eft on a tourst passport, s now n Pars, workng as a ceanng woman,
vng n terrbe condtons n a runed warehouse (together wth her sster
Marana and brother-n-aw Ion) and sendng the tte money she makes back
home. Despte the fact that he s supported by hs parents, Vase fnds t more
and more dffcut to cope wth the stuaton especay after Marana and Ion
return to Budet, eavng Mhaea on her own. Torn apart between hs worres
for Mhaeas safety (especay after havng seen on tape the mserabe pace
where she ves) and hs doubts about her fathfuness (fueed by the stngs of
the neghbours and frends n the vage), he nssts that she shoud come
home, but Mhaea refuses because she hopes to make more money to hep the
famy. On the other hand, umber merchant Radu Bud s one of those young
men who, not darng to upset hs father and ose the famy nhertance, stays
behnd n the vage and takes the tradtona road to a marrage that ceebrates
a centures-od way of fe that the fa of communsm, democracy and mgraton
are tearng apart. He s shown vacatng between Lana, whom he has a crush
on, but whom hs parents woud not accept because she does not rse up to
ther expectatons, and Anu[a, the brde of hs parents choce. Eventuay he
bends to hs parents wshes and marres Anu[a, though he fees for her rather
16
frendshp than ove. These human stores refect back on both a word of the
past, of horses, carts and medeva beefs, and on ts present agonsng
counterpart whch, after haf a century of communsm, s on the verge of
coapsng under the burden of democracy.
5/2/ -ritten press/ Corpus structure an& selection criteria
The other ma|or dmenson of meda text study n the Romanan report s
gven by comments on the ways n whch the wrtten press n Romana, and, to
some extent, n the recevng countres (n partcuar n Itay), constructs the
mages of Romanan mgrants, ayng more or ess stress on the ntersecton of
gender and mgraton n the home/host cutura spaces. Startng from the
dstnctons between types of dscourse that requre speca attenton n the
examnaton of the ways n whch cutura and ethnc denttes, dfferences,
confcts and nequates are expressed and reproduced by the text, the
sampes of wrtten press dscourse anaysed by the Romanan team were
seected so as to refect both ntra- and nter-group dscourse characterstcs,
concernng both sef- and other-presentaton.
Vauabe matera n ths respect was extracted, above a, from two of
the most popuar and nfuenta hgh-quaty newspapers of the post-communst
Romana, namey, .e. Adevru and Cotdanu.
To present n a few words the fe-story of ths endurng Romanan
newspaper that s Adevru, t s worth mentonng that, founded as eary as
1871 and re-estabshed n 1888, t was, for many decades, the man eft-wng
press venue n the Romanan Kngdom, adoptng an ndependent pro-
democratc poston, advocatng and reform and unversa suffrage. By the
1930s, the ant-fascsm and the |ewsh ethncty of ts owners made t the target
of negatve campagns n the far rght press, whch ed to ts bannng down n
1937. Adevru was revved after Word War II ony to be cosed down agan n
1951 due to ts beng targeted by the Communst censorshp apparatus. Fnay,
revved wthn days after the Romanan revouton n 1989, t repaced Scntea,
the newspaper of the Romanan Communst Party. After a few controversa
years, Adevru became an ndependent pubcaton under the edtors Dumtru
Tnu and Crstan Tudor Popescu, turnng nto one of the most popuar and
trusted Romanan press venues. It nevertheess remaned nvoved n scandas
over aeged or confrmed potca and commerca deangs, cumnatng n the
2005 confct whch saw the departure of Crstan Tudor Popescu and of severa
mportant coumnsts, and the creaton of the rva newspaper Gndu. Snce
2006, Adevru s the property of Dnu Patrcu, a promnent Romanan
busnessman and a Lbera Party potcan. (http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/Adev
%C4%83ru)
In spte of these controverses and of the edtora and admnstratve
changes, Adevru has remaned one of most apprecated hgh-quaty
newspapers n Romana, appeang especay to mdde- and od-aged
readershp through a promnent and constant concern wth many soco-cutura
ssues. Regarded as the most successfu, and arguaby the best Romanan
day (Umanu, 2002: http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/Adev%C4%83ru), t has
17
produced a ess warke dscourse than other daes, and therefore has
appeaed to a wder audence. It has mantaned a baance between a
reconcatory but we-documented dscourse, on the one hand, and, on the
other, the observance of |ournastc norms and resstance to the temptaton to
make compromses (Petcu, 2004: http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/Adev
%C4%83ru). Throughout a ong process of transton, Adevru has made t a
tradton to keep an agenda n favour of soca |ustce, soca securty and fast
prvatsaton that woud avod massve unempoyment (Petcu, 2004:
http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/Adev%C4%83ru). It s n the framework of ths
socay-orented agenda that, over the ast few years, the newspaper started
devotng speca pages to Romanan mgrants (Romn n Itaa |Romanans n
Itay| and Romn n Spana |Romanans n Span|) and has recenty founded
two eectronc versons avaabe for the Romanan daspora n Itay
(www.adevaru.t) and Span (www.adevaru.es).
As for Cotdanu (www.cotdanu.ro), t was ntay founded n 1927, and
re-founded, after the fa of communsm, by the rght-wng potcan Ion Ra[u,
pubshng ts frst ssue on May 10, 1991. Durng approxmatey two decades of
constant pubcaton, Cotdanu has ganed arge readershp, mosty
represented by younger peope, due, on the one hand, to ts wtty and sghty
aggressve approach to the events presented, and, on the other hand, to the
reguar coaboraton wth representatves of the Romanan cutura ete
(especay for opnon artces). It temporary ceased pubcaton on December,
22nd /23rd 2009, but t was back on the Romanan wrtten press market at the
begnnng of 2010 when t was taken over by Academa Ca[avencu and Regent
House. (See aso http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/Cotdanu)
The artces devoted to Romanan emgraton pubshed n these two
newspapers cover many aspects of ths phenomenon, stress beng ad
especay on abour and crme-reated events. Among the arger category of
Romanan mgrant workers, the strawberry pckers are seen as a dstnctve
category drecty facng the tremendous mpact of mgraton to Span n
partcuar, but not mted to ths EU country. The wrtten press corpus taken nto
account for the anayss of ths newy-emerged stereotype of Romanan mgrant
workers s made up of 51 artces from Cotdanu and Adevru, coverng the
perod 2007-2009. The facts and fgures presented n these artces revea that
the effects of the wordwde economc crss upon Romanan abour mgraton
are more sgnfcant ater n that perod, therefore the artces concernng
Romanan strawberry pckers returnng home are better sustaned for the year
2009. Menton shoud be made that the mutfarous facets of the strawberry
pcker stereotype were focused on partcuary n artces announcng the topc
from ther headnes. However, n most of the cases, the crtca anayss of the
|ournastc dscourse took nto account a the reevant structura eements of
the artces n focus.
Regardng the assocaton of mgraton and crme n a securty-reated
framework n certan EU spaces, speca attenton was devoted to the cases
assocated wth Romanan mgraton n Itay, gven the crss that, n the recent
years, partcuary marked the nteractons between the Romanan mgrants and
the Itaan recevng socety. The Romanan researchers consdered t necessary
and usefu frsty to dentfy the varous representatons of Romanan mgraton
18
n Itay between 2007 and 2009 n the Romanan newspapers Cotdanu and
Adevru, and secondy to draw a parae between the ways n whch a specfc
crss-engenderng event that brought about ncreased tenson between the
Romanan mgrants and the Itaan host communty, .e. the crme commtted by
the Romanan mgrant Ncoae Maat aganst the Itaan Govanna Reggan, was
approached n the two Romanan newspapers and n the Itaan sources cted by
these newspapers, respectvey. As a resut, the genera aspects dentfed n the
anayss of Romanan mgraton n Itay and of ts connecton to gender-reated
ssues were further nvestgated n reaton to ths hghy medated case of
Romanan mgrant voence aganst an Itaan ctzen. The am of ths approach
was, on the one hand, to anayse the perspectve and atttudes of the sendng
and recevng communtes, and, on the other hand, to detect the smartes
and dssmartes n the approach of the Romanan and Itaan |ournasts
reportng on the same mgraton-reated ssues.
At a frst stage of the research on representatons of Romanan
emgraton as reated to crme, the corpus from the two Romanan newspapers
was represented by 28 artces devoted to the Maat case. 22 of these artces
were seected from Cotdanu (14 wrtten by mae and/or femae |ournasts, 8
wth unspecfed author) and covered the perod 14 November 2007 - 30 |uy
2009, contanng Itaan and Romanan sources mentoned or cted, ntervews
wth Itaan and Romanan personates, etc. The remanng 6 artces seected
from Adevru, that covered the perod 9 |uy - 13 October 2009, were more
heterogeneous, both from the pont of vew of the authors (4 mae authors, 2
femae authors; the same author(s) devotng more artces to the ssue of
mgraton) and of the atttude adopted by these authors n descrbng the
events. Ths corpus was subsequenty deveoped so as to ncude further artces
refectng on atttudes towards the Romanan mgrants before, durng and after
the Maat case. Out of the three onne versons of Adevru, the ones
addressng the Romanan readershp at home and the Romanan daspora n
Itay were consuted so as to support the corpus anayss. Smary to the
artces n Cotdanu, the artces seected from Adevru use and cte Itaan
sources (the Itaan NGO EveryOne, the newspaper I Manfesto), but they seem
to focus ess on the case of Ncoae Maat.
Snce Adevru and Cotdanu devoted a substanta number of artces to
the phenomenon of Romanan emgraton, especay n Span and Itay, the
genera corpus on mgraton was sgnfcanty enarged n the second stage of
research, eventuay amountng to:
Adevru : 2007 - 369 artces, 2008 - 365 artces, 2009 - 38 artces
3
;
Cotdanu : 2007 - 76 artces, 2008 - 287 artces, 2009 - 338 artces.
The artces were grouped accordng to severa reevant crtera, as shown n the
tabe beow:
Seecton Crtera Adevru
2007
Adevr
u 2008
Adevr
u
2009
Cotdanu
2007
Cotdanu
2008
Cotdanu
2009
Articles &ealin! 53 175 - 39 111 140
3
Ths sma number of artces s due to the fact that there have been changes n the eectronc
archve of Adevru whch prevented the Romanan researchers from accessng a the artces on
mgraton-reated topcs pubshed n 2009.
19
with mi!ration $ the
wor& immi!rants in
the hea&line
Articles &ealin!
with mi!ration $the
wor& emi!rants in
the hea&lines
74 25 - 4 6 7
Mi!rantsD ethnic
ori!in$ "omanians
288 342 - 68 236 319
Mi!rantsD ethnic
ori!in$ "oma
81 23 - 8 51 19
Men-relate& topics 208 56 6 11 55 102
-omen-relate&
topics
39 37 - 6 14 43
Generic topics 122 272 - 59 218 193
Eualifie& labour
force
12 8 - 11 18 25
)nFualifie& labour
force
82 24 23 10 22 10
Crime 126 63 6 8 59 79
-omen wor?ers 5 1 9 3 3 5
-omen as victims 27 5 1 1 - 5
-omen as
a!!ressors
7 16 - - 3 1
ArtG culture - 26 - 9 19 66
To be more specfc and deta the man nes aong whch the corpus seecton
was actuay carred out (as schematcay ndcated n the tabe), due menton
shoud be made of the foowng aspects:
Gven the fact that n |ournastc dscourse headnes are a catchy cue
gven to the readershp n reaton to the topc to be enarged, a frst
crteron of seecton envsaged the occurrence of the words mmgrant
and emgrant, respectvey, to pont to the perspectve from whch
mgraton-reated ssues were refected upon, .e., of the recevng or the
sendng socety.
Further dstnctons focused on ethnc dfferences among the Romanan
mgrants as condtoned by the sgnfcant ethnc groups mgratng to EU
countres after 2007, n partcuar. Ethncay-defned mgraton was
ndeed a characterstc of Romanan emgraton over the ast decade of
the twenteth century wth numerous Saxon, Hungaran and |ewsh
Romanan ctzens eavng the country. Yet, as shown n a prevous
secton, such fows decreased amost to zero at the begnnng of the new
mennum eavng the stage many for Romanan and Roma mgrants.
As mgraton was essentay motvated by the precarous economc and
vng condtons n post-1989 Romana, speca attenton was devoted to
artces dweng on abour-reated ssues wth reference to the
statstcay proven dfferences n emgraton fows condtoned by the
mgrants gender, as we as by ther educaton and quafcaton.
In the menta software of many recevng EU countres, the phenomenon
of mgraton st seems to be regarded as a threat to ther wefare and
securty. Consequenty, the ssue of crme n reaton to mgraton proved
20
to be we represented n the wrtten press of both the sendng and
recevng countres, whch expans the nterest n ts representatons, as
we.
The gender component of the research made t necessary to anayse
partcuary the mages of Romanan women as mgrants n both abour
and crme-reated contexts.
Utmatey, startng from the premse that mgraton shoud not be strcty
ooked upon n negatve terms, the Romanan team consdered t
reevant to approach artces that emphasse the contrbuton of
Romanan mgrants to the deveopment of a mutcutura European
space.
As the tabe aso ndcates t, there are sgnfcant dfferences between
the two Romanan newspapers Adevru and Cotdanu, n ther stress on
certan perspectves on mgraton - home/host; Romanan/Roma; mae/femae;
abour and cuture/crme. Adevru devotes more artces to the ssue of
Romanan emgraton n EU countres (wth speca emphass on Itay and Span)
and seems to treat ths topc n extensve and we-wrtten artces whch avod,
as much as possbe, stereotypng and accusatory atttudes (though there have
been occasona accusatons of dscrmnatory atttudes towards the Roma
mgrants). Ths s not the case wth Cotdanu whch pays wth stereotypng the
Romanan mgrants by usng ncrmnatng words from the very headnes of the
artces. Such choces are key to nfuence the genera opnon of the
Romanan readershp that s not famar wth the rea stuaton that Romanan
mgrants have to cope wth abroad. However, one common eement for the two
Romanan newspapers s constant authorshp, whch favours a more
professona approach to the ssue of mgraton and suggests an mprovement n
the quaty of Romanan |ournasm.
Havng sought for sgnfcant traces of ntertextuaty n the Romanan
press, the Romanan researchers eventuay decded to check, at east wth
regard to the crss-engenderng event centred on Ncoae Maat and to ts
echoes, some of the Itaan sources mentoned n the two Romanan newspapers
Cotdanu and Adevru, n order to see whether the approach and the meda
dscourse vares sgnfcanty n the two cutura spaces. In ths respect, the
nta corpus of 5 artces seected from Correre dea sera (2 artces - 1
November 2007 and 3 artces - 2 November 2007) was subsequenty enarged
wth 73 more artces seected from other Itaan sources cted by Cotdanu and
Adevru, namey: La Repubbca (61 artces: 1 November 2007 - 14 October
2009), Ranews 24 (7 artces: 4 November 2007 - 9 |uy 2009), and ANSA (5
artces: 13 May 2009 - 9 |uy 2009).
21
1/ Corpus Anal*sis
1/./ Mi!ration
1/././ =ociet*
1/././. ,ilm
As mentoned n secton 2 (pp. 6-9) as we, after the fa of communsm
(1989) and, ater on, wth Romanas becomng a member state of the European
Unon (2007), soceta changes ncreased n number and mpact on the common
Romanan. To be more specfc, the state sector, whch had prevousy taken
100% of the countrys work force, ost many of ts empoyees to the prvate
sector, where wages were hgher and workng condtons better. Great parts of
the prvate sector became owned by foregn nvestors who tended to drect
ther capta nto the areas that provded the most potcay favourabe
condtons, ntensfyng thus the economc gap between the dfferent regons of
Romana - wth Bucharest, the capta, the west of the country (Tmoara and
Arad) and ts centre (Braov, Sbu, Cu|) beng favoured over ts northern,
eastern and southern parts. The empoyment poces, however, grew more
restrctve and etst, eavng many on the outsde, ether through dsmssa or
faure to provde sponsored professona tranng for |ob mobty nto other
domans. As a resut, unempoyment couped wth soca margnasaton and
mpovershment (many affectng edery peope and women) became a factor
characterstc of towns. Wth the oss of work paces, the ncreasng vng costs,
an atmosphere of nsecurty and the ack of career possbtes, some
consdered the return to the countrysde as a means of survva, reversng the
pattern prevaent durng the communst perod. That does not mean that the
rura communtes escaped poverty or that the pattern of nterna mgraton
from countrysde to town suddeny ceased to exst. On the contrary, the decne
of agrcuture made fe n the Romanan countrysde a the more dffcut, wth
dsastrous effects on the educaton and prospects of the younger generatons
st drawn by the mrage of town fe (though they often ended up dsapponted,
|onng the aready arge crowds of unempoyed workers n towns.) Under the
crcumstances, more and more Romanans (whether from town or countrysde,
especay the young peope and women) started ookng for |ob opportuntes
abroad (aso very attractve due to the psychoogca factor of the cosed
fronters of past years), thus becomng mgrants.
1/./././. ,eature ,ilms
Ths stuaton s both refected and mocked at n the fms seected for
research purposes by the Romanan team, whch were produced between 1990
and 2009. Ther metonymca characters (Luza - n WM; Em - n E; Mtu and
Lca, Aure and Stec - n FL; Mara, Vctor and Ionu[ - n RN; Ncu and Nae, as
we as Sorna and Mhaea - n O; the coectve femnne character of the
eeven Romanan grs feeng Romana n a bus - n AT; Eena, as we as the
parade of grs at the hote tradng ther good ooks n return of a foregn
husband - n TB; |en and Lenu[a, the smpe ssters from a backward southern
22
Romanan vage - n IW) a have eft, eave or dream of eavng Romana n
search of a better fe for themseves and those at home.
At ths pont, t s aso nterestng to menton that two of the fms chosen
for anayss (O and E) hnt at other dmensons of the Romanan mgrants
experence, namey the ega emgraton characterstc for the communst
regme (Ncu and Naes perous escape across Danubes waters n O) and the
focus on Romana as host/recevng country for peope comng from The
Repubc of Modova (L, the student who makes a vng as a prosttute n E).
The conography of the fms foregrounds an urban, confct-rdden
settng eptomsed by Bucharest standng for a socety n transton, that
uneasy gears ts way between the oca and the goba and, n so dong,
producng fssures n ts economc fabrc. One recurrng mage s that of the
suburban wth typca Romanan cutura mpcatons of rura-urban
contamnaton as opposed to ts tradtona Western sgnfcance.
Ony two fms (IW and FL) are set n rura communtes whch,
nevertheess, show sgns of coonsaton by an urban ethcs, smary dspayng
ds|unctons at the heart of tradtona constructons of the Romanan vage.
The odd out s AT whch empoys the motf of the |ourney to fudse the borders
between an urban and a rura Romana, yet hghghtng fractures aong
economc and soca nes n both.
Span, Austraa, Austra, France and Itay are the host countres or the
countres of destnaton n the fms mentoned above. Wth two exceptons (RN
and TB), they are backgrounded, wth Romanans ether ntendng to set out for
or returnng from them. Itay, however, s foregrounded (n RN), showng the
Romanans as occupyng a secondary, f not tertary poston n socety and
reveang a possbe reatonshps: the natves are reuctant or outrght opposed
to the mmgrants (Svana Boarn vs. the Romanan gypsy beggars, Svana vs.
Mara), ony few cases of frendshp between the two sdes beng possbe (Ana
Boarn and Mara); the mgrants themseves do not seem to get aong or have
smar fe prncpes (Mara and Vctor vs. Ionu[). In TB t s France that becomes
the man partner n the daogue on mgraton, but wth a reversa of ts
tradtona encodng as an urban space n the West-st cutura map-makng.
Eena sets on an East-West |ourney whch s typcay perceved as progressve,
whe, at the same tme, she exchanges an urban wth a rura space - generay
perceved as a regressve cutura tra|ectory, whch she, nonetheess, accepts as
the ony aternatve to her home stuaton. The fm does not am to crtcay
anayse the emgrants experence n the host socety, as Eenas reatonshps
wth the vagers are construed aong stereotypca patterns of nteracton.
1/./././2 Documentaries
Severa soca aspects of the home country are deat wth n the
documentares chosen for anayss. Thus, Angus Macqueens trogy, The Last
Peasants, systematcay foregrounds the generaton gap, whch deepens the
precpce of expectatons wth regard to money, career and status; the deastc,
rebeous youth fght back the nerta of ther parents and undo the tes wth the
23
and and the communty. For nstance, Petru Daman (|) does not hestate to
mgrate and eave behnd hs father whom he shoud have stood by; an ega
mgrant who cannot trave back home for fear that he mght be sezed and
prevented from returnng to Ireand, he does not even attend hs fathers
funera; he s consumed by remorse as he watches the funera ceremony on a
tape sent by hs brother Ion (who happened to be home |ust because he faed
n hs attempts at egay mgratng), but t s too ate anyway and the btter
rony of the stuaton s partcuary emphassed by the scene of hs fathers w
readng n whch the od man thanked hs sons for a the hep they gave hm n
fe and apoogsed f he wronged them n any way. GW provdes a more subte
representaton of the dfferent menta software of dfferent generatons n the
opposton between the od Marcas, Vases parents, and the young ones,
Vase and Mhaea: whereas the former reman together for better, for worse,
for rcher, for poorer, n sckness and n heath, the atter are doomed to be
consumed by doubts and oneness as they sacrfce ther reatonshp for the
sake of fnanca gans whch are not even satsfactory enough. T offers by far
the most voent mage of the generaton gap n the cases of Lauren[u Opr
and Forca Bud. Lauren[u, especay, woud do anythng |ust to assert hs
ndependence: he starts a busness that he s unabe to propery manage (and
hs father has to pay for hs debts and save hm from prson); he eaves for the
sma town nearby, ntends to marry a woman hs parents do not approve of and
woud do anythng to mgrate to Western Europe or to the USA (ke hs brother).
Hs reatonshp wth hs parents actuay becomes so tense that he avods
vstng or nvtng them for Chrstmas, because, every tme they meet, they end
up offendng each other. (Lauren[u wshes they woud de sooner, whe
Gheorghe and Irna threaten to dsnhert hm and to adopt a chd who woud
chersh and preserve ther vaues.)
A the documentares tacke, from varous perspectves, the more decate
queston of Romanan hstory and of the consequences of transton from one
regme to another. Thus, the countrys apparent soca nvouton and economc
downfa after the 1989 revouton s foregrounded n |, T, GW, LT and S n severa
daogc sequences, chef among whch Ion Damans conversaton on potca
ssues and economc transformatons wth some feow peasants from Budet (|),
or the ntervews wth Stea Margean (S), Hans and Mara Kenze (LT). As n a
chan reacton, other ssues of concern on the soca eve drecty reated to the
hardshps that the Romanan socety n transton from the communst to the
captast market goes through aso come n focus: the probems n the medca
system at home (S - Stea and Marce Margeans nta reason for mgraton was
the desre to fnd proper treatment for Marces ness, whch they dd not expect
to beneft from at home, gven ther precarous fnanca status as unempoyed);
nostaga for the communst age before 1989 (perhaps best eptomsed n Steas
meanchoy contempaton of her famys photos at a tme when they coud st
afford to spend ther summer hodays at the seasde).
Another partcuar dmenson of some documentares reates to the
mutcuturasm charactersng the Romanan socety, hence, n a few cases,
nter-ethnc reatons are partcuary nssted upon. Two of the documentares, S
and BF, dea, among other thngs, wth the Romanan/Roma confuson and
cutura myth-makng pre|udce, whe the German ethnc mnorty probematcs
24
- from ntegraton to dsntegraton and rentegraton - s more expcty tacked
n BF and LT.
As for the hosts, ther soca and economc stuatons are portrayed as:
dffcut but st provdng ow pad empoyment for the mmgrant (Ireand,
France - n |, T, GW); fourshng and excudng foregn ega abour (France n
S); offerng opportuntes for decent survva (Germany n LT); havng a
dangerousy back component (Serba, Macedona, the Netherands - n IT) and
ncredby prmtve and worthy of contempt (Romana tsef - for the od peope
n BF).
The most effectve n ths respect, perhaps because of the sgnfcant
vsua mpact on the audences, are the conographc representatons of
dchotomcay conceved spata frames: rura versus urban and East versus
West. In |, T, GW, the rura, dyc, though somewhat prmtve andscape of the
Maramure countrysde, whch nonetheess provdes but tte opportuntes to ts
nhabtants, s contrasted wth the urban scenery that bears the marks of
gobasng cvsaton (bocks of fats, trans and raway tracks, busy traffc,
hotes, pubc phone booths, eye-catchng shop boards and wndows) n ctes ke
London, Dubn, Pars or Venna, whch Romanan mgrants have but tte access
to (they are shown traveng under the tran, vng n sma, poory-furnshed fats
or even worse, n decayng warehouses); n LT, the natura andscape, amost
dyc n autumn and generous wth the peope who work hard and who are
rewarded wth rch crops, s set n opposton wth the desoate ook of the houses
abandoned by the Saxons, of the od Saxon church and of the bad road that
connects Arbegen wth the neghbourng vages, on the one hand, and wth the
comfortabe, we-t and modernsed vng spaces provded by the Austran town
of Augsburg where the Kenzes mgrate, on the other; n S, there s an utter
dsparty between the bumpy roads, crumbng houses, sma fats n Romana, as
we as the rough and rusty shantytown, the desoate mage of the dump behnd
mprovsed dwengs, and camp-ke confnement of the Romanan mgrants to
Pars, and the trans, crowded tube statons wth gamorous advertsements,
exceent hghways and beautfu andscapes of the Western cvsaton.
1/././2 -ritten press
Generay speakng, the Romanan wrtten press ndcates ow ncome
and hgh unempoyment rates as the top ncentves to Romanan emgraton,
hence the most mportant push factor s the wsh to acheve economc we-
beng, whch has sgnfcant soca and emotona consequences.
Labour mgraton s most often dscussed n reaton to Span and Itay,
whch host the argest groups of Romanan mgrants n Europe. Varaton n the
mgrants preferences for one destnaton or the other s many shown as
dependng upon the number of |obs avaabe and the saares pad.
Another mportant factor s the deveopment of the European economy
whch has ead to ma|or changes on the European abour markets drecty
nfuencng the phenomenon of mgraton n a ts aspects. Thus, as eary as
25
2007, Romanan newspapers sgnaed (more or ess sgnfcant) modfcatons n
the Romanan mgrant profe as we. Regardng the age and soca status of
Romanan abour mgrants, a study mpemented by the Natona Assocaton of
Ctzens Advce Bureaux (NACAB) and brefy presented n an artce from
Cotdanu entted No cpsunar: tner cu scoa peac n Marea Brtane (A
New Strawberry Pcker Generaton: Educated Young Peope Mgrate to Great
Brtan - 11 |uy 2007) states that, n the perod March-Apr 2007, the Romanan
(strawberry pcker) mgrant profe manfested a ma|or change: peope over ffty
and wth poor educaton eve were st attracted to work n Span and Itay, but
they were repaced, or better sad, |oned by young graduates, wth average
ncome, who went to work n Great Brtan. As the artce mentons, ths new
category of abour mgrants s represented by young peope of 22-30 years,
unmarred, hghy educated, and wth an average famy ncome over the natona
rato, very actve on the Romanan abour market. Another mportant aspect
whch ensured matera securty for both comng and gong mgrants was the fact
that they were egay empoyed, wth saares more than the natona meda,
havng even ther own busness n Romana. The artce aso referred to the
preferred destnaton countres mentoned n the study. The newy-made
Romanan strawberry pckers added Great Brtan as a thrd top destnaton
country after Itay and Span, nstead of Germany. The study aso ranked the
Romanan strawberry pckers startng off regons n the foowng order:
Modava, Waacha and Transyvana. Companes and agences specazed n
recrutng workers are st successfu n some of these regons of Romana
(Recrutr de cpsunar a Trgu-Mures - Strawberry Pcker Recrutments n
Trgu-Mures, Adevru, 19

March 2009)
Varous artces seected from the Romanan newspapers Adevru and
Cotdanu pont out the fact that Romanan abour mgraton shoud not be seen
as a mere means of ndvdua fnanca gan. The foregn currency brought to
Romana by a arge category of Romanan abour mgrants, referred to more or
ess fary as strawberry pckers, has been a vta support for the natona
economy, remttances beng a form of parta recovery of the possbe osses
caused by outgong mgraton. Mgrant remttances amounted to 7.16 bon
euros n 2007 as compared to ony 5.53 bon euros n 2006. For the perod
covered by ths study of Romanan wrtten press, the Romanan abour
mgrants fnanca contrbuton to Romanas budget, as recorded n varous
artces, went up to:
Newspaper
headnes draw the
attenton upon the arge amounts sent home by Romanan mgrants n 2007 and
2008: Romn, prntre ce ma generos cpsunar (The Romanans, the Most
Generous Strawberry Pckers), Cotdanu, 29 October 2007; Dou marde de
euro n pus de a cpsunar (Extra 2 Bon Euros from the Strawberry Pckers),
Cotdanu, 2 |anuary 2008; Cpsunar au trms acas 7 marde de euro n
2007 (Strawberry Pckers Contrbuted 7 Bon Euros to Romanas Budget n
2007), Cotdanu, 14

February 2008. In spte of an obvous abrupt decrease n
remttances reveaed by offca statstcs n 2009 (Romn dn strntate trmt
tot ma putn ban - Romanans Workng Abroad Send Less and Less Money
2007 7.16 bon euros
2008 8.7 bon euros
2009 3.3 bon euros
26
Home, Adevru, 14 October 2009), the same newspapers generay contnue to
mantan an optmstc perspectve on Romanan mgrants fnanca contrbuton
to the Romanan economy (Cpsunar au a|uns prncpa nvesttor n economa
Romne - Strawberry Pckers, Man Romanas Investors, Cotdanu, 14 |uy
2009).
In ths ght, the advantages of many Romanan mgrant workers
temporary stay home appear as numerous and have a sgnfcant mpact not
ony on ther prvate ves - en|oyng the sweet home feeng, beng reunted
wth ther fames, gvng sprtua and matera support to ther chdren,
mprovng ther vng and heathcare condtons - but aso on the oca/natona
economy, as some of them nvest n companes and assocatons. Thus, as
severa artces from Adevru show, the ndvdua gans of the Romanans
workng abroad were nvested n prvate busnesses such as companes and
constructon stes (Hunedoara: Cpsunar chetue ma mut ca frmee -
Hunedoara: Strawberry Pckers Spend More than the Constructon
Companes, Adevru, 17 August 2009) or used to purchase houses (Vnzre
dn Obcn, revgorate de cpsunar - House Saes n Obcn, Revved by
Strawberry Pckers, Adevru, 20 October 2009) whch made them fee secure
about ther fames future. Moreover, durng ther temporary stay at home,
Romanan mgrants nvested much money n heath servces, ther contrbuton
rsng to more than 85% of the oca dentsts proft. ( Cpsunar dau ban gre
pe dantur - Strawberry Pckers Pay Hard for Ther Teeth Medca Care,
Adevru, 21 February 2009).
In the case of the Romanan-Itaan economc cooperaton, the fnanca
contrbuton of the Romanan mgrants n both the sendng and recevng
countres s an mportant aspect extensvey dscussed n some artces from
Cotdanu and Adevru, but hardy, f ever, mentoned n the Itaan press. For
exampe, Cotdanu makes reference to the fact that the commerca
exchanges between Romana and Itay amount to 10 bon euros for Itay
(Romana partener de 10 marde euro pentru Itaa - Romana: a 10 bon
euro partner for Itay, Cotdanu, 10 December 2007). In fact, Itay has a
negatve percepton of the Romanan mgrant workers. The Romanan press
expcty refers to the fact that Romanan workforce s preferred n Itay because
of ther beng hardworkng peope and because of the ow saares that Itaan
empoyers pay to them, most often outsde the ega framework. ( Romen d
merda produc 11 marde de euro pe an n Itaa - F** Romanans produce
11 bon euros a year for Itay, Cotdanu, 5 November 2007; Romn dn
Itaa trmt anua 777 moane de euro - Romanan Mgrants n Itay Send
Home 777 Mon Euros Every Year, Cotdanu, 31 October 2007). Ths nvason
s seen as a threat by the host popuaton who consder that mgrants stea ther
own |obs. Such a vew becomes even more dscrmnatng when Romanan
mgraton s equaed to crmna acts and voence aganst the host popuaton.
The presentaton of such advantages as mpressve remttances for the
Romanan budget and the contrbuton of the Romanan mgrants to the
deveopment of oca economy by dfferent types of nvestment are, however,
counterbaanced n the same newspapers by the dscusson of the
dsadvantages of abour mgraton for the home/sendng socety. One of them s
the oss of workforce at the natona eve, whch the government tred to
eradcate by offerng |obs to the Romanan mgrants wng to return. However,
27
the offer seems to have appeared unattractve to the Romanan mgrant
workers who refused to come back home: the proposed saares were ess than
an average of 1,300-1,500 euros, whch they ganed abroad. (700 de cpsunar
ar munc n Romna - 700 Strawberry Pckers Coud Work n Romana,
Cotdanu, 24 February 2008) Even n the context of the more and more severe
economc crss n the European countres causng aarmng unempoyment
rates, many Romanan mgrants postponed the moment of ther return home
and preferred to ve n ther host countres off satsfactory unempoyment
assstance (approxmatey 850 euros a month):
As they ost ther |obs abroad, about 350 Romanan mgrants returned
ths year n Satu Mare. Other Romanan mgrants are expected to return n
autumn. Ther osng the |obs they had n the West because of the current
economc crss determned some of the strawberry pckers from ths
county to return home for good. Accordng to unoffca records, about 350
Romanan mgrants who worked abroad returned to Satu Mare ths year.
They coud have been more numerous, but many Romanan mgrants
beneft from the unempoyment assstance of about 850 euros n the
recevng country and must stay there to avod osng t too. (Satu Mare:
Crza ntoarce cpsunar acas - Satu Mare: The Economc Crss Makes
Romanan Strawberry Pckers Come back Home, Adevru, 8 May 2009)
Ony when forced by the crcumstances, .e., by the oss of |ob and a knd of
ncome, dd some of the Romanan mgrant workers return: Cu|: Invaza
cpsunaror (Cu|: Strawberry Pckers Invason), Adevru, 17 |uy 2009.
In reaton to the oss of workforce, an addtona danger nked to
economc mgraton repeatedy nssted upon n the two newspapers s chd
abandonment, wth speca reference to the dffcutes faced by the home aone
generaton eft behnd by the mgrant parents (350.000 de cop au rmas
sngur acas dup vau de romn emgrant - 350,000 Chdren Home Aone
after Romanan Mgrants Exodus, Cotdanu, 16 Apr 2008, Cpsunar au
abandonat 2.700 de cop - Strawberry Pckers Abandon 2,700 Chdren,
Cotdanu, 26 Apr 2007, |ucre s aptopure an doru de prnt - Toys
and Laptops to Comfort Chdren Longng for Ther Parents, Adevru, 2 May
2008, Cop orfan de munc - Chdren Orphaned by Labour Mgraton,
Adevru, 26 May 2008 - accordng to ths ast mentoned artce, the number of
chdren havng one or both parents workng abroad went up to 300,000 unt
2008).
When t comes to Romanan mgrants return home, severa aspects
must be taken nto consderaton:
On the whoe, the ssues reated to the rentegraton of the Romanans
who come back to ther home country vary accordng to the educatona
eve, ther quafcaton, famy status, duraton of ther stay abroad etc.,
compex soca and psychoogca-ad orented programmes beng
necessary, so that re-emgraton be not the soe souton to such peope.
(Lzrou, 2002 n Ncoescu and Constantn, 2005: 61)
28
An anayss of the artces on ths topc emphasses the means and ways through
whch returnng Romanan mgrants try to rentegrate and readapt to the
economc and soca condtons of ther natve country. The tendency s, yet, to
stress out the dsadvantages whch Romanan mgrants have to cope wth upon
ther return home. Menton can be made to the abour mgrants facng
unempoyment and a hgher cost of vng, as we as to ther feeng nsecure
about the future or needng tme to rentegrate n the home socety, hence ther
utmate decson to mgrate agan (A nceput exodu mgrantor spre Pennsu
- Strawberry Pckers Exodus towards Itay Has Started, Adevru, 25 August
2009). Bureaucracy s another phenomenon that Romanan mgrants have a hard
tme wth on ther home comng. (Cpsunar stau a coz pentru a-s schmba
buetnu - Strawberry Pckers Oueue for Ther Identty Cards, Adevru, 19
August 2009) Last, but not east, they often have to face robbery acts commtted
by margna soca categores vng n ther home country (Hunedoara: Se ntorc
cpunar, crete rata furturor - Hunedoara: Strawberry Pckers Come Back,
Theft Rate Goes up, Adevru, 25 May 2009).
Athough vsbe n dfferent EU spaces, the ssue of mgraton and crme
and ts reaton to the sendng and recevng socetes was consdered, due to ts
reevance, especay aganst the background of Romanan mgraton n Itay.
Ths s due, on the one hand, to the fact that the crmes attrbuted to Romanan
mgrants vng n Span are approached n a more moderate manner, especay
by the representatves of the host country and, on the other, to the fact that the
more frendy atttude of the popuaton vng n Span favoured ower crme
rates n ths EU country. (See the references to the poces of ntegraton of the
Romanan mgrants as presented n secton 4.1.2.2, pp. 37-8)
As regards the ssue of mgraton and crme n Itay, the event whch
marked dramatcay a cmax of tenson between the recevng socety, Itay,
and the Romanan mgrants, s the murder of an Itaan woman, Govanna
Reggan, by a Romanan mgrant of Roma orgn, Ncoae Romuus Maat, on
October 31, 2007, n Rome. The context n whch ths crme happened can be
nferred from the headnes of the artces pubshed n Adevru (most of them)
and Cotdanu (sgnfcanty fewer) before October 31, 2007: Revot n tabra
tganor dn Mano - Rots n the Roma Camp n Mano, Cotdanu, 22 |une
2007, Bt ntre rom s pota dn Mano - Mano: Fghts between Roma
Peope and Poce, Adevru, 23 |une 2007; Roma ne trmte rom acas -
Roma Compes Roma Peope to Go Home, Adevru, 26 |une 2007; Romn
dn Itaa, amenntat cu expuzarea - Itay: Romanans Threatened wth
Expuson, Adevru, 18 |uy 2007; Itaen pregtesc marea expuzare a romor
dn Pennsu - Itaans Prepare the Great Expuson of Roma Mgrants from
Itay, Adevru, 27 September 2007; Infractor romn au sperat Itaa -
Romanan Denquents Frghten Itay, Adevru, 5 October 2007; Romn dn
Itaa, amenntat cu atacur s bombe - Romanan Mgrants n Itay Threatened
wth Assauts and Bombs, Adevru, 7 October 2007; Rrom romn dn Itaa,
bomba cu ceas a Europe - Romanan Roma Mgrants n Itay, the Tme Bomb
of Europe, Adevru, 9 October 2007. As t can be notced, the Itaan authortes
were preparng the expuson of Roma mgrants from Itay and there was
ncreasng tenson between Itaan natves and Romanan mgrants.
29
The number of artces reatng to the evouton of ths stuaton ncreased
mmedatey after Ncoae Romuus Maats murder of Govanna Reggan. It s
nterestng to notce that the descrpton of ndvdua, concrete happenngs was
repaced by a representaton whch formuated these happenngs n terms of a
more genera and arge-scae cassfcaton: Mesa| dn Itaa: nante de
aderarea Romne a UE, Roma era ce ma sgur oras dn ume - Message
from Itay: Before Romanas accesson to the EU, Rome was the safest cty n the
word, Adevru, 31 October 2007; Itaa ne urste - Itay Hates Us,
Cotdanu, 2 November 2007; Itaa decar rzbo nfractoror romn - Itay
Decares War to Romanan Denquents, Adevru, 1 November 2007; Roma
amennt Romna cu |udecata - Rome threatens Romana wth tra,
Adevru, 1 November 2007. Such overgenerased formuatons were most
key meant to shock readershp, havng a strong mpact on the deveopment of
ther genera opnons, atttudes and deooges.
Ths mght be one of the reasons why the representaton of otherness n
approachng Ncoae Maats crme and ts consequences for the Romanan-
Itaan reatons s hghy expct and often nssted on. The opposton between
US and THEM s emphassed n numerous artces n Adevru and Cotdanu,
but the same separaton s even more obvous n the Itaan sources cted by
these Romanan newspapers. From a home-country perspectve, the
poarzaton between US and THEM s more evdent n artces pubshed n
perods of tenson, determned by crmes and confcts - Infractor dn Itaa:
vna noastr dar s vna taenor - Denquents n Itay: OUR Faut but aso
Itaans, Adevru, 2 November 2007; Cop pe care Itaa nu vrea s n- dea
napo - Chdren Itay Wont Send US Back, Cotdanu, 5 |une 2008; Itaa ne
repatraz cop dup tre an - Itay Sends OUR Chdren Back After 3 Years,
Cotdanu, 9 |une 2008 - whereas ths opposton seems to be constanty
revsted and brought to the fore by the press n the host country.
Athough the genera opnon made expct by both Romanan and Itaan
newspapers s that many Romanans status of ega/ega mgrants favours
ther crmna atttudes aganst the popuaton of the host country, the mgrants
crmna actons seem to be nfuenced, to a great extent, by the dscrmnatng
atttude of the peope vng n both the sendng and recevng countres. In the
sendng country more voent reactons are traceabe n reaton to Roma
mgrants, n partcuar.
The approach adopted by the |ournasts (sometmes men or women,
some other tmes |ont authorshp ncudng men and women, ether ony
Romanan, or Romanan and Itaan) of the Romanan newspaper Cotdanu n
presentng the case of Ncoae Maat s made usng dfferent strateges,
confrontng ther readers drecty and ndrecty, wth both persona opnons of
the peope nvoved and of ther own as medatng agents, and wth offca
postons - quotatons or fu ntervews - wth regard to the events/peope/
nsttutons nvoved. Irrespectve of the author and of the drect or ndrect
reference to the case of Ncoae Maat, the artces seected from Cotdanu
pont out, qute often, the fact that the voent actons of the Roma man Ncoae
Maat, who raped and ked an Itaan woman n November 2007, have resuted
n a seres of debates regardng the safety of the Itaans n ther own country,
the necessty to excude Romanan mgrants (especay men) from Itay, as we
30
as n an unbaancng of the Romanan - Itaan reatons vsbe n the reactons
and atttudes of dfferent potca representatves of both countres. (Decretu
taenor are fsur - Faws n the Itaan Ordnance, Cotdanu, 4 November
2007; Invtate a pogrom? - Invtaton to pogrom?, Cotdanu, 5 November
2007; Romn - evre a Europe - Romanans - Europes |ews, Cotdanu, 9
December 2007; Cazu Maat - de a crm a crz - The Maat Case - from
Crme to Crss, Cotdanu, 21 February 2008; Romn ocup ocu a treea n
topu ceor ma antpatc strn dn Itaa - Romanans Ranked Thrd among
the Most Despcabe Immgrants n Itay, Cotdanu, 6 September 2008; etc.)
Nevertheess, n spte of the predomnanty negatve reactons of most Itaan
popuaton and potcans, some of the Itaan offcas ntervewed or quoted n
Cotdanu ceary stated ther dsagreement to the soca margnazaton that
Romanan and Roma mgrants vng n Rome and n other Itaan ctes have to
face, and to the fact that the Itaan government had not done enough to
support Roma mgrants by mpementng specfc soca pro|ects fnanced by
European Insttutons. (Fura taenor trebue ndreptat mpotrva
potcenor, nu a mgrantor - Itaans Shoud Rage Aganst the Potcans,
not Aganst the Immgrants, Cotdanu, 4 November 2007) As a matter of fact,
such opnons are presented n the arger framework of a potca storm
created by the Maat case wthn the Itaan potcan crces, between the Itaan
and the Romanan governments and, atogether, at the European eve. (For
more comments on ths aspect, see the secton on 4.1.2.2.)

Dfferent from Cotdanu, the approach to the Maat case n Adevru s
based on a synthetc representaton of the case detas, wth an obvous nterest
n the consequences at the soca eve. Thus, the artces pubshed mmedatey
after the crme of Ncoae Maat descrbe Itaans reactons aganst Romanan
mgrants ether n the form of dscrmnatng mgraton-reated poces and
actons (Itaa decar rzbo nfractoror romn - Itay Decares War on
Romanan Denquents, Adevru, 1 November 2007, Itaen pregtesc
prmee expuzr - Itaans Preparng Frst Expusons, Adevru, 3 November
2007, Prm romn expuzat dn Itaa au a|uns acas - Frst Romanans
Expeed from Itay Get Home, Adevru, 3 November 2007) or n the form of
acts of voence drected at Romanan mgrants, rrespectve of ther ega/ega
status or ethnc orgn (4 romn atacat ntr-o parcare dn Roma - 4
Romanans Attacked n Parkng Pace n Rome, Adevru, 3 November 2007,
Romn atacat de extremst a Roma - Romanans Attacked by Extremsts n
Rome, Adevru, 4 November 2007, Itaen arestat pentru ncenderea case
unor roman - Itaans Arrested for Settng Fre to Romanans House,
Adevru, 16 November 2007, etc.). The number of artces devoted strcty to
the Maat case decreased over the days foowng the crme, further reference
to t beng made occasonay, ony to draw attenton upon the prosecuton of
the case; yet, the number of artces on the Romanan -Itaan tensons
remaned reatvey sgnfcant, as Romanan |ournasts kept the record of
sensatonast crmna acts on both sdes (.e., Romanan mgrants and hosts),
but equay tred to counterbaance mages of voence (whether physca, n the
form of attacks, or verba, n potca confcts) wth postve cas for toerance
and acceptance of natona dfferences (e.g. Inteectua romn fac ape a
ratune fat de expuzarea emgrantor - Romanan Inteectuas Appea to
Reason n Deang wth the Mgrant Expuson Issue, Adevru, 20 November
31
2007; Un edtorast taan a aprarea romnor dn Itaa - Itaan Edtor
Defends Romanan Mgrants n Itay, Adevru, 27 November 2007.)
As regards the case of Ncoae Maat, specfcay assocated wth
Romanan mgraton and crme n Itay, the artces from Correre dea sera used
as a startng pont n the Romanan teams research, present sgnfcanty
dfferent opnons reated to mgraton and crme and ther authors adopt
varous strateges n approachng the event under focus. They confront ther
readers, drecty and ndrecty, wth both persona opnons (of the peope
nvoved and of ther own as medatng agents) and wth offca postons
regardng the event, the vctm or the accused, and ther reatves. Such aspects
prove ndeed reevant n anaysng and dscussng the ways n whch the
mutfaceted nature of mgraton s refected at the eve of dscourse. In
consderng Ncoae Maats case, the fact coud be notced that mae |ournasts
wrtng for Correre dea sera seem to have a more voent atttude towards the
Roma rapst and murderer. They consder Maat a crmna who escaped from
Romana and nvaded ther natona space, destroyng the serenty of Rome and,
what s more mportant, of a we-organzed and honourabe Itaan famy. (e.g.
I manovae dea Transvana fuggto dopo due condanne per furto: Ncoae
Maat deve ancora scontare tre ann ne suo Paese. Da ragazzno stato n
rformatoro. La madre: ha sbagato - Unsked Worker from Transyvana
Feeng after Twce Convcted for Theft: Ncoae Maat has three more years to
serve n hs home country. As a boy, he was sent to a correcton schoo. Hs
mother states: He made a mstake., Correre dea sera, 1 November 2007;
Morta a donna aggredta, btz a campo rom: La vttma aveva tentato d
dfenders da suo assassno. S cerca un compce - Attacked Woman Dead,
Roma Camp Btzed: The vctm had tred to defend hersef from the ker. An
accompce s sought for., Correre dea sera, 2 November 2007). Detas are
provded about the vng condtons of Maat and of other Roma and Romanan
peope who mgrated from Romana n search of a better fe and of better
workng condtons. In spte of the obvous voent reactons comng from the
Itaan popuaton, the authors of these artces chose, nonetheess, to menton
that not a Itaans agree wth the soca margnazaton that Romanan and
Roma mgrants vng n Rome and n other Itaan ctes have to face.
The fact shoud aso be mentoned that, n spte of presentng certan
negatve aspects regardng Ncoae Maat, the Itaan |ournasts wrtng for
Correre dea sera are potcay correct, tryng to baance the tragc nature of
the event wth gmpses of Maats human sde and wth certan aspects from
hs past whch may have favoured hs actons, hs evouton as an ndvdua and
hs soca poston both n hs home country and n Itay.
It s true that, n connectng the events presented wth varous acts of
voence commtted n Itay, Itaan |ournasts wrtng n Correre dea sera, La
Repubbca, ANSA, etc., whose artces are used as sources by the Romanan
|ournasts, make reference many to Ncoae Maat and hardy ever to peope
of other natonates, who, n spte of beng known for ther crmna behavour,
are not regarded as potentay dangerous. In other words, ths way of
presentng the events nduces the dea that most probems n Itay are often
due to the mgraton of Romanans, and of Roma peope (comng especay
from Romana but aso from other countres) and ony occasonay to the
32
mgraton of peope of dfferent other orgns (Abanans, Germans, etc.) . But
beng aware of the mperfect nature of contemporary socetes and of the
exstence of soco-potca mtatons, some authors of the artces pubshed n
the Itaan sources brng arguments for and aganst the mgrants status n both
the sendng and recevng countres. For exampe, n an attempt to baance the
reactons of Itaan ctzens and potcans aganst Romanan mgraton n ths EU
state, certan authors refer back to the soca, potca and economc probems
that Romanans and Roma peope vng n Romana had to cope wth durng
Ceausescus regme, n partcuar, but aso durng the transton years foowng
the 1989 Revouton (I codce perduto dea cvta - The Lost Code of
Cvsaton, La Repubbca, 2 November 2007). In addton, the fact s ponted
out that, athough some Romanans vng n poverty n post-1989 Romana eft
ther country hopng to fnd a souton to ther probems n other European
countres, many of them sady dscovered that they had chosen a country
where ther vng condtons were even worse than n ther natve country.
Moreover, the most probematc aspect that these peope had to cope wth was
ther obvous margnasaton by the recevng socetes. Ths s aso the case of
many Romanans comng to Itay, who, n spte of strvng for a better fe, found
themseves n the poston of vng n uncvsed and margnased campstes
paced on the outskrts of the cvsed word. Dffcut as t mght be to accept,
some very poor Itaans are aso nhabtants of these campstes and, n ths
poston, they have to face the same margnasaton and, up to a pont,
dscrmnaton, that mgrant peope do.
The surprsng fact, the Itaan |ournasts mpy, s that Romanan
mgrants vng n Itay seem to be dscrmnated not ony by the popuaton of
the host country, but aso by ther co-natonas back home. In fact, t s ths
dscrmnaton and the scarcty of opportuntes avaabe n the natve country
that force many Romanans to mgrate to varous EU countres (Itay and Span
n partcuar). Iustratve n ths respect coud be the artce I suo vaggo
rpuda 'assassno. Ncoau una besta, sta ontano - Hs vage repudates
the ker. Ncoau s a beast. Keep hm away from here. pubshed n La
Repubbca, 5 November 2007, n whch the Romanans vng n Ncoae Maats
natve vage express ther opnon regardng the act of voence commtted by
ther co-natona. From the words of the peope ntervewed, the Itaan
readershp may easy grasp a dscrmnatng atttude condtoned by ethnc,
soco-economc and cutura aspects. Reference s made to Maats arge famy
(specfc to Roma popuaton), to hs prevous crmes punshed by the
Romanan aw, as we as to the fact that one ke hm coud be no good for the
oca communty.
Athough rather soated, certan artces wrtten by Itaan |ournasts
stress the fact that whether or not of Roma orgn, many Romanan mgrants
vng n Itay are ordnary peope who strve for ther fames (Ghco e frate
dee baracche - Ghcco and the Brothers of the Barracks, La Repubbca, 3
November 2007) and who are capabe of provng ther humane sde and strong
character n crtca stuatons n whch other peope mght fa to react
appropratey. Ncoae Maats aunt, the famous Ema, s a case n pont.
Immedatey after the crme she s referred to as the herone who proved not
ony her courage, but aso her mora ntegrty when turnng n her nephew to the
33
Itaan poce (Ha denuncato ker, ora e sotto protezone - Denouncer of
the ker. Now under protecton, La Repubbca, 2 November 2007).
1/./2/ Institutions
1/./2/. ,ilm
Some of the Romanans wshng to emgrate do so egay, ether by
appyng for |obs abroad (especay n the case of hghy experenced
professonas) or through empoyment programmes organsed by the
government/NGOs. Others (the ma|orty unfortunatey) choose to assume the
status of ega mmgrants. Of these, a sma number manage to obtan foregn
ctzenshp through marrage or proonged resdency, the rest contnung to stay
egay n the recevng countres.
4.1.2.1.1 ,eature ,ilms
The fms chosen for anayss present the atter types: though the fm s
not expct wth regard to the crcumstances of her departure, Luza marres
nto Spansh ctzenshp n WM; Eena s about to do the same at the end of TB;
Sorna and Mhaea can ony hope that ths w be ther case as they eave
together wth potenta partners n O; Em (n E), |en and Lenu[a (n IW), Lca
and Mtu (n FL), and Mara, Vctor, Ionu[ (n RN) - a decde to break a aws
and try ther uck away from home. More detas are offered wth regard to Em,
who gets on a pane for Austraa wth a fake tourst passport (he has aso
provded fase passports for hs wfe and son and pretends not to know them)
and to Mtu (who des a terrbe death n an Austran prson whe tryng to
escape, and whose organs are subsequenty stoen) - emphassng the faws n
the current egsaton wordwde. The two ssters n IW are not ony egay
taken out of the country, but traffcked and sod to be expoted as prosttutes n
Kosovo, unt saved by the Amercan forces enterng the area.
Furthermore, busnesses foursh as a resut of the mmgraton mana.
Entrepreneurs our sde and ther sde of the border prompty seze the
opportunty and trade dreams at a proft. Ths s the case of both Maron, the
French agent, and Gg, the Romanan mpresaro n AT. The schoomstress n O
factates dubous adoptons of Romanan orphans under the nsttutona cover
of nternatona chd-care foundatons represented by a seemngy respectabe
Dutch ctzen. Moreover, matrmona agences proferate ocay and across
borders (n TB and O). In Ems case, he s duped by a Romanan petty mobster
whe exchangng money to go to Austraa n E. Marce ses tckets to freedom
and enroment n the Foregn Legon n FL. Lca nstructs vagers on how to
pck strawberres n Span by a grotesque pantomme nvovng fastfood debrs
n FL, whe Govan makes a fortune that propes hm to the mayors offce by
exportng natve women n IW. The poce are hepess, useess, easy brbed (n
E, IW and AT) or made to |on the connng (n FL and O).
In the fms above, the host/destnaton countres are n need of cheap
work force from Eastern Europe and: aow free passage (Span, Itay);
34
encourage centures od trans-mgratory routes (France); open ther fronters for
hghy quafed ndvduas, preferaby wth sod famy fe and background
(Austraa); have strct reguatons regardng ega mmgraton or transt
(Austra). A offer ctzenshp on marrage wth a natona.
Luza (n WM) s now marred n Span and has Spansh ctzenshp, and
so s Lca (n FL), apparenty; |en and Lenu[a hope to |on the Romanan
exodus of strawberry-pckers to Span ony to fnd themseves stranded n Itay
whch smary offers |ob opportuntes for unsked workers; French nsttutons
(matrmona, as n TB, or entertanment, as n AT) aso prosper on and factate
mgraton; Em (n E) sets off for Austraa n the hope of becomng an Austraan
one day; Mtu (n FL) ends up n Austra (caught and mprsoned by the oca
poce), athough hs destnaton was France; Mara, Vctor and Ionu[ (n RN) are
st struggng to make t n Itay; the ghetto they ve n buds a powerfu mage
of the mgrant as other.
1/./2/./2 Documentaries
Interacton wth the nsttutons s avoded, and thus they are more than
crtcsed n |, T, GW. The scarcty of opportuntes of mgratng egay wthn the
framework of batera agreements or of coectve abour contracts negotated
by Romanan empoyment agences causes those who do not have ether the
advanced sks requred (ke Forca Bud n T) or the tme to wat unt they
coud fnd a proper |ob abroad through a Romanan empoyment agency to
assume the rsks of ega mgraton. Hence, peope tend to appea to
representatves of the underword or to nforma networks of mgrant reatves
and frends to trave and to fnd |obs abroad: both Ion and Mara Daman n |
borrow arge sums of money to buy the anyway unreabe servces of gudes to
egay take them abroad or to provde them wth fake vsas; so do Lauren[u
Opr, Lorn[ and Forca Bud n T; Mhaea Marnca n GW traves on a tourst
vsa to Pars supported by her sster Marana and her brother-n-aw Ion; Stea
and Gab n S support each other; n IT, Anna hopes to get a |ob n Greece wth a
frends hep, but ends up traffcked, whe Tatana s entced nto mgratng by
her boyfrend who eventuay ses her n Amsterdam to a traffckng network.
Once they get there, many start the batte for work permts and ctzenshp,
never actuay conferred. A speca stuaton s that of IT, where ega abour
emgraton functons as a cover for human traffckng. In the case of LT,
however, emgratng s done by the book, wth the mpcaton of the mayors
offce, the poce, the foregn embassy.
The home and especay the host poce forces are recurrenty
mentoned and feared for mposng the aw (systematcay broken because no
opportuntes are offered, no rghts guaranteed) (|, T, GW, S, IT). A good case n
pont n ths respect s provded by |: on the one hand, when sent back to
Romana, Ion Daman tes how he was ms|udged by the German pocemen
who abusvey generased n cang hm and hs companon crmnas; on the
other hand, though no reference to the Irsh poce s made n the spoken text,
vsua symbosm subty suggests n the fm the ega mgrants fear of poce
harassment and deportaton as, among the chocoate boxes and Irsh symbos
on Petru Damans tabe, there s the sma cay fgurne of a poceman, meant
35
to remnd hm a the tme of hs beng an ega mgrant who has to keep a ow
profe to avod beng arrested and repatrated. Caught n a no-rghts zone,
Romanan mgrants woud rather endure vctmzaton, sometmes by ther own
co-natonas, (e.g. the attack on the Parsan warehouse where Mhaea Maranca
ves together wth many other ega mgrants by a voent group of Modovans
who try to force them nto payng them for protecton, n GW) than go to the
poce, who, nonetheess, turn a bnd eye to such manfestatons of voence
that mgrants are sub|ect to.
Ony one documentary, IT, stands apart nvtng the pubc at arge to
address the poce, the prosecuton, varous other nsttutons and NGOs wth a
vew to hepng wth combatng traffckng and provdng assstance to the
vctms.
BF makes no partcuar reference to present-day nsttutons, as ts
narratve fashbacks brng to ght oder patterns of authorty: the extreme
communsm of the Sberan abour camps or the cosey kntted system of the
Naz dctatorshp.
1/./2/2 -ritten press
More than fms, wrtten press foregrounds the nvovement of varous
nsttutons n montorng the mgraton phenomenon n Romana at the natona
and/or nternatona eve. The natona nsttutons concerned wth mgraton are
both governmenta and non-governmenta. The man governmenta nsttutons
are the Mnstry of Admnstraton and Interor, the Mnstry of Labour, Soca
Sodarty and Famy, the Mnstry of Foregn Affars and the Mnstry of Educaton
and Research. Non-governmenta nsttutons gather nformaton on mgraton,
medate abour contracts abroad, or organse supportve actons for the abour
mgrants fames. In Romana, due menton shoud be made of prvate
companes, the oca offces of the Internatona Organsaton for Mgraton (IOM)
and of the Unted Naton Hgh Commssoner for Refugees (UNHCR), the
Foundaton of the Romanan Natona Counc for Refugees, the Romanan Forum
for Refugees and Mgrants, UNIDEA, SOROS, the Assocaton Soca Aternatves
(ASA), etc. The Romanan wrtten press cooperates wth a these nsttutons n
conveyng nformaton concernng the mgratory phenomenon n Romana to the
pubc, and concentrates on the actons taken by these nsttutons, as we as on
the atttudes they manfest towards Romanan mgrants. In the case of Romanan
ega abour mgrants, these atttudes are generay of postve apprecaton and
support, and come from varous drectons: the government and governmenta
nsttutons, non-governmenta assocatons, the press, the potca partes, the
pubc opnon. As for the Romanan mgrants nvoved n varous voent or
crmna acts, the predomnanty negatve atttudes are sometmes baanced by
supportve messages addressed to the Romanan daspora (un|usty) sufferng the
consequences of some of ts members deeds, especay from the sendng
country, but occasonay from the host countres, too.
The concept of ntegraton s understood as the process of ncuson of mgrants
n the core nsttutons, reatons and statuses of the recevng socety (see Integraton
of Mgrants: Contrbuton of Loca and Regona Authortes, European Foundaton for
36
the Improvement of Lvng and Workng Condtons, 2006:
http://eurofound.test.reggan.eu/pubdocs/2006/22/en/1/ef0622en.pdf) In other
words, for the mgrants, ntegraton means a process of earnng a new cuture,
acqurng rghts, accessng poston and status, budng persona reatons wth
members of the recevng socety; for the recevng socety, ntegraton means
openng up nsttutons and gvng mgrants equa opportuntes. Ths conforms
to the message transmtted by Leonard Orban, EU representatve for Romana
n 2008, who underned the dea that mgrant workers shoud earn the
anguage and cuture of the host country so as to ncrease ntercutura
nteracton n the process of mgraton (Cpsunar ar putea nvta a doua
mb matern - Romanan Strawberry Pckers Coud Learn a Second Mother
Tongue, Cotdanu, 31 |anuary 2008).
In fact, ngustc and cutura proxmty are so mportant a gan as the
economc proft for a mgrants. Destnaton countres shoud reman attractve
for economc, cutura, ngustc and hstorca reasons. Mgrant workers of a
eves shoud ntegrate n the host country and then return home, havng
acheved two goas: change n mentaty and acquston of matera and cutura
vaues.
At east up to 2007, Romana dd not have a very we-defned abour
mgraton pocy, and, for a the efforts of the Romanan Offce for Labour
Mgraton, the rates of ega/crcuar mgraton remaned reatvey hgh. The
oca authortes mpemented actons to prevent the negatve soca effects of
excessve mgraton n some regons wth hgh mgraton rates. At the natona
eve, batera agreements wth host countres n managng mgraton networks
were, n certan cases, mpemented by the Romanan authortes, whereas n
others were ntated by the foregn partners and |onty mpemented. In 2007,
wth Romana becomng an EU member state, the Natona Empoyment Agency
|oned the EURES (European Empoyment Servces) network amed at factatng
the free movement of workers wthn the European economc area; hence, the
sgnfcant mprovement n the process of state-medated ega mgraton for the
Romanans who wanted to work abroad, rrespectve of ther quafcatons (as
the advertsed |obs vary from unsked to hghy quafed work). That may aso
account for the fact that, from 2007 on, the artces n the Romanan
newspapers regardng vacances abroad and poces of empoyment ntated by
the Natona Empoyment Agency and EURES graduay ncreased n number. To
gve but a few exampes: Somer romn, caut de ucru n Ununea European -
Unempoyed Romanan Seekng |ob n EU, Adevru, 21 February 2007;
Asstente n UE cu 4.000 de euro - Nurses n EU for 4,000 euros, Cotdanu,
22 |uy 2007; Eveta ofer cee ma mar saar pentru cpsunar -
Swtzerand: The Hghest Wages for Romanan Strawberry Pckers,
Cotdanu, 4 November 2007; Ceh ptesc a 14-ea saaru ca s recruteze
programator romn - Czechs Pay Fourteenth Saary to Recrut Romanan
Programmers, Cotdanu, 13 |anuary 2008; nc tre state UE prmesc romn
cafcat - Three More EU States Hre Ouafed Romanan Workers,
Cotdanu, 29 |anuary 2008; Europa s preznt oferta de prmvar-var
pentru romn cu scoa - Europe Presents Its Sprng-Summer Offer for
Romanan Graduates, Cotdanu, 19 March 2008; Romn care vor s ucreze
n sectoru agrco dn Danemarca pot apca onne, pn pe 17 marte -
Romanans who Wsh to Work n Agrcuture n Danemark Can Appy Onne
37
unt March 17, Cotdanu and Adevru, 28 |anuary 2009; Cet[en UE cu
stud superoare nu au restrc[ pe pa[a munc dn Germana - No
Restrctons for EU Unversty Graduates on German Labour Market, Cotdanu,
26 February 2009; Burse pentru exportat somer romn - |ob Fars to Export
Unempoyed Romanans, Cotdanu, 18 March 2009; Se caut 50 de
agrcutor pentru Anga - 50 Vacant |obs n Agrcuture n the UK, Adevru,
4 December 2009; Locur de munc n Germana pentru student bmren -
|obs n Germany for Graduates from Baa Mare, Adevru, 18 December 2009.
The same coaboraton between the Natona Empoyment Agency and EURES
s shown to have provded better assstance wth regard to Romanan mgrant
workers dutes and securty rghts (A|utoare ntre 500 1.200 de euro pentru
omer cpunar - Unempoyment Benefts of 500 to 1,200 euros for
Unempoyed Strawberry Pckers, Cotdanu, 8 |uy 2008; Romn care vor s
se nregstreze ca medc n Anga vor pt 410 re sterne de a 1 apre -
Romanans Physcans who Wsh to Regster n the UK W Pay 410 Startng
from Apr 1, Cotdanu, 13 March 2009) as we as to have taken steps to
prevent traffckng for forced abour (Amenz dure rdcarea cen[e pentru
frmee care pcesc emgran[ - Hgh Fnes and Lcenses Annued for
Companes Decevng Mgrants, Cotdanu, 13 May 2008).
The Romanan government has had a supportve atttude towards
Romanan mgrant workers/strawberry pckers comng back home, wecomng
the transfer of European funds for ther rentegraton. Accordngy, the Natona
Empoyment Agency aunched n 2007 the MEDIT pro|ect of an nvestment of
10,000 RON |onng the Itaan pro|ect LAVORO addressng Romanan mgrants
workng n Itay wng to go back home. Unfortunatey, ths |ont attempt at
encouragng return of abour force to Romana faed: the mgrants re|ected the
offer snce the proposed saares |were| ess than 1,300-1,500 euros and fe n
Romana s the same as n Itay when prces are concerned (Eveta ofer cee
ma mar saar pentru cpsunar - Swtzerand: The Hghest Wages for
Romanan Strawberry Pckers, Cotdanu, 4 November 2007; Proectu pentru
aducerea acas a cpsunaror ar putea avea efect contrar - The Pro|ect to
Brng Strawberry Pckers back Home Coud Have an Opposte Effect, Adevru,
28 October 2009; Un proect de 10 moane de e: Statu romn d cu pante n
cpsunar - 10 Mon Le Pro|ect: Romanan Government Throws Leafets at
Strawberry Pckers, Cotdanu, 28 October 2009).
Severa other state or prvate nsttutons ntated dfferent programmes
amed ether at the mgrants rentegraton at home or at supportng them n
adaptng to ther host envronment. For nstance, the Romanan Mnstry of
Educaton factated the rentegraton wthn the Romanan system of educaton
of a great number of Romanan mgrants chdren who returned home n
varous regons of the country: Gaa[: Cop cpunaror revn a coe de
acas - Gaa[: Strawberry Pckers Chdren back to Schoo at Home,
Adevru, 2 October 2009; Satna: Cop cpunaror se ntorc acas -
Satna: Strawberry Pckers Chdren Come back Home, Adevru, 23 October
2009.
The branches of Spru Haret Prvate Unversty n Bucharest and Cu|
opened centres of dstance earnng for Romanan mgrants wshng to purchase
a status eap, n such countres as Span - Madrd wth 2000 students, and Itay -
38
Rome, 820 students (Spru Haret seduce cpsunar: examene pe e-ma s pe
webcam - Spru Haret Seduces Strawberry Pckers: Exams on Ema and
Webcam, Cotdanu, 16 |uy 2009).
As the representatve of a non-governmenta nsttuton, the Patrarch of
the Romanan Church procamed the 16
th
of August Romanan Mgrants Day
when prayers are sad to hep the fames of those workng far from ther
country (Patrarhu Dane ctre cpsunar: Pstrat crednta ortodox s
denttatea romneasc - Dane, the Patrarch of the Romanan Church, to
Strawberry Pckers: Keep Your Orthodox Fath and Romanan Identty,
Cotdanu, 13 August 2009).
Varous non-governmenta assocatons (e.g. UNIDEA) made mportant
nvestments n order to counter one of the worst effects of massve abour
emgraton and to provde matera support for home aone chdren eft behnd
by the strawberry pckers. The Romanan wrtten press sauted these
ntatves: for nstance, an artce on the 14
th
of February 2008 presented the
supportve actons sponsored by the Romanan O Company Petrom and
undertaken by Romanan meda representatves and men of cuture n order to
provde some of these chdren wth necessary funds (Cop de cpsunar upt
pentru 150.000 de euro - Strawberry Pckers Chdren Fght for 150,000 Euros,
Cotdanu, 14 February 2008; a smary supportve ntatve was aso mentoned
n another, more recent artce: Program pentru cop cpunaror - Support
for Strawberry Pckers Home Aone Chdren, Cotdanu, 22 Apr 2009.
Important as mgrants ntegraton may be, ths process s acheved n
sgnfcanty dfferent ways and at dfferent eves n the host countres. Span
has become conscous of the new mmgraton stuaton and of the need for a
strategc ntegraton pan, wth overa ob|ectves and concrete ntegraton
measures. Span negotated batera agreements n good tme and has
deveoped fexbe poces to accommodate Romanan mgrants on ts terrtory.
In dong that, Spansh nsttutons have shown a ratona and coherent approach
to the mgraton phenomenon preventng, or at east reducng, soca and
economc negatve effects such as human traffckng, shadow economy,
voence, ethnc confcts, radca atttudes, effects upon the soca securty
system etc. Numerous Romanan artces, especay from Adevru, kept an
amost reguar record of the poces for the ntegraton of Romanan mgrants
ntroduced by the Spansh government, stressng out the toerance towards and
cooperaton of Spansh oca and natona admnstraton wth Romanan
mgrants: e.g. Ma esne a munc n Spana - Easer to Mgrate for Labour n
Span, Adevru, 27 |anuary 2007; Prmu ghd destnat mgrantor care
doresc s s deschd propra afacere - Frst Gudenes for Mgrants who
Want to Set up n Busness, Adevru, 1 November 2007; Autortte spanoe
ncearc ntegrarea romnor - Spansh Authortes Endeavour to Integrate
Romanan Mgrants, Adevru, 15 November 2007; Rentregrea fame n
Spana, ma smp - Smper Procedures for Famy Reunfcaton n Span,
Adevru, 27 December 2007; Camera de comert dn Spana a|ut mgrant
s-s fac frme - Spansh Chamber of Commerce Heps Immgrants to Create
Ther Own Companes, Adevru, 31 |anuary 2008, etc.
39
To brefy dgress on the atttudes and poces reated to the frst
Romanan mgrants settng a strong emgraton trend to Span, .e., the
Romanan strawberry pckers, due menton must be made of the fact that, as a
speca category of Romanan abour mgrants, they were postvey perceved
snce they ranked frst on the st of the most hard workng empoyees, wng to
work extra hours for modest saares. And ths was not the case ony n Span. In
addton, the Brtsh farmers craved for Romanan and Bugaran mgrant
workers: n an attempt at avodng a dsastrous stuaton for ther farms, snce
there was nobody to pck ther strawberres and raspberres, Brtsh farmers
demanded the government n London to reax ts mmgraton poces so that
the Europe-famous Romanan and Bugaran strawberry pckers coud work n
ther area, too. (Crz de cpsunar n Marea Brtane - Shortage of
Strawberry Pckers n the UK, Cotdanu, 5 |uy 2007). Brtan offered 16,250
|obs n agrcuture, as quoted by ANOFM (Brtanc vor cpsunar romn -
The Brtsh Crave for Romanan Strawberry Pckers, Cotdanu, 3 |anuary
2008). Moreover, Romanan strawberry pckers were hghy apprecated for ther
work by the Germans, as we. The atter offered them good vng condtons
and 800 euros for ther work, as the German newspaper Schaumburger
Nachrchten mentoned. It was the case of severa workers from Sbu and
Medas who found ther |obs through the Natona Empoyment Agency (Nemt
mutumt de cpsunar sben - Germans Prase Romanan Strawberry
Pckers from Sbu, Adevru, 31

August 2009).
The economc crss has not changed the genera postve percepton of
the Romanan strawberry pckers, but the stuaton has grown more dffcut for
the ocas snce oca empoyers have come to prefer mgrants because they are
more experenced n agrcuture, whch has ead to confcts between the
empoyers n the host country, on the one hand, and ther compatrots eft
wthout |obs and the mgrants, on the other. Reference s made here to Span as
a host country (Vtoru cpsunaror, amenntat de somer spano -
Strawberry Pckers Future Threatened by Spansh Unempoyed, Cotdanu,
17 March 2009; Spano vor s fe cpsunar - The Spansh Want to be
Strawberry Pckers, Adevru, 21 September 2009). An nterestng aspect
emphassed by some artces n the 2009 corpus s that even ocas, such as the
Spansh, became mgrants themseves. Amost 13,500 were expected to eave
for France. Ths stuaton seemed to be the drect resut of the economc
probems whch had ther mpcatons over the Spansh abour market resutng
n a hgh rate of unempoyment, especay n the constructons sector. That s
why many Spansh workers found themseves n the poston of seekng |obs n
France. As Cotdanu states, ths stuaton remnds of the massve Spansh
mgraton n 1972 when amost 92,000 Spanards went to France to pck grapes
and become grape pckers (Spano devn strugurar dn cauza crze -
The Spansh Become Grape Pckers Because of the Economc Crss,
Cotdanu, 3 August 2009).
To fnay resume the comments on the Spansh poces for the
ntegraton of the Romanan mgrants, reference must be made to the fact that,
despte certan (unavodabe) tensons occasoned by stuatons ke the one
mentoned above (.e., the competton for |obs n the context of the economc
crss) or by some Romanan mgrants nvovement n crmna acts, the genera
atttude was one of postve, not ony soca and economc, but aso cutura
40
ntegraton (e.g. Cutura romneasc promovat a Madrd - Romanan
Cuture Promoted n Madrd, Adevru, 17 December 2007), showng respect
for the Romanan mgrants cutura dentty. For nstance, certan Spansh
nsttutons offered Romanan mgrants the possbty to attend courses of
Romanan anguage, cuture and cvsaton: Eev romn dn Spana vor
nvta mba, cutura s cvzata romn a scoa - Span: Romanan Pups to
Study Romanan Language, Cuture and Cvsaton n Schoo, Adevru, 17
May 2007; Scoa pentru romn dn Spana - Span: Educaton for
Romanans, Adevru, 12 October 2007. Equay benefca to both the sense of
dentty of the Romanan daspora and to the cutura dversty n the Spansh
meda was the ssung of free pubcatons for Romanan mgrants: Romn dn
Spana au zaree or - Span: Romanans Have Ther Own Newspapers,
Adevru, 11 |uy 2007.
Dfferent from Span, Itay seems to ack natona consstent ntegraton
poces towards mgrants. As Itay attracted ega mmgraton more than other
European countres due to the dffcuty of controng such extensve borders
and, above a, because of the sze of ts nforma economy, ntegraton
measures were taken rather sporadcay. As a matter of fact, the nterventon of
the nsttutons responsbe wth sovng the probems of Romanan mgrants, n
genera, and Romanan Roma mgrants, n partcuar, was not aways vsbe
ether n the recevng or the sendng country.
Consderng the Romanan Roma mgrants vng n Itay, some Itaan
potcans cted n the anaysed corpus stressed the fact that Itaan state
nsttutons dd not use the EU funds made avaabe for pro|ects devoted to
them. For exampe, the housng probem was serousy approached ony n
cases of emergency, when the vng condtons of some mgrants were found to
be one of the causes eadng to crmnaty. It seems that t was not before
Itaans became vctms of voent acts commtted by mgrants that Itaan state
nsttutons (town has) and potca partes serousy consdered the necessty
of fng n certan gaps. Ths s one of the aspects often referred to n reaton
to Ncoae Maats act of voence aganst Govanna Reggan. In an attempt at
fndng an answer to the queston who was to bame for Govanna Reggans
death, Itaan sources camed that, f the oca state nsttutons had done
somethng for the safety of the host popuaton vng cose to the campste of
mosty Romanan mgrants (e.g. better street ghtng and coser surveance of
the area - Sara umnato tutto vae dea stazone - The Whoe Staton
Street W Be Lt, La Repubbca, 12 |anuary 2008), the tragedy of Govanna
Reggan, and perhaps of other Itaan peope, coud have been avoded.
However, the Itaan authortes ndfference towards certan obvous
probems n the Itaan socety was more persstenty brought to ght ony after
Ncoae Maats act of voence. Intay, the bame was many put on the
probems created by the Romanan mgrants presence on the Itaan terrtory
and by the voent acts commtted by some of them, but, n tme, the neffcent
admnstraton of the soco-economc probems charactersng the Itaan socety
was aso ncrmnated. For nstance, t s nterestng to notce that the Itaans
accusatons, as mentoned n Correre dea Sera, were addressed not ony to
the arge communty of Romanan (whether of Roma ethnc orgns or not)
mgrants vng n Itay, but aso to the Itaan government, whch seemed to
41
have faed to mpement pro|ects and programmes regardng mgraton n Itay
after Romanas accesson to the EU:
Itay takes steps, but s harshy crtcsed by the European Unon because
ts been months snce Itay was requred to mpement the drectve of
|anuary 2006 whch extends the rght of free movement to a EU ctzens,
but aows each member state the possbty to expe EU ctzens f any
probems reated to pubc heath, securty and order shoud arse.
Therefore, the ordnance s consdered effcent, but beated. The debate
s open. ( Pronto pano per mgaa d espuson: Mangane: contro
n tutta Itaa. Crtche UE: decreto tardvo - The pan for thousands of
expusons s ready: Mangane: rads n the whoe Itay. Crtque from UE:
beated ordnance, Correre dea sera, 2 November 2007)
In ths context, many potca reactons n the days mmedatey foowng the
Maat case were many amed to provde a quck souton to the voent
mgrants probem and thus answer (or rather further fue?) the crss. Adevru
|ournasts, n partcuar, foowed very thoroughy the potca and ega debate
that the Maat case trggered, not ony at the Itaan, but aso at the European
eve. The potca decson of forcefuy mpementng an Itaan government
ordnance, whch, whe seemngy observng the stpuatons of an EU Drectve,
rsked to degenerate nto abusve expusons n the name of natona securty
was dfferenty reacted to n the Itaan potca crces, and Adevru, ctng
Itaan sources, refected them n a ong seres of artces. Thus, the argest
number of artces devoted to the crss trggered by the Maat case n ths
newspaper drew the attenton upon the fact that many Itaan potcans were
hardy wng to do anythng to support the Romanan mgrant communty, or to
take actons to constructvey sove the varous probems that Romanan
mgrants faced n ther recevng country: Roma amennt Romna cu
|udecata - Rome Threatens Romana wth Lawsut, Adevru, 2 November
2007; Prefectu de Mano a semnat prmee decz de expuzare a romnor -
The Prefect of Man Sgns the Frst Orders for Romanan Mgrants Expuson,
Adevru, 2 November 2007; Itaen pregtesc prmee expuzr - Itaens
Prepare the Frst Expusons, Adevru, 3 November 2007; Vcepresedntee
Senatuu taan cere nchderea frontereor - The Vce-Presdent of the Itaan
Senate Requres that State Borders Be Cosed, Adevru, 4 November 2007;
Guvernu taan cere prefecturor s controeze reguat mgrant n vederea
expuzr - The Itaan Government Asks Prefects Offces to Reguary Montor
Mgrants for Expuson, Adevru, 5 November 2007. As f antcpatng the
nternatona reactons to such potca decsons n Itay, an artce pubshed n
Adevru on November 2, 2007 combned a nostra cupa argument wth
vruent crtque of the Itaan admnstraton:
Regardng the camps nhabted by thousands of Roma Romanan
mgrants, why havent they appeared n Germany, the UK or Austra, for
exampe? It s obvous that these camps appeared and extended party
because of the neggence and ndugence of the Itaan authortes too.
The cases of ega Romanan mgrants n Itay are so numerous aso
because ths country has not yet deveoped any speca programmes to
absorb abour force from Romana, as t actuay happened n the case of
mgraton for seasona work n the UK or n Span, for nstance.
42
(Infractor romn dn Itaa: vna noastr, dar s vna taenor! -
Romanan Denquents n Itay: Our Faut, but aso the Itaans!,
Adevru, 2 November 2007)
A smar argument was ater taken up n an artce devoted to the presentaton
of |os Manue Barrosos opnon (cted from La Repubbca) concernng the way
the Itaan authortes had managed the ssue of the Roma mgrants ntegraton,
contrasted wth the more effcent acton taken by countres ke Bugara, Span
or Poand that partcpated n European fundng programmes meant to factate
Roma mnorty ntegraton. (Itaa nu s-a mpcat n probema rromor -
Itay dd not get nvoved n managng the Roma mgrants ssue, Adevru,
12 November 2007)
Moreover, both Romanan and Itaan newspapers ponted at the
ntatves of certan Itaan potcans whch seemed to rase many more
tensons among the mgrants and the host popuaton. For exampe, the vst of
an Itaan potcan to the prson where Ncoae Maat was taken mmedatey
after the death of Govanna Reggan wth the expct purpose to see what knd
of a person coud have commtted such a voent act, and hs ncudng Ncoae
Maat n a sort of sub-race, ncapabe to adapt to the Itaan cvsed word,
favoured a negatve atttude on the part of the host popuaton and encouraged
further dscrmnatory acts aganst the Romanan mgrant popuaton. Ths
expans, up to a pont, the ater bannng of Romanan mgrants from many
campstes abusvey demoshed by Itaan authortes (and t was ony then that
representatves of the town ha of Rome anaysed the possbty of offerng
sheter to Romanan women and chdren who thus became homeess: E ungo
e sponde de Tevere sgomber e ferm nee faveas - Evctons and Arrests n
the Faveas aong the Bank of the Tber, La Reppubca, 3 November 2007) and
the nnocent acts of aggresson that Romanan chdren vng n Itay wth ther
fames had to endure from ther Itaan feows (Cop romn nsutat de
coeg or taen - Romanan Chdren Insuted by Ther Itaan Cassmates,
Adevru, 12 November 2007, I nostr bmb romen nsutat a scuoa - Our
Romanan Chdren Insuted at Schoo, La Repubbca, 12 November 2007).
On the other hand, even though Itaan nsttutons and potcans were
accused of hardy beng abe to cope wth mgraton-reated ssues, Romanan
nsttutons dd not escape crtcsm ether. In ths respect, Itaan artces
accused Romanan authortes of dong but tte to reduce the causes of
emgraton towards EU countres, n genera, and towards Itay, n partcuar.
Some even sgnaed the exstence of cases n whch Romanan ctzens went
through the customs wthout aways havng ega documents (Cos, con
furgone porto n Itaa crmna -Thus, They Brng Crmnas n Itay wth a
Van, La Repubbca, 4 November 2007). In ther turn, the Romanan artces,
especay those from Cotdanu, stressed mosty the faures of Romanan
foregn pocy and dpomacy n handng the negocatons wth the Itaan
government n fu soca and potca crss: Coroanu vrea s e dea taenor
n cap cu Coran - Coroanu Wants to Knock Itaans Out wth Coran,
Cotdanu, 4 November 2007; Uraganu romnesc Maat s guvernu european
Trceanu - The Romanan Maat Hurrcane and Trceanus European
Government, Cotdanu, 5 November 2007; Edtora: Coroanu - sef de
campane a u Vetron - Edtora: Coroanu, Vetrons Campagn Chef,
43
Cotdanu, 5 November 2007; Itaen ne vneaz, no rpostm cu Coran s
Eade - Itaans Hunt Us Down, We Repy wth Coran and Eade, Cotdanu,
5 November 2007; Edtora: Coroanu e romn, dec e un pc tganofob -
Edtora: Coroanu s Romanan, so a bt Roma-phobc, Cotdanu, 7
November 2007; Massmo dAema: Coroanu nu a cerut coaborarea Rome -
Massmo dAema: Coroanu dd not ask Rome to coaborate, Cotdanu, 12
November 2007; Dpomata muces - Romanan Dpomacy Keeps Mum,
Cotdanu, 13 November 2007. (Adevru mosty refraned from crtca
comments on the actons of Romanan authortes, referrng n |ust one artce to
the fact that bureaucratc procedures at the Romanan Consuate n Rome had
prevented Maat from recevng the offca approva to come back home ony
four weeks before he commtted the crme aganst Govanna Reggan: Maat a
vrut s se ntoarc n tar acum o un - Maat Wanted to Return Home a
Month Ago, Adevru, 6 November 2007).
Eventuay, the potca crss whch nether the Itaan nor the Romanan
authortes managed to successfuy sove was brought to the attenton of the
European nsttutons. The atters nterventon (Decretu taan de expuzare
va f anazat astz de Paramentu European - The Expuson Decson to Be
Anaysed Today by the European Parament, Adevru, 12 November 2007)
contrbuted to effectvey keepng the stuaton under contro, preventng Itay
from egay expeng Romanan mgrants and encouragng |ont - Itaan-
Romanan - nvovement n programmes for Roma mnorty ntegraton: La UE
avverte: no a espuson d massa - EU Warns: No to Mass Expusons, La
Repubbca, 6 November 2007; Frattn: UE este dspus s fnanteze o
stratege tao-romn pentru rom - Frattn: EU s wng to fnancay
support an Itaan-Romanan strategy for the Roma peope, Adevru, 9
November 2007; Paramentu European a attudne fat de expuzarea
mgrantor - European Parament Aganst Immgrants Expuson, Adevru,
15 November 2007.

Such a decson seemed to be n ne wth the statements of certan
Itaan potcans who, before, durng and after the days/months cosey
foowng the Maat case, showed support for the Romanan mgrants and tred
to counter, at east n ther dscourse, a tendences to abusve generasaton
and negatve stereotypng: Gancaro German n favoarea romnor -
Gancaro German n Favour of Romanans, Adevru, 2 October 2007;
Franco Frattn: Ecuata romn ega crmna trebue respns - Franco
Frattn: Equatng Romanans wth Crmnas to Be Re|ected, Adevru, 2
November 2007; Fura taenor trebue ndreptat mpotrva potcenor, nu a
mgrantor - Itaans Shoud Rage Aganst Potcans, not Immgrants,
Cotdanu, 4 November 2007; Napotano: Romn nu sunt ru -
Napotano: Romanans are not the ev, Adevru, 19 November 2007;
Presedntee provnce Mano: Trebue s anga|m mgrant romn n pota
oca - Presdent of the Man County: We have to hre Romanan mgrants n
the oca poce, Adevru, 7 March 2008.
As for the Itaan |udca system, ts actons were referred to n reaton
to, on the one hand, the above mentoned Itaan government ordnance
regardng the expuson of Romanan mgrants, and on the other hand, the
|udca procedures mped n Ncoae Maats tra. Therefore, n the former
44
case, reference was made to the members of the Itaan Crmna Bar
Assocaton who crtcsed the provsons of the envsaged expuson ordnance,
pontng out that t encosed provsons abusvey nfrngng upon human rghts
and European egsaton (Decretu taenor are fsur - Faws n the Itaan
Ordnance, Cotdanu, 4 November 2007). In the atter case, n certan artces,
especay n those ssued n 2008 and 2009, readers can grasp a genera
atttude of support towards Ncoae Maat on the part of certan Itaan ctzens
and of dsagreement wth the Itaan |udca system, whch s consdered to
have accused Maat of rape and murder n the absence of reevant evdence:
Romuus Maat va f |udecat s pentru voent sexua. Mar controverse n
cazu ,Maat - Romuus Maat w Be Tred for Sexua Voence. Great
Controverses n theMaat Case, Adevru, 21 February 2008; Dosaru
Maat. Tot ma subred - The Maat Case: More and More Debatabe,
Adevaru, 11 March 2008; Ancheta n cazu Maat a fost superfca s va f
reuat - Perfunctory Inqury n the Maat Case. Investgaton to Be Resumed,
Adevru, 9 Octomber 2009; EveryOne: |ustta taan se ntoarce n Evu
Medu - EveryOne: The Itaan |ustce system regresses to the Mdde Ages,
Adevru, 13 October 2009.
Nonetheess, apart from the above mentoned tensons that marked
Itaan - Romanan reatons at the the soca and potca eves, especay after
the crss-engenderng Maat case, efforts have been made on both sdes to
promote poces of cutura ntegraton of the Romanan mgrants. For nstance,
the Romanan Research Insttute for Cuture and Humantes n Vence and Va
Amorett Lbrary are two of the Itaan cutura nsttutons whch supported the
cutura events organsed for the Romanan daspora n Itay: terary meetngs,
book presentatons, theatrca performances (Torno: Lteratura romn a
daspore - Torno: Lterature of the Romanan Daspora, Adevru, 1

May
2008). Other Itaan nsttutons have aso aso got nvoved n cutura actvtes:
Prmara Rome a premat un scrtor roman - The Town Ha of Rome
Awarded a Romanan Wrter, Adevru, 30 November 2007; Crt romnest n
bbotece dn Roma - Romanan Books n Lbrares n Rome, Adevru, 24
December 2007. Last but not east, the Itaan Cathoc Church wecomed the
frst Romanan docese n Itay estabshed n Lucca under the patronage of the
Romanan Orthodox Church. The artce Prma docez romneasc dn Itaa -
The Frst Romanan Docese n Itay ctes n ths respect the statement of the
Itaan Cathoc Archbshop Itao Castean: Im sure that ths token of
brotherhood w contrbute to the soca ntegraton of the arge Romanan
communty n Itay. (Adevru, 5 May 2008)
1/./5/ Culture
1/./5/. ,ilm
Cutura texts (fms ncuded) are embedded n a soca matrx, have
consequences n the word, payng an mportant roe n budng magnatve
geographes. The knd of kaedoscopc cartography that fm contrbutes to
eaves nvsbe but permanent traces whch, n turn, determne the way we
perceve others and are perceved as others.
45
Through the vsua representatons they transmt and medate, fms
become texts abe to hghght the dynamcs of cross-cutura mage-makng
unraveng at the ntersecton between ngustc (aesthetc/rhetorca) and
hstorca (deoogca/soco-cutura) aspects of dscourse. Vsua mages carry
menta schemata that underpn the nterpay between percepton of the other
and sef-percepton, constructng or deconstructng the maps of meanng
through whch a partcuar group of peope makes sense of everyday practces
and experence. From the body of fmc texts chosen for anayss there
becomes evdent that the conceptuasaton of mgraton and the mgrants
experence consttute themseves nto a sgnfcant magned space that tres to
fgure or reconfgure an actua cutura terran where the mgrant transgresses
embedded herarches estabshed between sef and other, natve and foregn,
home and deterrtorasaton, centre and perphery, West and East.
1/./5/./. ,eature ,ilms
Paced n the perspectva context of the representng text, a ma|or
dstncton shoud be drawn between the form and functon of the mages
medated by the Romanan fms and those favoured by the foregn ones, as ths
provdes dfferent artcuatons for the above-mentoned bnares.
Thus the nta corpus of fms ends tsef to subdvsons that ncude:
fve Romanan productons (I, O, WM, E, FL), two foregn ones (TB, RN) and an
n-between category exempfed by AT, whch s a |ont Romanan-French
producton.
The fms n the frst sub-category foreground mgraton as an n-group
experence, focusng more on the nterpay between notons of home and the
mrage of the West n order to probe the mgrants stay-or-eave demma. In
a of them home emerges as an un-deased andscape of contrasts between
tradtona certantes (communty tes and the knowedge of pace) and the
unforeseeabe pressures of modern-day exstence. Ths appes both to the
ctyscapes of O, WM, E n whch the transton from a coectvst to an
ndvduast socety s vsuased through an abrupt |uxtaposton of shots of
communst-stye squad tenements and fancy urban deveopments (roncay,
the name of the cty store n O s More and More: A Lfe Phosophy), as we as
to the rura ones n IW and FL n whch the peasant cuture has become a mere
commodty, beng commercased ke fokore (the cuar dance n IW) and
the tradtona communa actvtes have been repaced by tranng n Spansh or
strawberry-pckng (n FL). Characterstcay the atmosphere s permeated by
desperaton, and the fms protagonsts fnd themseves dspaced at home and
moray-frustrated n a socety n whch tradtona concepts of normaty and
devance seem to have become confused. It s sgnfcant that t s the devant
ones (the buyng, the decetfu, the corrupted, the denquent) that know how
to make ther way through ths uneasy andscape, whe the norma ones are
ether forced to eave, ed astray or eft behnd, chaned to a home that has ost
ts substance. In a the fms the metaphor of death s empoyed to refer to the
oss of tradtona meanngs of home. In O the protagonsts paths ntersect n a
cemetery and t s the news of a death that precptates the denouement of the
stores. In IW the death of the father marks the end of the vage fe as t was
46
known to the ssters. In WM the death of the daughter and the dsappearance of
her chd dsntegrate the meanng of home. In E, the noton of home des wth
the murder of Streche. In FL Mtus death abroad nduces Aures at home.
Of the two foregn fms ncuded n the corpus, ony TB ocases Romana
as home n ts vacatng settng. Nevertheess, here t s a Western percevng
eye through whch the reates of present-day Bucharest are captured by the
camera. From Ayms descent from the pane, the cty s assembed n
photographc snapshots that ft nto hs toursts abum: the embankment of the
Dmbovta rver, Ceausescus paace, the urban monster that, from a fute
communst undertakng has been turned nto a trademark of the cty, a wooden
bench surrounded by carefuy trmmed trees, a fancy restaurant whch serves
not ony tradtona Romanan food, but aso tradtona dances n whch todays
youngsters |sc| ready |on. Even the two scenes that do not conform to ths
santsed vew of a Romanan home (the hote obby n whch the grs parade
n front of the foregner who offers them the dream of a fe abroad and the
meodramatc one n whch Eena hardy fnds her way to the curtaned bed of
her and her young daughter through the squad and overcrowded one-room
apartment that hosts the entre famy) are n accordance to Western
stereotypes regardng the readness of Romanan women to se ther ooks n
return for a passport to happness and the poverty characterstc of East-
Europeans.
AT, as |ont Romanan-French producton, correspondngy draws on both
sets of representatons, as home gmpsed through the bus wndows fudses
the scenery otherwse made up of dsparate oppostona pars (the pcturesque
versus the derect, the urban versus the suburban, the urban versus the rura,
the new versus the od) suggestng the soca and economc ceavages n the
oca cuture and nvtng at the reconsderaton of Romanas margns and
Romana as margn.
The West as constructed by the mgrants magnaton s |ustfed by the
power of the cutura myth. As sets of sgns whch mpy extremey famar and
nfuenta structures of thnkng, or naturased codes of soca meanngs and
vaues, or sets of beefs and atttudes that the vewer s nvted to accept as
true and natura, myths refect normaty. A the feature fms start from ths
premse, but graduay revst the myth of the rch, amghty West, a and of a
possbtes. The pursut of a dstant deased West ooms arge over the
characters decsons to emgrate (n AT, O, I, TB, E and FL). However, whe TB
sustans the myth n ts fary-tae resouton and WM adheres to t through
suggestons of an accompshed fe abroad, the open endngs of AT, O and E,
though not overty reversng t, cast doubt on ts truth-vaue. IW and FL tear t
apart by the tragc outcome of the mgrants dream. By focusng on the actua
mgrant experence n the destnaton cuture, RN deconstructs and reconstructs
the myth from the pont of vew of the West tsef.
The constructon of the sub|ect s not ony hghy dependabe on meda
(fmc) representatons, but t s usuay carred out n terms of dfference, n a
permanent negotaton between matera condtons, deoogca dscourses and
soca axes of stratfcaton based on cass, race, gender, age, ocae, sexua
orentaton, natona orgn. A mgrants dentty s but at the ntersecton of
47
these coordnates. Nevertheess, pubc percepton seems to resume t n order
to ft preconceved frames whch often negate each other. To the tradtona
types used to subsume a mgrants dentty (the adventurer vs. the exe - n the
home cuture; the adapter versus the aen - n the destnaton cuture) other
types have been dentfed of ate: the prodga son/daughter (n the home
cuture); the ega worker, the crmna and the woman traffcked for sexua
expotaton (n the destnaton cuture).
The Romanan mgrants dentty whch resuts from the fms chosen s
constructed n a more compex way that both abdes by the genera conceptons
and subty dsmantes them by trespassng ther typoogca and cutura
borders: the femnne character as adventurer and vctm of traffckng n AT;
Eena, as exe and adapter at the same tme n TB; Mhaea and Sorna n O and
Em n E as adventurer-exes; the ega worker-adventurer and traffcked
ssters n IW; Luza as the prodga exe n WM; Mtu as adventurer-vctm and
Lca as prodga-crmna n FL; Ionu[ and Mara, the crmna ega workers and
Vctor as the ega-worker exe n RN. In addton, Romanans are presented as:
havng succeeded abroad and ether forgettng about famy at home (Ncu n
O), returnng too ate (Luza - n WM) or ony to expot the unknowng,
unsuspectng natve communtes (Lca - n FL); gube, honest turned
dshonest to attan the goa of emgratng (Em - n E or Mtu, Aure, Stec - n
FL); crooks, theves, owfes (Ionu[ - n RN) or cheap work force (|en and Lenu[a
n IW; Mara, Vctor - n RN).
1/./5/./2 Documentaries
Brngng cutura heterogenety nto a snge paradgm presupposes
power structures whch enforce a centrst perspectve on the narraton and
recepton of ndvdua cutures - one that may be observed n the medaton
carred out by fmc texts. Mutcuturasm exposes a ths through focusng on
the ssue of Eurocentrsm, whose man premse s that the entre word
gravtates around Europe (generatve of a unque source of meanng), whch
nvoves a compex, contradctory and hstorcay unstabe dscourse, and
reates oppressvey to both ts externa and nterna others. Furthermore,
poycentrc mutcuturasm ams at restructurng ntercommuna reatons
wthn and beyond the naton-state n keepng wth the nner dynamcs and
outspoken deas of dverse communtes. Power, energy and strugge are
brought to the fore, n an attempt at reveang the untruth of the consderaton
of cutura dentty as a consodated set of practces, meanngs and
experences, and at approachng t as mutpe, hstorcay determned and
constanty n the makng.
The anayss of mages and stereotypes (domnant n fm), together wth
ther transgresson, consequenty needs to be acheved through the ens of
poycentrc mutcuturasm so as to avod essentast, reductonst
nterpretatons that reproduce the very racsm they were desgned to counter.
In other words, the decodng of stereotypes has to have n vew ther prncpa
roes and functons: ndcatng patterns of pre|udce n apparenty random
choces and phenomena; nfctng psychc devastaton or strrng ntercutura
confct through ther nternasaton as defnng trats or the negatve mpact of
48
ther dssemnaton; undernng the fact that they resut from soca contro
rather than from errors of percepton.
The documentares formng the corpus of the dscusson ustrate the
mechansms of centrst postons through zoomng n on symptomatc cases of
mgraton or woud-be mgraton, of wrtten and msread otherness.
The Last Peasants trogy (|, T, GW) ooks nto representatons of the
Romanan peasant and the dyc countrysde n Maramure - anachronous and
opposed to the bustng, moneyed urban (Eastern/Western) fe. Vsuay defned
not ony by the aforementoned settngs, but aso by the tradtona costumes
and customs that ths seres of ethnographc documentares reverenty nvtes
an anthropoogca gaze upon (a Natvty performance for Chrstmas n T, the
funera of Ion Damans father n |, the Easter regous servce, woong and
weddng customs n GW), as we as by the fok musc specfc to the Maramure
area (varyng n tone, from gay and vvd dance musc, to rather meanchoc
carnet aternatng wth tense and aert ducmer-domnated tunes, or,
utmatey to sad, amentng songs), the Romanan peasants dentty s reveaed
as graduay contamnated by coonsng/gobasng urban nfuences; hence,
the hybrdty of many young peasants costumes (dressed n more casua
cothes and/or eather |ackets, but st wearng the tradtona cop for men/
har-coverng scarf for women), or the shockng ncongruty of the |uxtaposton
of fok dance movements wth rap musc n the Budet pub (n GW). Aganst
ths background, Angus Macqueens fms foreground one of the destructve
forces wthn ths natona other: the attracton of the West beyond the countrys
fronters (summng up the dstrust n the home countrys possbty to provde
for ts own).
BF s aso set n the beautfu Transyvanan countrysde, where Saxons
and Landers setted centures ago, aowng for the encounter of two cutures n
whch the margn had become the centre and s now facng extncton. The
testmones of the survvors - |ohann Schuff and Mara Huber - pont n
dvergent drectons: one s that of voent dena and resstance to assmaton
by the Romanan ma|orty, the other - of beated, though good-humoured,
acceptance. Both ntervewees defne ther dentty n reaton to ther German
cutura roots whch they reman strongy attached to (though they condemn the
exodus of ther Saxon and Lander co-natonas to Germany n the 1990s that
eft entre vages deserted) and n terms of ther cutura dfferences from the
Romanan and Roma others that they have to share ther space wth. (|ohann
Schuff, n partcuar, s a grotesquey strange mxture of athesm, Naz deoogy,
msogyny and msanthropy: he harbours a defntey segregatng atttude
towards hs Romanan and Roma neghbours, but not wthout gettng entanged
n contradctons: on the one hand, he ets the chdren of hs Roma neghbours
enter the house, ca hm unce Hans, and he gves them food or repars ther
bcyces; on the other hand, he descrbes them as an nferor race and
handcapped. They w nhert hs farmstead, but ony f they bury hm accordng
to hs own wshes, whch s not that easy, especay snce the bura he wshes
for s unawfu.)
LT s smar to BF n that t focuses on the few remanng Saxon ethncs
n Romana but, unke the atter, shows ate fe dynamsm and the paradoxca,
49
reuctanty accepted dea of returnng home by eavng home. The fm thus
dscusses the |uxtaposton of perceptons of sef and other, and the cutura
contamnaton whch has eft whoe communtes trapped n between. As n the
case of BF, the span of hstorca changes referred to s sgnfcanty arger so as
to encompass ma|or events whch affected Romanan - Saxon reatons (wth a
stress on Word War II and the eary years of the rse n power of the communst
regme) and, n the ong run, determned (more or ess) varous atttudes
towards mgraton. For many of the oder generaton (Mara and Msch Wof,
Mara and Hans Kenze, |rk Schneder) who survved the war and endured
persecuton on account of ther German otherness (deported to Ukrane to
redeem by workng ther German gut and/or havng ther ands and fortunes
confscated by the communsts after 1945), mgraton from Romana after 1989
was, though regretfu, totay |ustfed as the Romanan pocy of resttuton of
property confscated by the Communsts dd not hep them recover ther ands.
Snkng n btter resgnaton and refusa to mnge wth the Romanan out-group,
some of them ke Mara and Hans Kenze or ther frend |utz Stueher have
come to see mgraton as a souton to mutpe probems: economc hardshps
that they have a hard tme copng wth n ther od age, famy reunfcaton, and
a strong sense of cutura dentty that determnes them to set out, eavng
behnd the pace they caed home ther entre fe, |ust because there s amost
no Saxon eft to vst and to socaze wth n Arbegen. At the opposte poe, the
fm reveas as ony margna the atttudes of Saxons for whom dentty s
defned n terms of beongng to a communty whose sprtua unty, but over
the centures, must be mantaned n spte of a changes at the soca and
potca eve (Hans Hatt).

S dffers from the prevous documentares n that t s set abroad and
that t presents a cross-cutura (Romanan-French) and subcutura (Romanan -
Roma) odyssey: from the n-group to the out-group, the natona margn, the
nter-natona frnge and back (but aways an outsder). Otherness s revsted
here n so many ways that t eventuay stops sgnfyng, though not for the
fms protagonsts (Stea and Marce Margean, and Steas sster Gab), whose
dstance from home keeps engthenng, even on ther return.
IT tackes taboo n the face, whe at the same tme presentng a goba
phenomenon stemmng from the attracton of the west and the desre to
mgrate at a costs - one wth pognant soca and potca connotatons. The
nternatona (Amercan, Romanan, Modovan, Dutch, Czech and Serban) effort
and coaboraton advertsed for s purposefuy ntersectona and
ndscrmnatve.
1/./5/2 -ritten Press
The soco-cutura dmenson of the current mgraton phenomenon n
Romana nvoves the eaboraton and adopton of aws, the creaton of
nsttutons, the deveopment of correspondng strateges and poces |.|, but
ther success cannot be separated from the manner n whch the nvoved
actors-governmenta nsttutons, non-governmenta organzatons, mass-meda,
communtes, ndvduas - respond to the so-caed behavoura chaenges,
50
reated to partcpaton, communcaton, mentates and atttudes (Constantn
and Ncoescu, 2005).
Looked upon from a cutura perspectve, the artces ncuded n the
wrtten press corpus hnt at the superorty of the host/recevng communty as
compared wth the nferorty of the home/sendng communty. Ths opposton
s vsbe n the approach to dfferent aspects of fe (soca, economc, potca,
etc.) and, athough countered by certan more frendy comments, t remans
constant n many of the artces of the corpus.
Romanan mgrants transgresson from ther home country to host
countres such as Span and Itay s a process most often nvovng probems of
cutura adaptaton and atttudna change. Thus, mgrants tend to create ther
own spaces where they can fee at home. TV programmes, onne magaznes
and bogs (www. capsunar.ro , www.ocknet.ro, www.adevaru.t,
www.adevaru.es) that Romanan mgrants have desgned n order to express
themseves openy, on the one hand, and the Romanan books donated by
Romanans from home (Pachet cu fotba de acas pentru cpsunar - TV
Programme Package wth Footba Matches from Home for Strawberry Pckers,
Cotdanu, 16 |uy 2007; Spana: Romna vzut de pe bogure
conatonaor - Span: Romana as Seen on the Romanan Mgrants Bogs,
Adevru, 6 September 2009; 2.500 de crt pentru mgrant - 2,500 Books
for Immgrants, Adevru, 23 September 2009; etc.) on the other, are used to
aevate homesckness.
As many of the artces anaysed have aready reveaed, the
representatons of emgraton for abour from Romana resuted, among other
thngs, n the emergence of a new stereotype n the Romanan press. The
strawberry pcker natona stereotype has got ts roots n denomnatng the
frst abour mgrants headng for Span to work n agrcuture (as eary as the
year 2000). In tme, used as an nforma abe n the Romanan wrtten press
news reports, strawberry pcker has come to embrace a categores of both
unquafed workers n the sectors of agrcuture, domestc work and care,
servces, constructons, etc., and graduates. The tte usage refers ether to
authentc strawberry pckers or to other categores of mgrant workers.
In a comparatve-contrastve approach between the two Romanan
newspapers under anayss, the abe strawberry pcker s partcuary used n
amost a quarter of the tota number of the artces seected from Cotdanu,
whereas, n Adevru, t s sedom used, the |ournasts preferrng the terms
mmgrant, emgrant and worker. As a matter of fact, t seems that the
genera reacton towards strawberry pcker as a denomnaton for Romanan
abour mgrants workng abroad, especay n Span, s one of re|ecton. For
nstance, Mgue Fonda Stefnescu, the presdent of FEDROM (The Federaton of
Romanan Assocatons n Span) consdered that Romanans shoud treat ther
compatrots wth much more respect and eaborated a pan whch shoud
factate the Romanan strawberry pckers rentegraton. The same offca was
aganst other denomnatons attrbuted to Romanan strawberry pckers, such
as trators or crmnas (Compatro[ nu ma vor s fe num[ cpunar -
Our Compatrots Hate Beng Caed Strawberry Pckers, Adevru. es, 18

May
2009). Accordng to Constantn et a. (2004), ths percepton coud be set rght
51
by means of |ont, coherent efforts of mass meda, pubc admnstraton and
cv socety.
To brefy refer to the dscursve features of the artces devoted to
representatons of Romanan abour mgraton, the anayss of the artces
proper has shown a rather homogeneous structure smar to the canonca
ayout of a rct, but wth the marked specfcty of a press artce. Ther ength
vares accordng to the topc aunched: they are onger f they contan eements
of nterdscursvty, e.g., the artces contanng ntervews, or ntertextuaty
where strawberry pckers (n the denotatve or connotatve sense) are sghty
but purposefuy referred to; yet, they are shorter, brefy announcng the topc
of extended artces, when fttng the pattern In Bref (see Presa despre
emgrant - News about emgrants - secton n Adevru, Pe scurt - In
Bref - secton n Cotdanu). The message s party nformatve and party
meant to appea to the pubc opnon. The traces of the wrters sub|ectve
presentaton of the events s ceary spotted out n the way (s)he handes the
topc. More often than not, (s)he mentons strawberry pckers n between
nverted commas (especay n cases of ntertextuaty) rasng peope to
ndgnaton, both n Romana as a sendng country and n the host countres.
Over the years, t seems that Romanan |ournasm has encouraged |ournasts
to specase n wrtng about certan topcs, hence exampes of experenced
reporters n strawberry pckers matters coud be pany gven, chef among
whom Oana Crcun and Serban Buscu from Cotdanu.
As for representatons that connect mgraton and crme, the stereotype
most often traceabe n the artces, especay when referrng to Romanan
mgraton n Itay, s that of savage nvader egay penetratng a cvsed
space. (e.g. Itaa, cotropt de 105.000 de romn s bugar - 105,000
Romanans and Bugarans Invade Itay, Adevru, 4 |anuary 2007) The
host/recevng country, n our case Itay, s most often presented as a vctm of
Romanan nvason (both n the sendng and recevng countres press) after
|anuary 1, 2007.
In consderng the Romanan-Itaan parae, many artces from
Romanan and Itaan sources hghght the probematc nature of Romanan
mgraton n Itay, whereas certan others (ess numerous) brng to the fore the
fact that the Itaans themseves were mgrants to other countres (the Unted
States), and that n ths poston some of them commtted crmes and acts of
voence aganst ther hosts, as we.
In presentng the tenson between the Romanan mgrants and the Itaan
hosts, both the Romanan and the Itaan press seem to dwe on the the
dchotomc pars US/THEM and EAST/WEST, as we as on the opposton
between natona dentty and ethnc dentty, especay when they have been
merged and there have been generazatons rangng from an ndvdua case to
a whoe ethnc mnorty and from a group of mgrants to a whoe naton. Ther
nterpretaton changes, of course, dependng on the perspectve adopted, .e. of
the sendng or recevng socety. Thus, the Romanan newspapers Adevru and
Cotdanu generay denounce the dangerous effects of generasatons - Maat
Roma mgrants Romanan mgrants - eventuay resutng n
xenophobcay equatng Romanans wth crmnas.
52
As far as the artces avaabe n some of the Itaan sources (La
Repubbca, ANSA, Ranews) cted by the Romanan newspapers Adevru and
Cotdanu are concerned, they often make expct the opposton between the
sef (we, our country, our communty) and the other (they, the nvaders
of our country, the foregners) emphassng the humanty of the host
popuaton, and the crmna and extremey voent nature of the mgrants
nvadng ther space (especay those comng from Romana and those of Roma
orgn). In nuancng ths opposton, reference s aso made to the cvsed
nature of the host popuaton and the hghy uncvsed nature of the mgrant
popuaton whch s obvous not ony n the behavour of ts representatves, but
aso n the vng condtons these mgrants cope wth not ony n ther home
country, but especay n the recevng country: La Roma deo zngaro Maat e
quea dea sgnora Govanna erano due ctt ncommensurabmente dstant.
|The Rome of the gypsy Maat and that of Mrs. Govanna were two ctes
sgnfcanty dfferent.| (Se uomo topo dventa sgnore dea paura - When
Rat Man Becomes Lord of Fear, La Repubbca, 7 November 2007) Due to ther
soca status, Roma mgrants n Itay are re|ected by most ctzens and
potcans of the host country who often have a hghy dscrmnatng atttude:
Cant you see that Roma peope are naturay born crmnas? The
stereotype of ths peope of a threatenng nature favours a stream of
underground voence whch permeates our socety. (I codce perduto
dea cvta - The Lost Code of Cvsaton, La Repubbca, 2 November
2007)
Athough the artces seected from the Itaan sources attach a great
mportance to the phenomenon of voence assocated wth Romanan mgraton
n Itay, reference s aso made to some hstorca waves of mgraton
(Barbarans, Asan nvasons) and to more recent ones (Serbs, Croats, Bosnans)
whch were extremey voent, not ony aganst the nvaded popuatons, but
aso aganst the members of the nvadng communtes. Concernng the
mgrants to Itay nowadays, the Romanans seem to be the most numerous and
troube-makers, but n certan artces reference s aso made to mgrants
orgnatng n Modova, Hungary, Somaa, Abana, Serba and other countres.
The opposton Romanan/Eastern nvaders vs. Itaan/Western nvaded
s reversed n the Romanan press whch refers to US as the dscrmnated and
abused and to THEM as dscrmnatng, usng US to serve ther nterests but
ready to emnate US from ther terrtores as soon as ther faure to ntegrate
US resuts n seres of crmna acts aganst THEIR popuaton. (See the aready
anaysed artces on the Maat case) Moreover, n an attempt at fghtng back
the negatve stereotypng of Romanan mgrants, numerous artces are devoted
n the Romanan newspapers, especay n Adevru, to the good sde of
Romanan mgraton n Itay (e.g. Romn dn Itaa promoveaz donarea de
snge - Romanans Lvng n Itay Promote Bood Donaton, Adevru, 23
November 2007; Itaa: O romnc doneaz organee fce e - Itay:
Romanan Woman Donates Her Daughters Organs, Adevru, November 2007;
Un romn a savat 2 btrn taen dup o expoze - Romanan Saves Two
Edery Itaans After Exposon, Adevru, 25 February 2008; etc.) whch s
hardy, f ever, the case wth the artces seected from the Itaan sources.
53
1/2/ Gen&er in Mi!ration
1/2/./ =ociet*
1/2/./. ,ilm
The same post-communst, post-ntegraton reates presented n the
Context presentaton secton (pp. 5-8) appy to women, ony more pognanty
so, snce many of them have been taught to accept second rate |obs and to
dream haf-dreams about ther future. The fact that durng the ast decades the
number of women eavng the country has tended to ncrease constanty s an
ndcator that emgraton s aso an answer to the persstence of forms of
patrarchy and a mentaty that contnues to mt womens opportuntes n the
process of neo-accumuaton and the pubc sphere.
1/2/././. ,eature films
Ths ncreased femnsaton of mgraton s refected n the entre corpus of
fms under anayss. Both the Romanan and the foregn productons foreground
the fgure of the woman mgrant as a product of the post-communst reates of
Romana, nsstng on Romanan mgrant womens roe as vctms of a range of
grave soca, economc and cutura probems such as unempoyment, poverty,
mted chd-care optons and the contnung domnaton of mae-centred vaues
and herarches at both domestc and pubc eves. A the women n the fms
seected are, n one way or another, vctmsed and pushed off to the margns of
socety: Luza (n WM) and Lca (n FL) eave home drven by poverty and/or
unwanted pregnances (Crstna, Luzas daughter - eft behnd and haf forgotten,
ookng for soace n drugs and promscuty after a teen pregnancy and a chd put
up for adopton); Ana (n E) agrees to stand by her husband and go wth hm to
the other end of the earth, athough she knows she w ony be hs mad there;
Mara (n RN) aso eaves to escape poverty, but she accompanes her ove, Ionu[,
whom she ater separates from, choosng a bady pad but decent way of fe as a
mad wth the Boarns, whe he becomes part of a dangerous group of theves,
drug deaers, crmnas. The two ssters n IW are douby vctmsed: by the ack of
opportuntes that the vage (a mcrocosm of Romanas rura margns
charactersed by economc stagnaton and pre-modern standards of vng)
entas, as we as by the perpetraton of a patrarcha system (represented
through the fgures of an neffcent, contnuay drunk and unexpectedy voent
father and the macho petty crook, Govan, both women traffcker and rapst)
whch oppresses, brutases and, consequenty, turns women nto ceaseess
vctms. Even the fms that couch the femae mgrant experence under the
romantc guse of the search for persona fufment - be t n terms of gamorous
careers (such as the eeven grs n AT dream of) or fndng the perfect spouse
(as s the case wth Eena n TB, or Sorna and Mhaea n O), st anchor
themseves n the same post-communst Romanan soca andscape where
poverty, ack of chd-care optons, homeessness and aberrant patrarcha
behavoura codes code wth the characters aspratons.
In the case of the Romanan fms, there are two strateges at work used
to represent the host socetes. One means s obque, decentrng ther assumed
herarchca postonng by dspersng ther representatons n the stores wthn
54
the stores that the fms te: Luzas husband (n WM) keeps cang her askng
when she w be back (assumed s a cvsed marrage and reatonshp); Lcas
Span (n FL) seems to have heped her become rcher than anyone ese n her
vage (but peope know the source of her we beng: prosttuton); L too (n E)
earns more than most from prosttuton n Romana as host country. Another
strategy s to eaborate on the destnaton socety through metonymca
characters: Maron, the sef-possessed, eegant and sophstcated busness-
woman, embodes both the cvsed and the mercante aspects of the French
socety (n AT); O sketches a arger European map whch both vadates
tradtona assumptons about West-East herarchca postonng (|erome, the
French benefactor, and Van Horn, the Dutch offca) and ponts to composte
herarches wthn Europe tsef n order to conceptuase artcuaton of what s
European from beow (Nae, the Romanan ega mgrant turned German and
Lug, the Itaan of Afrcan orgn).
Host socetes are centra to the conography of the two foregn fms here
referred to. If TB focuses on the emotona tra|ectory of Eenas ntegraton wthn
the provnca French farmng communty, payng upon tradtona assumptons of
the rch Western Europeans vs. ther poor Eastern neghbours but baancng
the two n ts Cnderea-type pot, n RN, Itay as host s omnpresent. Memorabe
dchotomc mages re-nscrbe tradtona West-East herarches of power n
gender terms: Mara cookng n the ktchen upstars/Svana puttng on her |ewes
n front of the mrror upstars; Romanan gypsy grs beggng n the pourng
ran/Svana, scared but comfortabe n her expensve car. Furthermore, Svanas
premonton and sudden fear of Mara hods the fmc narratve together.
1/2/././2 Documentaries
For the home country, the basc dchotomes of the soca (and
economc) envronment are rura/urban and od/young. The od women n the
Romanan countrysde carry the traces of patrarchy and seem to be
comfortabe wth ther status of subordnaton (|, T, GW): aways fathfu to the
tradtona fok costume and to the gender norms of the arge-power dstance,
coectvst communty (Hofstede, 1991 and Gavru, 2002) n whch they ved
ther entre fe, Irna Opr, Forca Buds mother and grandmother (T) or Vase
Marncas mother (GW) repeatedy stress out, through ther atttudes and
dscourse, ther attachment to a way of fe that endured n tme and therefore,
appears most approprate to them. On the other hand, young women from
towns and ctes of Romana (Anna n IT) aspre to freedom from a tes, yet,
sgnfcanty, end up even worse. In between these extremes, there s the
category of young women who beong to the rura word but who, ke ther
town-dweng peers, choose to evade tradtona gender patterns: Forca Bud
(T), Mara, Ion Damans wfe (|), and Mhaea Marnca (GW) conceve emgraton
as the ony opportunty to get more ndependence and to break through the
constranng roes that the rgd patrarcha pattern of the rura communty
mposes on them. But, ke the women mgrants from the Romanan urban
areas, they are doomed to fa: despte a ther efforts, Forca (T) and Mara (|)
do not manage to fnd - egay and/or egay - a way out of the country;
Mhaea (GW) s the ony to succeed n mgratng, but then mserabe vng and
workng condtons, psychoogca pressure and voence n the host socety, and
55
the stgma of bad reputaton at home make t mpossbe for her to en|oy her
success.
The same nterest n the consequences, on the soca eve, of womens
mgraton causes some of the documentares to focus on representatons of
motherhood as we. The soca reaty of massve chd abandonment fnds ts
symboc ustraton n the cases of Mara, Ion Damans wfe (|) and Marana,
Mhaea Marncas sster (GW). Another mother fgure, Mara, Petru Damans
wfe n | stands apart because she takes her son Adran wth her and does her
best to hep hm ntegrate n the educatona system of the country of
destnaton (France).
In the host country, whether they come from towns or the countrysde,
Romanan women mgrants are dscrmnated twce: for beng women and for
beng foregners. Dscrmnaton takes many forms (from underpad domestc
work and beggary - GW, S - to sexua expotaton - IT) - a due to a money-
orented socety, whose empowered patrarcha centre governs the femae
frnges and manpuates ther consttutona and nternatona rghts.
Whether at home or abroad, women are crushed by the socay
constructed myth of superwoman whch, unke that of superman, does not
have postve connotatons. Wves, mothers, overs, cooks, workng women, etc.,
they a do ther best to ft prefabrcated modes, but fa and suffer n the
process.
1/2/./2 -ritten press
In consderng the gender-orented perspectve, reference shoud be
made that the Romanan and Itaan newspapers mrror ths ssue n sgnfcanty
dfferent ways. In the case of the seected Romanan daes, reference shoud
be made to the fact that, unke Cotdanu, Adevru focuses more expcty on
gender-reated aspects of Romanan emgraton, that s why most of the
exampes are taken from ths newspaper.
The reaton between gender, mgraton and socety s qute compex.
Soco-economc aspects have to be combned, on the one hand, wth the
dstncton n terms of men and womens mgraton, and wth the status of these
mgrants n two dstnct referenta/geographca spaces, .e. the home/sendng
country and the host/recevng country, on the other.
The Romanan wrtten press presents the phenomenon of Romanan
abour mgraton wthn a cause-effect reatonshp and from a dua perspectve,
.e. of the home/sendng country and host/recevng countres. In ths context,
canonca patterns of gender representaton have wtnessed sgnfcant
changes.
The post-communst transton has made a arge number of Romanans
ook for new opportuntes abroad. Ther mobty refects a newy-acqured or
redscovered freedom of movement. In the process of economc restructurng,
women were frst to ose ther |obs and become woud-be mgrants, ready to
56
respond to the demand n destnaton countres. Havng tte access to reguar
empoyment n the West and to tranng schemes adapted to the abour market
demand, many Romanan mgrant women are presented by the press as ether
turnng especay to the nforma sector (domestc hepers/ caretakers) or
engagng n prosttuton/ sex work. Irrespectve of the abour sector Romanan
women are engaged n, ther ega status and soca margnazaton make
them prone to becomng vctms of dfferent forms of voence, rangng from
dscrmnaton to rape and even murder. The press ays partcuar stress on
manfestatons of extreme voence whch ft the sensatonast tendency n
news reportng.
Numerous artces pont to the types of |obs Romanan women mgrants
have n the host countres and to the quaty of the servces Romanan mgrant
women provde. The artces anaysed present mgrant women many nvoved
n the foowng |obs:
domestc work and babysttng (Povestea de succes a une fost
mena|ere - The Story of an Ex-Domestc Workers Success, Adevru, 12
Apr 2007; Bonee romnce: Cop taen sunt prost crescu[ -
Romanan Babystters: Itaan chdren are bred, Adevru, 11 February
2008; Presa despre emgrant: Imgrant au ocu buncor - Press on
Emgrants: Immgrants Repace Grannes, Adevru, 26 Apr 2008; Mano:
Provnca va a|uta fnancar fame care vor anga|a mena|ere mgrante -
Man: County Authortes w Fnancay Support Fames Hrng
Immgrants as Domestc Workers, Adevru, 9 |une 2008; Roma: Prmu
brou de pasament profesona pentru mena|ere - Rome: The Frst
Professona Empoyment Offce for Domestc Workers, Adevru, 23 |uy
2008; Dreptur pentru mena|ere - Rghts for Domestc Workers,
Adevru, 21 October 2008; Schmb pampers a Roma - Changng
Dapers n Rome, Cotdanu, 15 October 2009)
heath care (Itaa, destnata preferat de asstent romn - Itay, the
Favourte Destnaton of Romanan Nurses, Adevru, 23 |une 2007);
strawberry pckng (Romncee, preferate a cpun - Romanan
Women, Preferred n Strawberry Pckng, Adevru, 28 December 2007);
weavng (|estoaree romnce, a mare cutare n Spana - Romanan
Weavers, Sought after n Span, Adevru, 1 May 2008);
toursm and caterng (Certfcat de catate pentru o patroan romnc
- Ouaty Certfcate for Romanan Owner, Adevru, 22 March 2008 ).
Part of the artces devoted to Romanan womens mgraton for abour n
femnsed sectors of dfferent European economc markets (partcuary as
domestc workers) aso stress out that, n ther desre to escape unempoyment
and poverty at home, many accept |obs for whch they are overquafed (Peste
33% dn mena|ere au absovt o facutate - Over 33% of Domestc Workers
Are Unversty Graduates, Adevru, 25 Apr 2008) and that may, n some
cases, expose them to the rsk of humaton and the experence of voence
(Tara Bascor: |umtate dn mgrantee mena|ere au fost hrtute sexua -
Basque Country: Haf of the Mgrant Domestc Workers Sexuay Harassed,
Adevru, 11 March 2008).

57
Though reatvey few, there are artces whch refer to the ntatve and
abty of women to deveop successfu ves n the host socety. Ths mpes a
shft of perspectve n the treatment of mgrant women, from the tradtona,
passve, dependent mode to the modern, actve, ndependent and successfu
mode as t s the case n: Forna dn Bacu a fost adms cu burs de mert n
cubu excusvst a Unverstt Boccon dn Mano - Forna from Bacu Was
Awarded a Mert Schoarshp to the Excusve Cub of Boccon Unversty n
Man, Adevru, 29 |anuary 2007; Superprofesoara - The Super Teacher,
Adevru, 5 December 2007; O romnc pe urmee u Ncoe Kdman -
Romanan Woman Waks Down the Same Path as Ncoe Kdman, Cotdanu, 3
Apr 2007. Some successfu Romanan mgrant women have overcome the
dffcutes of ntegratng nto the host country by occupyng top soca and
potca postons. In 2008 n Span, out of the 285,000 Romanan mgrant
women, 22% had ther own busness as reported by La Caxa Bank (Romncee
au frme de succes - Romanan Women Run Successfu Busness, Adevru, 8
March 2008).
Womens chartabe dsposton makes them get nvoved n actvtes
meant to support chdren and the poor n the home country (|ucr hane
pentru cop dn Romna - Toys and Cothes for Chdren n Romana,
Adevru, 9 |anuary 2008) and n the host country (Fost Mss Romna a|ut
cop cu probeme dn Pennsu - Former Mss Romana Heps Dsadvantaged
Chdren n Itay, Adevru, 30 |anuary 2008; Ramona Bdescu strnge ban
pentru srac taen - Ramona Bdescu Coects Money for Poor Itaans,
Adevru, 18 Apr 2008).
However, the Romanan press tends to see the negatve effects of
Romanan womens mgraton bamng them for dsruptng the soca and gender
order and for the soca costs of mgraton, chef among whch chd
abandonment. Wrtten press data confrms the exstence of a sgnfcant
assocaton between the absence of both parents or |ust of the mother and the
frequency of depresson symptoms n chdren. (e.g. A ncercat s-s curme vata
de doru prntor - He Tred to Commt Sucde Because He Mssed Hs Parents
Too Much, Adevru, 7 November 2007; Nu- spunem Mosuu c prnt sunt
departe - We Dont Te Santa that Our Parents Are Away, Adevru, 21
December 2007, etc.)

As many Romanan women act more and more often as the man
economc provders for the famy, they seem to have a hard tme comng to
terms wth the contradctons of good mother provder and bad absent
mother (Morokvasc 2007: 75). Severa artces revea the fact that chats on the
nternet and taks on the phone are the most common means used by mgrant
women as mothers n order to compensate for ther absence. Words of
encouragement and good promses make, n the most fortunate cases, chdren
fee good and face the hardshps of separaton from ther parents, but
unfortunatey ther educaton s made from a dstance (Fetta mea m
cunoaste ma mut dn poze - My daughter knows me mosty from photos,
Adevru, 27 December 2007; Romn dn Spana e fac educate copor prn
teefon - Romanans from Span Educate ther Chdren whe Takng on the
Phone, Adevru, 29

Apr 2008). At ts worst, separaton from mgrant mothers
58
resuts n home aone chdren sufferng from depresson and attemptng to
commt sucde.
Another dmenson of Romanan womens abour mgraton that s
reduced to bad motherhood and even crmnaty s refected n the artces on
newy-born chd abandonment (O romnc dn Amera s-a aruncat copu a
guno - Amera: Romanan Woman Abandons Baby at Dumpster, Adevru, 9
|anuary 2008; Itaa: o romnc s-a prst copu a ocu de munc - Itay:
Romanan Woman Abandons Baby at Work Pace, Adevaru, 9 |anuary 2008).
Statstcs show that n 2007, 150 chdren were abandoned by ther Romanan
mgrant mothers (Romncee au abandonat 150 de cop n 2007 - Romanan
Mgrant Women Abandoned 150 Chdren n 2007, Adevru, 4

March 2008). In
reacton to such cases, representatves of severa Itaan medca nsttutons
decared that the ack of educaton, of a secure fe, ncudng a partner, a |ob
and good vng condtons are among the most common factors that contrbute
to the deveopment of such a phenomenon. The measures taken by the Famy
Pannng Centre from the Hospta San Caro and the Madre Segreta
departments from the towns councs show the supportve atttudes that these
nsttutons manfest n hepng the woud-be mothers acqure usefu nformaton
about sex fe.
Marrage wth a foregn ctzen amed at factatng ega emgraton and
access to better vng condtons has aso remaned, over the years, one of the
gender ssues tacked by the Romanan press. For nstance, n a 2008 report of
the Itaan Mnster of Interna Affars presented by Adevru, Itaans prefer
mgrant women n the foowng order: German 7.1%, French 7%, Romanan
6.1%, Posh 5.3%, Brazan 5%. In such mxed marrages between Itaan men
and Romanan mgrant women, the age dfference s about 10 years, men
preferrng much younger wves (Dntre mgrante, taen e prefer pe
romance - From among Mgrants, Itaan Men Prefer Romanan Women,
Adevru, 17 March 2008; Aarm n Itaa: 30.000 de octogenar s-au cstort
cu tneree or mena|ere - Aert n Itay: 30,000 Edery Men n Ther Eghtes
Marry Ther Young Domestc Workers, Adevru, 27 Apr 2008; 6% dn
cstore mxte se ofcaz ntre taen s romance - 6% of Mxed Marrages
Offcated between Itaan Men and Romanan Women, Adevru, 1 May 2008).
Last but not east, n the seres of artces tackng the negatve effects of
Romanan womens mgraton, there are numerous exampes (n the Romanan
press - many n Adevru, ess n Cotdanu - and n the Itaan one ony brefy
mentoned) whch revea Romanan women mgrants as sub|ect to voence n
the recevng countres. The scope of crcumstances whch ead to Romanan
mgrant womens vctmsaton (ether by ther own co-natonas or by men n
the host socety) s arge and covers:
human traffckng and sex work (O romnc a savat cteva sute de
feme dn scava sexua - Hundreds of Women Saved from Sex
Savery by a Romanan Woman, Adevru, 29 |anuary 2007; Tneree
pn n 25 de an, prncpaee vctme ae trafcuu de carne ve -
Young Grs, up to 25 the Man Vctms of Traffckng n Women,
Adevru, 9 August 2007; Roma: Prosttu[e cu for[a - Roma: Forced
59
Prosttuton, Adevru, 31 |anuary 2008; Am fost vndut unor
proxene[ n Itaa char de cumnatu meu - My Own Brother-n-aw
Sod Me to Pmps n Itay Adevru, 23 February 2008; Prosttuat
romnc de 19 an ucs de un Itaan - Romanan Prosttute, 19,
Ked by Itaan, Adevru, 5 May 2008);
domestc voence (O tnr romnc ucs de concubnu taan -
Young Romanan Woman Ked by her Itaan Lover, Adevru, 31
December 2007; Itaa: Romnc ucs dn geoze - Itay: Romanan
Woman Ked out of |eaousy, Adevru, 31 |anuary 2008;
Controverse n cazu une romnce mpuscate de un taan -
Controverses over Itaan Shootng Romanan Woman, Adevru, 6
February 2008; Imgrantee, de cnc or ma vunerabe a voent
domestc - Mgrant Women, Fve Tmes More Vunerabe to
Domestc Voence, Adevru, 4 March 2008);
voence at the workng pace (|ara Bascor: |umtate dn mgrantee
mena|ere au fost hr[ute sexua - Basque Country : Haf of Mgrant
Women Empoyed as Domestc Workers Sexuay Harassed, Adevru,
11 March 2008; Romnc sechestrat n Itaa de btrnca pentru
care ucra - Itay: Romanan Woman Locked by Od Woman She
Worked for, Cotdanu, 25 May 2008).
1/2/2/ Institutions
1/2/2/. ,ilm
1/2/2/./. ,eature films
The fms feature women who: go abroad to ook after the od or to do
the ceanng about peopes houses (Mara n RN); escape ther condton of
second-rate ctzens by gettng marred (Eena n TB, Mhaea n O), but even so
contnue to be accepted wth dffcuty (Luza n WM, Lca - n FL); become
covert (the grs n AT) or overt vctms of human traffckng (the ssters n IW);
obedenty do what they are tod and emgrate bndy, even when ther own
future and that of ther chdren are at stake (Ems wfe, Ana - n E); do the
aggressve beggng at extremey eary ages (n the openng of RN). L, on the
other hand (n E), practces prosttuton for a nobe cause: to make the money
necessary for her studes: she s a aw student n Bucharest.
An nterestng case s that of Crstna (n WM), n whom the resuts of
mgraton are dentfed va hyperbosaton - to serve a morasng purpose: the
abandoned chd eft behnd by a mother who goes to Span n search of work,
abused by her famy, raped by her unce, forced to eave schoo and rebe
through drugs and prosttuton.
No acton s taken by the state. Women have to take ther fate nto ther
own hands and survve as best they can: Crstna recuperatng her stoen chd
(a tte gr) from peope meanng to se her for her organs abroad;
grandmother Vergnas rape and robbery unsoved, heped aong by the poce
(Stec s her grandson).
60
Acceptance, recognton and ctzenshp are actuay dened to the
women except for those who marry or say they marry n the host country: Eena
(n TB), Luza (n WM) and Lca (n FL). Mara (n RN) has no chance: at frst, she
s treated ke a member of the famy by the Boarns (and she deserves to be),
but ony ndoors; otherwse she remans an outsder, that they have no rea hard
tme n sendng away. Forced to fnd retreat wth Ionu[ and hs brother n the
ghetto, she assumes the roe and status of mgrant, of potenta danger.
1/2/2/./2 Documentaries
Women as second-rate ctzens s the etmotf of most of the
documentares. Treated as crmnas where the breakng of patrarcha aw s
concerned, they are prone to the freedom of vctms of awessness, whch they
can hardy en|oy as they ve under the constant pressure of the awareness of
beng ega mgrants. Stea Margean n S, Mara, Petru Damans wfe n |,
Mhaea Marnca n GW have to constanty ve wth the fear of beng arrested by
the poce because they do not have vad resdence permts; n partcuar, n
Mara and Mhaeas case, the vunerabty that goes hand n hand wth ther
ega status exposes them to the rsk of becomng vctms of voence (Mara
tes some of her frends how she was attacked, robbed and brutay beaten n
an underground staton, whe Mhaea s deprved of a she had managed to
gather by hard work n her sma mserabe room when a gang of voent
mgrants attacks the coony n the warehouse). Sences, cose-ups on bank
starng or tear-sheddng eyes sustan, at the eve of the fmc dscourse, the
representaton of these womens vunerabty and sufferng.
Actuay, a the documentares that tacke gender-reated ssues present
women as sub|ect to mutpe vctmsaton: trapped wthn the nsttuton of
marrage (T, |, GW, S) or entrustng themseves to devous mae characters,
under the spe of potenta future marrages (IT), stgmatsed by ther
profoundy patrarcha envronment at home (T, |, GW), doomed to humaton
and oss of status, hard work and ow payment (|, GW, S), or to sexua
expotaton (IT), vunerabe to voent attacks (|, GW, IT) as we as to poce
harassment and deportaton (|, S).
The very exstence of assocatons, foundatons, NGOs dedcated to the
protecton and nstructon of women (especay mentoned n S - the Pt-
Saptrre Hospta and the group of vounteers teachng Romanan mgrants
French - and n IT - a Romanan ant-traffckng NGO and the Modovan branch
of the La Strada NGO) tes the sad tae of ther condton, nescapabe as ong as
domnaton w stay focused on gender and cutura dfferences and as ong as
women mgrants w accept the yoke.
1/2/2/2 -ritten press
Romanan mgrant women are often seen as survvors to poor and harsh
vng condtons descrbed aganst the background of permanent threatenng by
the Itaan poce. One of the exampes quoted by Adevru s reevant n ths
respect: Laura works as a housekeeper n Forence. She gans 750 euros per
61
month and she ves n a deserted barracks together wth her husband and ther
two sons. She s satsfed wth her work but she fears evacuaton even f
together wth the rest of the Romanans vng there she keeps the pace cean.
She frst thnks of her sons and s ready to sacrfce for them (Itaa: Un panst
roman ocueste ntr-o cazarm prst - Itay: Romanan Panst Lves n a
Deserted Barracks, Adevru, 30 Apr 2008).
However, Romanan mgrant women can be ntators of potca actons,
and can even nfuence the actons of other peope as some artces suggest
when referrng to mgrant women nvoved n potcs n the host country:
Romnc a fost aeas pentru prma dat n Consu oca dn Padova -
Padova: Romanan Woman, Frst Tme Eected n Loca Counc, Cotdanu, 25
|une 2009; Itaa: O romnc, sus[nut potc de partdu u Vetron, prmaru
Rome - Rome: Romanan Woman, supported by Mayors Potca Party,
Adevaru, 5 March 2008).
1/2/5/ Culture
1/2/5/. ,ilm
1/2/5/./. ,eature films
Wth one excepton (Isabee Mergauts TB), the corpus of feature fms
referred to here refects the assumed mae domnance of the cutura fed, as
they are mae drected, scrpted and produced. Though, to a greater or esser
extent, a of them focus on the dfferenta experence of mgrant women and
men n the context of a gendered word, they st tend to compy wth
tradtona encodngs of mascunty and femnnty whch conform to soceta
expectatons fostered by ther respectve cutura and hstorca ocaton.
The Romanan productons (to whch AT, wrtten and drected by the
Romanan Nae Caranf s here convenenty ncuded) construe the sub|ectvtes
of ther protagonsts n accordance to soceta roe modes whch change wthn
the 13 year span that the fms cover, but are n fact varatons on genera
gender stereotypes, becomng thus sub-stereotypes n themseves. From AT
(produced n 1996) to the most recent WM (2009), the woman mgrant has
been represented as: young and beautfu, ready to se her ooks/taents n the
promse of matera fufment n the West (the grs n AT; Sorna and Mhaea n
O); young and nnocent, the vctm of maevoent traffckers who ure them nto
mgratng abroad (the ssters n IW); the supportng, creduous and carng wfe,
passvey acquescng her husbands wsh to mgrate (Ana n E); the professona
prosttute (Lca n FL and L, the Modavan student n E); the mother who has
abandoned her chd n search of matera fufment abroad (Luza n WM). Such
mages tend to pace the characters wthn the tradtona representaton of
womanhood that equates the femnne wth the passve ob|ect, vctmhood,
sexuaty, domestcty and motherhood. The fms narratves are generay
convergent wth the representaton of femnnty as devod of agency, because
mae fgures nvested wth patrarcha authorty ether set n moton, deceve
nto or drect a woman mgrants |ourney. Buyng fathers (n IW and O),
husbands (n AT and E) or mperfect overs (n O, WM) more or ess openy
62
nstgate the pot; pubc agences (fake mpresaros n AT and matrmona
agents n O) or ndvduas (human traffckers n IW, a denquent husband n E)
forward and supervse t, whe other mae fgures ordan ts resouton: the ast
shots of IW focus on the Amercan soder, arrved by car n the remote southern
Romanan vage to ook for the grs he saved n Kosovo, wth the mpcaton
that he woud perform the roe of the rescuer once more, takng the ssters to a
more dstant (and respectabe) West; the mae-domnated nteroper word to
whch both her daughter and her granddaughter fa prey set the course of Luza
renewed departure to the west, the ony route that aows an escape from home
as entrapment and vcous crce.
As far as the fms attempt representatons of the mae mgrants
experence (n O, E and FL), ther narratves are more ambguous n the
codfcaton of mascunty, because here, both n the characters of Nae and
Ncu, the pre-1989 ega mgrants from O, as we as n those of Mtu, the
soder who dreams to serve n the Foregn Legon from FL and Em, the
unempoyed set to depart to Austraa from E, the boundares of ther
mascunty are transgressed by havng them cast n the femnne roe of
vctms: vctmsed by the communst regme and ts Securtate mae
authortaran fgures (Naes remnscences of coone Vsous bruta
nterrogatores n O), vctmsed by devous crooks at home (Em beng cheated
out of hs money by Streche n E and Mtu, Aure and Stec fang prey to
Marces machnatons n FL), or vctmsed by the very West that they covet
(Marces mprsonment and death n an Austran prson n FL). Nevertheess,
the mae narratve of vctmhood s nterwoven wth a narratve on crmnaty
(Ems transformaton nto a dshonest, aduterous denquent and a crmna by
chance n E; kewse, the three frends n FL stea an od womans bura money
to be abe to pay off ther dream) that confrms Western stereotypes about the
Eastern European mgrants.
The two foregn fms reman trbutary to the same gendered boundares
of the mgrants constructon. TB, the ony woman-authored fm ncuded here,
adheres to the tradtona mappng of mgraton n the gendered dchotomy of
the mascune West (Aym and the patrarcha French communty) and the
femnne East (Eena and, beyond, an amost excusvey femnne cast n whch
Romanan-ness s emboded), but nverts n order to subvert correated
oppostona terms by havng Eena move from the urban centre of a cuture to
the peasant perphery of another. Nevertheess, the Romanan womans
mgrant experence s captured wthn stereotypca representatons of
femnnty reated to sexuaty, domestcty and motherhood. RN, on the other
hand, counterposes a femnne West (Itay as metonymcay foregrounded
through the upper-cass and hghy refned Svana Boarn) aganst an
anthropomorphous East n whch gender (Mara vs. Ionu[), ethnc (Romanans
vs. Roma) and cass dstnctons (workers vs. owfes) are effaced n the
stereotype of the threatenng and crmna Romanan Other. Ths strategy
metaphorcay assocates the dfferent assauts on Svanas body (and, by
extenson famy and househod) wth mages of rape, treated both wthn the
dscourse on gender - the West as nnocent vctm of an expotatve, devous
and voent East, and the wder one on home, terrtory and beongng, because
rape s aso another dmenson of ssues reated to power and domnance.
63
1/2/5/./2 Documentaries
Gender stereotypng has frequenty been assocated wth patrarcha
power potcs and wth soca and cutura constructons of femnnty and
mascunty. The canonca narratves on gender dentty need to be exposed,
defamarsed for oppressng, dspacng or repressng manfestatons and
representatons of the compexty of gender.
In short therefore, the boogca factor asde, the soca has constanty
nfuenced the deveopment of gender dentty. In the case of women, a number
of recurrent ssues have been brought up: the revauaton of ther experences;
the chaengng of ther representatons as other, ack or part of nature;
the examnaton of power reatons and readng for potca purposes, to show
the extent of patrarchy; the recognton of the roe of anguage n makng the
soca and constructed seem transparent and natura; the questonng of the
popuar noton of the death of the author/authorty and dscussng the sub|ect
postons constructed n dscourse; the carfcaton of the deoogca base of
supposedy neutra or manstream nterpretatons of gender roes.
Repacng (hs)story wth her story seems a dffcut enterprse, yet
exposng the manpuatve strateges n budng memorabe characters and
events whch portray woman as secondary or as margn w eventuay
contrbute to dong |ust that.
Our seecton of documentary fms shows cassc cases of gender
dscrmnaton, deepened by the overappng dscrmnatory practces fueed by
race, natonaty, ethncty, anguage and hstory.
The two Maras n | (n Romanan cuture, a symboca name for the
prototype of the patrarchcay constructed obedent, hard-workng woman from
the countrysde - a speces facng extncton nowadays) oppose the nerta of
outmoded patterns of thought and, aware of the futty of ther present ves,
decde to emgrate. Both, however, are sgnfcanty punshed for ther darng
atttudes (one faces tremendous dffcutes n Pars as an mmgrant and snge
mother, the other oses everythng she owns n her attempts at ega
emgraton and has to return to the centures-od routne of fe n a sma
vage). Beyond these smartes, there are, yet, sgnfcant dfferences
between ther atttudes as wves and mothers.
To be more specfc, Mara, Petru Damans wfe, s not the type of
mgrant who crosses natona borders out of the desre to chaenge the gender
roe system n the Romanan patrarcha socety, besdes that of mprovng her
fnanca status. As a matter of fact, throughout her ong stay n Pars, she
remans fathfu to her husband, though he s away n Dubn, and behaves
accordng to the prncpes of the arge power-dstance socety, showng her
edery n-aws due respect. Moreover, she actuay appears as the perfect
ustraton of the good mother type. If she reacts aganst the estabshed norms
of her communty, refusng to send her son to work, she s entrey motvated by
mothery ove: after the forced separaton from Petru, her entre fe revoves
around her son Adran. It s her desre to offer hm a better fe and educaton
64
that keeps her gong on, even when, as a mgrant, she has to assume the rsk of
experencng humaton and voence. En|oyng her ndependence s somethng
she earns n tme, after fve years of separaton from her husband, when she
fnay fnds the courage to chaenge hs authorty as the head of the famy: she
s outraged that Petru w not |on her and Adran n Pars, and that, gven the
crcumstances, she s the one gossped about back home, forced nto a new
stereotypca frame, that of the easy woman (she s rumoured to have fed for
dvorce). She s supported n beratng hersef from a marrage that has not
brought her much satsfacton by her frends n Pars, who encourage her to
dvorce Petru and get on wth her fe, and n whose fames the dstrbuton of
the gender roes has undergone transformatons that ensure the baance n the
domestc sphere. (The husband of one of Maras frends takes care of the
chdren whe the women chat on the bacony.) But, through a the hardshps
that her fe as an ega mgrant and utmatey as a woman chaengng
tradtona behavoura patterns, she mantans the eptome of the good mother,
hodng a strong emotona bond wth Adran as the fna scene of the fm
shows.
On the other hand, the other Mara, Ion Damans wfe, has the fu
potenta to become the bad wfe and mother. There s a growng sense of
troube n paradse n ths narratve ne of the fm as Mara, more ambtous
and prone to chaenge estabshed patterns and to embrace ndvduasm,
grows dsapponted wth her husband and bames hm for not beng as
determned as hs brother Petru. Marta tenson reaches a cmax when, upon
Ions forced return home (after beng caught n Germany and havng spent 6
days n |a), nstead of ptyng and supportng hm, she dares hm, mockng at
hs manness and reproachng hm that he was arrested smpy because he
acted wthout thnkng frst. She smpy cannot accept that Ion has gven up the
dea of emgratng and pans to stay home to work. Though the famy s aready
heavy n debt, she does not seem to care and borrows the equvaent of 2
years ncome to buy fase trave papers. Unke Petrus Mara, who despte the
tense reaton wth her husband, remans a good mother and works hard to
provde for her son, Ions Mara seems to get carred away wth the dreams of
sef-fufment and dsrupton of gender herarches to the pont that she
becomes a bad mother. The sequence that shows Mara puttng on her make-up
- as she s supposed to pose as a Western busness woman - prefgures the
extent to whch she w change, provded she manages to get abroad. Amost
gnorng her husband, who watches her sady but senty, Mara carefuy
appes the make-up, mmckng TV show hosts, and she s so taken wth her
own artfca beauty that she cannot even stand the chdren next to her; ther
nave questons about the use of make-up bother her and she goes as far as to
brutay push away her daughter when, curous about the sma boxes and
pstcks she has never seen before, she tres to touch her mothers staff or
nterposes between her mother and the mrror. Maras re|ecton trggers the
chdrens defensvey scornfu reacton - her son asks f they w put her as a
scarecrow n the fed - whch Ion shares competey (they a augh at her) and
whch she chooses to gnore, as she s too busy wonderng whether she ooks
ke a rea woman. However, she w not be spared the punshment for
ambtous transgresson of the tradtona roes (wfe and mother): after the man
arrangng for her passport s arrested, she s shown back n her countrysde-
specfc cothes, her har covered by a scarf, payng for her sn, workng n
65
sence on the h, n the company of another woman, to gather the faen
appes from the orchard and to provde for her famy.
Forca Bud n T aso ooks on emgraton as the ony beratng choce she
has, as the unque way out of a mae-domnated socety, that has been
preserved n the Romanan countrysde, even better (or worse!?) than n the
more fexbe urban envronment. Forced by the patrarcha order that
domnates fe n her rura communty to move excusvey wthn the domestc
sphere as a woud-be peasants wfe, Forca hopes that crossng borders (to
town/abroad) for work w be empowerng and w offer her opportuntes to
chaenge the estabshed gender norms. What she does not seem to be aware
of s that fndng empoyment n precarous, ow pad |obs - ke housekeepng or
care - whch are often not vsbe or not recognsed as work especay f they
are performed outsde the ega framework

(Morokvasc, 2007: 68) w not ead
to a fu dsrupton of gender herarches, but, on the contrary, to reproducng
and even ntensfyng them. Somewhat ucky, she does not get to experence
renforced gender nequates as an ()ega mgrant, but her attempts at re-
shapng her dentty are doomed to end n frustraton and taxed, at the eve of
the oca communty, by the stgma of shame and margnasaton.
The GW |uxtaposes two patterns of behavour reated to Romanan
peasant womens dentty wth an am at provdng the answer to the queston:
what makes a good wfe. Reversng the genera trend, Mhaea Marnca mgrates
to Pars and puts up wth humatng vng and workng condtons to provde for
her famy and unempoyed husband back home. The mage of the emascuated
Mhaea renforces the msogynst myth of the Medusa to a certan extent, as
she s portrayed as strong and ndependent on the one hand, and as broken by
a socety n whch women (especay mgrants) are ony offered secondary roes
as domestc abourers n a mans urban word. In addton, though she attans
more autonomy, she cannot escape the ong arm of the patrarcha monster
from back home, as she s confronted wth obque, stgmatsng suspcons of
msbehavour that dmnsh the mportance of her success as a hard-workng
economc provder. Under the crcumstances, her return to nature and oca
patrarchy becomes a hghy desred aternatve, especay for her husband,
whch, nonetheess, she contnues to resst. On the other hand, the story of
Radu Buds quest for a wfe n the vage, whch s utmatey determned by the
famy patrarchs choce n favour of 100% countrysde-bred brde (Anu[a), wth
reatvey tte educaton but wth a submssve atttude towards the husband,
ends up forcng hm nto a perfect match by the rues of the arge-power
dstance rura socety, but hardy satsfyng n terms of ndvdua freedom of
choce (for both brde and groom). The mage of the empty ha after the
weddng whch concudes the fm, skfuy assocated wth an abrupt shft from
oud fok musc to sence and sad carnet tune, hnts at the emptness of the
newy-weds fe and rases questons as to how happy a marrage based not on
feengs and persona choces, but excusvey on duty and obedence to the
patrarcha norms, coud utmatey be.
The mae/femae perspectve on mgraton eastwards and on the centre-
margn metamorphoss makes BF especay ntrgung. The Saxon |ohann and
the Lander Mara have spent most of ther ves n Romana, but ther constanty
actvated fatherands, ke ther mother tongues, mark them as dfferent and
66
keep them at the magnatve centre that keeps the Romanans outsde. In
contrast wth |ohann, however (who st frts wth the fascst deoogy,
especay when t comes to the gypses next door), Mara s more toerant and
open to cutura otherness, athough she too keeps her dstance from the
Romanans around n fear of amagamaton, of osng her cutura specfcty -
now forever ost.
A case of eavng to return, symptomatc for the current Romanan
stuaton, s presented n LT, wth Hans and Mara, ethnc Saxons havng ved n
Romana for ages, now decdng t s tme to return to Germany (Augsburg).
Wth regard to women and womanhood, the documentary pants a unversa,
cross-cutura pcture: Mara and her femae frends (|utz Stueher, Inge Petru,
etc.) seem to spend most of ther tme n the ktchen, canteen. cose to ovens
and stoves (when not hepng men n the feds or tendng to the poutry, pgs,
catte, etc.). A ths s set aganst a Romanan settng, however. In Germany, on
the other hand, Mara (true, retred n her od age) s gmpsed at as dong
nothng much, sttng about eatng sweets, en|oyng the good fe. Her dress and
appearance have aso changed: no more drt under the nas, no more sun burnt
face, no more scarves, ong skrts, baggy |ackets or rubber boots.
Another good wfe, Stea s the breadwnner of the famy, spong her
husband Marce by tendng to hs every marta, medca or cunary need. Not a
gypsy hersef, she takes on the gypsy ook expected by the French, thus
expotng a cutura stereotype to attan her goa: that of earnng enough to
survve by beggng n the streets of Pars. At the same tme, she does not seem
to forget to pant her nas, or do her har, or smoke for that matter -
transformatons she can ony afford nsde ther humbe abode n the ghetto.
Stea (and Gab, her sster) manages to ad|ust to varous externa and cutura
crcumstances that she has nfcted on hersef and that she needs to cope wth,
but remans nostagc after her prevous fe back home (see the many
photographs of her younger sef she keeps ookng at), despte the fact that t
was one of a margn due to her marryng nto the Roma communty, but a
better toerated margn than the one she s currenty exed to n France.
(Motherhood s ony brefy auded to n S because, as the protagonst
confesses, she ost her ony chd - a daughter from a prevous marrage - at a
very tender age. A good mother, Stea st mourns her daughters untmey
death, hence the ong sences that accompany her meanchoy contempaton
of the photos from the funera, actuay the ony thngs she has st got from her
chd.)
Women as merchandse are focused on n IT as part of an nternatona
campagn aganst human traffckng. The Romanan Ana and the Modovan
Tatana may very we have had any other natonaty, but the reason for ther
havng been chosen as protagonsts, athough not made expct, seems to
make a cutura statement aso, besdes the one on gender (the fm s n
Engsh, presented by Angena |oe - famous wordwde, therefore addressng a
wder audence than the strcty Romanan one). The traffckng chan
dsmanted ncudes many mae fgures empowered by heredtary postons of
authorty and feedng on the smary tradtona dscrmnatory practces
towards women. The nave, uneducated Ana and Tatana entrust themseves to
men and end up as vctms of a system whch thrves on the further expotaton
67
of the aready under-prveged. The crtque s eventuay drected towards men
and women ake: f the former are bunty accused of ega actvtes, the atter
are more subty bamed for passvty wth regard to a stuaton they have not
created, but ready accepted as the norm.
1/2/5/2 -ritten press
Cuture-reated ssues on gender and mgraton cover partcuary the
specfc stereotypes assocated wth mgrant men and women as seen n the
sendng and the recevng countres.
Seen from the perspectve of the home/sendng country, gender roes
are st governed by the rues of a patrarcha socety n whch men are
supposed to work and to be the provders for ther fames, whe women are
responsbe for the housework and the chdren. As heads of ther fames, men
are aowed to be voent to ther wves and chdren, and may go abroad to work
wthout beng suspected of nfdety towards ther wves. Ths s not the case
wth women who are easy stereotyped as bad mothers (see the exampes on
pp. 54-5) or prosttutes f they choose to mgrate n order to provde for ther
fames. Many Romanan mgrant women have aspred to emancpaton n
western socetes n whch men and women are regarded as ndvduas wth
equa rghts and dutes, free to decde ther own destny. That may account for
ther transton from dedcated wves and mothers to women who are more
concerned wth ther professona status and fnanca ndependence. However,
thngs are not aways so ceary deneated, because soco-economc and
potca factors prevent them from achevng ether a good professona
poston, or fnanca ndependence. Under the crcumstances, they have ether
the opton of fndng men to provde for them (mascho taano cente rcco e
donna stranera prosttuta povera n Se uomo topo dventa sgnore dea
paura - When Rat Man Becomes Lord of Fear, La Repubbca, 7 November
2007), or of makng rsky choces n an attempt to obtan ther ndependence.
Such choces seem to have been the bass of Romanan womens mgraton n
countres such as Itay and Span and the cause of numerous acts of voence
aganst Romanan mgrant women. However, such cases n whch Romanan
mgrant women are vctms of voence are presented at arge by the Romanan
press, whereas the Itaan newspapers choose to brefy menton such cases.
The Romanan prosttute stereotype s used and abused by the wrtten
press, as the anayss of the corpus shows. The overuse of terms such as
prosttute, prosttuton may generate sexst opnons and atttudes,
renforcng the mage of a patrarcha socety whch confnes women to ether
the domestc or the sexua sphere. Comparng the artces pubshed n the two
Romanan newspapers, the fact can be notced that Romanan |ournasts
wrtng for Adevru use the term prosttute more often than those wrtng for
Cotdanu. For exampe, the word prosttute appears n 4 out 27 artces
pubshed n Adevru n 2007 on the sub|ect of Romanan womens mgraton,
and n 10 out of 36 artces pubshed n 2008. The use of the term may be
reated to the |ournasts desre to attract the consumerst reader by
sensatonast stores rather than to a rea ncrease n the number of women
mgrants engaged n prosttuton. Nevertheess, |ournasts shoud be more
68
cautous n reaton to the abes they attach, as the frequent use of offendng
words such as prosttute may ead to the stereotypca representaton of the
Romanan women mgrants as promscuous. An exampe of the negatve
nfuence of such stereotypng and of pre|udces on mgraton and empoyment
poces s provded by the story of a hghy-quafed Romanan woman mgrant
who sued her empoyer for dscrmnaton. (Romnca n proces cu PwC a
Londra a ob[nut daune de numa 750 de re sterne - Romanan Woman
Sung PwC n London Gets Damages of Ony 750, Cotdanu, 25 September
2009).
In such a context of negatve stereotypng, ob|ectfcaton, vctmhood
and sexuaty often combne n the representatons of Romanan women
mgrants vctmsaton by varous mae fgures, whether pertanng to the host
communty (e.g. Itaan arestat pentru tentatv de sechestrare a une
romance - Itaan Arrested for Attempted Sezure of Romanan Mgrant
Woman, Adevru, 31 December 2007; Dup ce s-a btut sota romnc, un
taan a dat foc a cas - After Beatng Romanan Wfe, Itaan Husband Sets
Home on Fre, Adevru, 13 February 2008; Satanst taen, cercetat pentru
ucderea unor prosttuate romnce - Itaan Satansts, Investgated for Murder
of Romanan Prosttutes, Adevru, 23 Apr 2008; etc.) or to the mgrants n-
group (Itaa: un romn s-a ucs sota n masn - Itay: Romanan Ks Wfe n
Ther Car, Adevru, 10 December 2007; Itaa: romn arestat pentru c
obga so[a s se prosttueze - Itay: Romanan Arrested for Forcng Wfe nto
Prosttuton, Adevru, 31 December 2007; Itaa: Un romn obga so[a
mnor s se prosttueze - Itay: Romanan Forces Underage Wfe nto
Prosttuton, Adevru, 4 |anuary 2008; etc.). What s aso nterestng to remark
n ths respect s that, nonetheess, a arge number of artces show a certan
preference for agentess, mosty passve, constructons that eave the aggressor
undentfed (at east n terms of natonaty, because, otherwse, the aggressor
s stereotypcay understood as mae): O romnc a fost ucs n Spana -
Romanan Woman Ked n Span, Adevru, 21 |une 2007; Romnc gst
moart a Mano, prezentnd semne de agresune - Man: Aggressed
Romanan Woman Found Dead, Adevru, 10 November 2007; Roma: o
romnc a murt ntr-un ncendu - Rome: Romanan Woman Des n a Fre,
Adevru, 17 December 2007; Itaa: O romnc a fost btut, egat
aruncat dntr-o man - Itay: Romanan Woman Beaten, Ted Up and
Thrown from Car, Adevru, 21 December 2007; Au afat dn pres c fata or
a fost ars de ve - They Found out n Press Ther Daughter Was Burnt Ave,
Adevru, 7 February 2008; Itaa: mnore romnce sechestrate obgate s
se prosttueze - Itay: Underage Romanan Grs Sezed and Forced nto
Prosttuton, Adevru, 15 February 2008.
Yet, when the vctms are women or grs from the destnaton country,
for exampe Itay, the aggressor s expcty mentoned as n the exampes
beow: O band de hot care vorbeau romneste au uat ostatc fata unu om
de afacer taan - Gang of Theves Speakng Romanan Take Hostage Itaan
Busnessmans Daughter, Adevru, 8 |anuary 2008; Do romn suspectat de
voarea une taence - Two Romanans Suspected of Itaan Womans Rape,
Cotdanu, 15 |anuary 2009; Brbat care au voat o fat de 14 an a Roma
sunt romn - Rome: Men Rapng Gr, 14, are Romanans, Cotdanu, 16
February 2009; Un romn a voat o btrn oarb de 83 de an dn Itaa -
69
Itay: Romanan Rapes Bnd Od Woman, 83, Cotdanu, 17 February 2009;
Btrna voat de un romn n Itaa a decedat n spta - Od Woman Raped
by Romanan n Itay Des n Hospta, Cotdanu, 23 February 2009; Do
romn sunt suspectat c au voat o taanc n vrst de 12 an - Two
Romanans Suspected of Rapng Itaan, 12, Cotdanu, 2 March 2009.
If reference s made to the Itaan woman as a vctm of mgrants voent
acts, she s referred to as a good wfe and mother, decent person dfferent
from the Romanan mgrant woman who s a bad mother and/or prosttute.
The artces devoted to the vctmzaton of Itaan women are argey expoted
by the Itaan press (e.g. representatons of Govanna Reggan n the artces on
the Maat case - wfe of an Itaan Navy offca, nvoved n charty and
humantaran assstance), whch s not the case wth the vctmzaton of the
Romanan mgrant women.
Though most of the artces present Romanan mgrant women as
vctms, there are aso artces whch, by effacng gender roe dstnctons,
subsume ther representatons to the stereotype of the crmna Romanan
Other. The mage of Romanan women as aggressors appears n a few artces,
reference beng most often made to Romanan mgrant women n Itay (O
romnc este cercetat pentru ucderea une btrne - Romanan Woman
Investgated for Od Womans Murder, Adevru, 8 |anuary 2008; Roma: n
cazu Umbrea ucgas, Dona Mate este acuzat de omor fr ntente -
Rome: In Deady Umbrea Case, Dona Mate Accused of Unntentona
Murder, Adevru, 20 February 2008). Ony rarey are women representng the
host country presented as aggressors (Romnc sechestrat n Itaa de
btrnca pentru care ucra - Itay: Romanan Woman Locked by Od Woman
She Worked for, Cotdanu, 25 May 2008).
As regards the Romanan mgrant man, he s generay assocated wth
abour (especay n constructons), or crme (thef, traffcker, rapst, murderer),
an ndvdua who s voent to hs famy and who often commts acts of voence
and crmes aganst the host popuaton he shares a geographc and cutura
space wth. The stereotype of the host-country vctm usuay goes hand n hand
wth the dscrmnatng stereotype of the Romanan mgrant as an aggressor.
The resut s a tendency towards gender (mens) dscrmnaton n the host
country whch s obvous partcuary n some artces (Acas tot romn dn
Itaa. S vn romncee - Send Home A Romanan Men. Let Romanan
Women Come, Adevru, 23 Apr 2008), chef among whch those presentng
the persona opnon of Itaan personates ke Aessandra Musson suggestng
that men comng from Romana shoud be forbdden to enter the Itaan terrtory
(Aessandra Musson: Brbat romn s nu ma fe prmt n Itaa -
Aessandra Musson: Romanan Men Shoud Be Forbdden to Enter Itay,
Cotdanu, 22 February 2009); abandoned Romanan chdren, on the other
hand, shoud be gven to adopton and granted Itaan ctzenshp (Nepoata u
Musson cere ber a adopt nternatonae pentru cop romn - Mussons
Grand-Daughter Requres Free Internatona Adopton for Romanan Chdren,
Cotdnu, 17 |uy 2009).
70
4/ Conclusions
The man focus of the surveyed corpus - fms and wrtten press - has
been on Romana as a mgrant-sendng socety, though fms (both feature and
documentares) have touched at tmes upon ts dfferent status as a destnaton
or transt socety prmary for ctzens from the Repubc of Modova, as we.
Wth the excepton of O, the one feature fm that |uxtaposed pre- and post-
1989 mgraton patterns, the rest of the anaysed texts regstered n ther
dscursve fabrc ma|or post-communst and post-ntegraton Romanan
mgratory trends, .e. ()ega (crcuar) abour mgraton, mgraton through
marrage, ethnc mgraton, human traffckng, and foregrounded, n the wder
context of communcated concepts and nterpretatons on mgraton, topca
ssues pertnent to these trends such as the depopuaton of Romanan vages
and the extncton of oca cutures through emgraton (documentares), the
rsks and costs of ega mgraton (feature fms, documentares and wrtten
press), especay for the Romanan strawberry pckers (wrtten press), chd-
abandonment (feature fms and wrtten press), Roma/Romanan crmnaty
(feature fms and wrtten press).
Consderng the texts potcs of representaton reated to the dfferenta
experences of mgrant women and men n a gendered word, one ma|or
dfference can be estabshed between the feature fms (whch, through a
predomnanty femnne cast of mgrant characters, suggest the ncreased
femnsaton of mgratory trends) and the wrtten press artces (whch generay
bud up a gender-neutra profe of the Romanan mgrant, or, n the few cases
n whch they adopt a gender-orented perspectve, they st tend to under-
represent women ssues), wth the documentares (whch focus ether on
marred coupes, or devote equa attenton to men and women mgrants,
offerng thus a gender-baanced vew of mgraton) paced n-between.
Paced n the perspectva context of the representng text (home vs.
host) n order to hghght the nterpay of soco-potca and cutura
specfctes, the anaysed corpus reveas tsef as mut-accentua, confcted and
confctng wth dscourses on mgraton prveged n a partcuar meu.
To be more specfc, the fms aways portray home as a socety on the
pont of transton (communsm vs. captasm, coectvsm vs. ndvduasm,
ocasm vs. gobasaton, rura vs. urban) and fractured aong economc, soca,
spata, ethnc and generatona nes. The newspaper artces nsst on the
economc dmenson, persstenty charactersng t as an unattractve abour
market wth severe consequences at the soca eve (unempoyment,
margnasaton and mpovershment) and eager to beneft from mgrant
remttances. Whe the ethnc dmenson s under-represented n fms (ony a
few documentares tacke ssues reated to Romanan Saxons mgraton n the
eary 1990s), the press draws a cear dstncton between the Romanan and the
Roma ethnc mnorty. Host socetes (Span, Itay, France, Germany, Austra,
Engand, Ireand, or the more dstant Austraa) are backgrounded n the
Romanan feature fms, but emerge as domnant n the foregn ones - ether as
rura, tradton-bound but agng (the French communty n TB) or, conversey, as
urban, prosperous but cass-rdden (the Itaan famy n RN). Though present n
71
a documentares, the destnaton cutures reman sent, for the mgrants
reman confned to dasporc groups, not shown n nter-cutura nteracton. Ony
n IT the host country resurfaces as a mercante, proft-obsessed and
consumerst socety. Conversey, the press nssts once more on the economc
aspect, as host socetes are aways defned as attractve n fnanca terms,
though dfferentated between a more socay toerant and permssve towards
mgrants Span, or an Itay vacatng between hostty and moderaton.
The same post-communst reates appy to women ony more
pognanty so, hence the ncreased femnsaton of emgraton aganst the
background of persstent forms of patrarchy mtng womens opportuntes.
Consequenty, both the Romanan and foregn fms textuase the fgure of the
woman mgrant as a vctm of grave economc and soca probems:
unempoyment, poverty, generaton gap, mted chd-care optons, and the
contnung domnaton of mae-centred vaues and herarches at both domestc
and pubc eves. Otherwse, most of the fms, ether obquey or expcty,
revea mgrant women as beng postoned on the margn of the host socety,
wth mted optons: underpad femnsed sectors of the abour market (ceanng
and carng, agrcuture, entertanment) or moray-questonabe actvtes ke
beggary and prosttuton, often pushed to the extreme form of human
traffckng. As sad before, women mgrant experences tend to reman under-
represented n the wrtten press. When they emerge as domnant, the
Romanan newspapers mosty focus on the domestc sphere, partcuar stress
beng ad on chd-abandonment as a soca consequence of womens
mgraton. In a few cases, they aso draw attenton to the broader soca and
economc context of the phenomenon. Wth reference to ther encounters wth
the host socetes, ony a few Romanan artces popuarze cases of successfu
mgrant women, the rest wtnessng to the mted range of |obs (domestc work,
heath care, agrcuture, weavng, toursm) avaabe to them. Otherwse, they
are presented ether as promscuous or as vctms (of traffckng, rape, murder),
and more rarey as aggressors (mosty n the Itaan press.)

The nsttutona context s obquey touched upon n the feature fms,
whch, nevertheess acknowedge that opportuntes for ega mgraton are
extremey few and not aways reabe. Moreover, the Romanan productons
nsst on the fact that busnesses (both home and abroad) thrve on Romanan
dreams to mgrate, whe the poce are hepess, useess and/or easy brbed.
The opposte s the case n the documentares, where nsttutons receve a
much cearer representaton: state emgraton authortes factatng ethnc
mgraton; empoyment agences medatng ega work contracts; GOs and
NGOs nvoved n combatng human traffckng. Nevertheess, even here the
protagonsts are shown to assume the rsks of ega mgraton through fake
vsas, work and resdence permts, or mgrant smuggng. In the host socetes,
poce s recurrenty mentoned and fet as a constant threat by ega mgrants.
Deprved of ctzenshp, the atter cannot cam any rghts. Ony NGOs try to
aevate ther condton. Lkewse, the Romanan newspapers tend to agree on
the fact that there s no we-defned abour mgraton pocy at home, but prase
the actons of both governmenta and non-governmenta nsttutons geared
ether towards the cutura (re)ntegraton of mgrants, or provdng support to
home aone chdren. Smary, the artces deang wth the Romanan
strawberry pckers ay ther emphass on those Spansh nsttutons that
72
support the mgrants ntegraton. Another standpont s adopted by the
|ournasts reportng on the Roma/Romanan crmnaty n Itay, where the
nsttutona framework s correspondngy emboded by |udca, admnstratve
and potca structures that attempt (though not aways successfuy) to
reguate mgraton.
As far as women are concerned, both fms and wrtten press
acknowedge the fact that there exsts an under-representaton of poces and
nsttutons concerned wth ther rghts. Whe n a the feature fms the
femnne characters appear as deprved of any offca support at home, havng
to take ther fate nto ther own hands and survve as best as they can, IT s the
ony documentary to cte the chan of Romanan GOs and NGOs nvoved n
combatng traffckng and offerng assstance to the vctms. The same hods
true for the host socetes, n whch acceptance, recognton and ctzenshp are
actuay dened to the women mgrants, except for those that acqure t through
the nsttuton of marrage. Moreover, the documentares nsst n showng that
women are more vunerabe wth respect to ther ega status, obsessvey
fearng the poce and deportaton. Ony the press makes very scarce references
to supportve actons undertaken on behaf of mgrant women nvoved n
potcs n the host country.
As cutura texts, fms as we as newspaper artces reman embedded n
a recognzabe soca matrx, n keepng wth the nner dynamcs and outspoken
deas of the gven communtes. Through the vsua and textua representatons
they transmt and medate, a meda texts carry menta schemata that
underpn the nterpay between percepton of the other and sef-percepton,
best reveaed by an anayss of mages and stereotypes through whch they
attempt a conceptuasaton of mgraton and the mgrants experence. As such,
n the more poetcay-rued and (non)fctona-narratve meda of fm, a
pervadng sense of desperaton, dspacement, mora confuson and oss of
tradton (as the recurrng metaphor of death suggests) oom arge over the
meanngs of home. Otherwse, home vacates between Western stereotypes
of Romana/The East as exotc tourst attracton, dyc, but prmtve Eden, or
and of poverty and mora compromse (n TB and |, T, GW). At the opposte
end, the magned cartography of the fms stuates the myth of the rch and
mghty West. Ironcay, ths s sustaned ony by TB and WM, whe a the other
fms cast t nto doubt or bunty deny t. Paced n-between, the mgrants
constructon argey abdes by the tradtona stereotypes of adventurer,
exe, prodga son/daughter (n the home cuture), adapter/aen or the
more recent ega worker, crmna and prosttute (n the destnaton
cuture), but aso sghty destabses them by trespassng or con|onng ther
typoogca and cutura borders. In the more factua |ournastc dscourse, the
emphass s ad upon two recent cutura stereotypes reated to ()ega abour
mgraton: the strawberry pcker and the crmna Roma/Romanan. As the
anayss of Romanan newspaper artces reveas, n the destnaton cutures the
former s ony crcuated among members of the Romanan daspora and s
re|ected on ts assumed pe|oratve connotatons, whe the atter s generased
so as to erase ethnc dfferences n the stereotype of the Romanan crmna
Other.
73
Though, to a greater or esser extent, a texts focus on the dfferenta
experence of mgrant women and men n the context of a gendered word, they
st tend to compy wth tradtona encodngs of mascunty and femnnty
whch conform to soceta expectatons fostered by ther respectve cutura and
hstorca ocaton. The fms consstenty represent womanhood n terms of
sexuaty, domestcty, motherhood and vctmhood; Romanan women mgrants
are thus mosty reduced to passve ob|ects devod of agency, as mae fgures
nvested wth patrarcha authorty ether set n moton, deceve nto, drect or
brng to an end ther |ourneys. The codfcaton of mascunty s more
ambguous, confatng the roes of vctmser and vctm, the atter domnatng
men mgrants narratves. The tradtona mappng of mgraton n the gendered
dchotomy of the mascune West and the femnne East s sustaned by TB and
IT, but reversed n RN to foreground the stereotype of the threatenng and
crmna Romanan Other that assauts a cvsed but defenseess femnne
West. The wrtten press goes even further n ts compance wth the tradtona
encodngs of femnnty. By focusng on women mgrants transgresson of
tradtona roes as wves and mothers (e.g. the home aone chdren
campagn), Romanan artces foster the stereotypes of bad mother and easy
woman. Otherwse, many focus on sensatonast news n whch vctmhood s
equated wth the mage of the Romanan woman mgrant. As for the foregn
artces ncuded n the anaysed corpus, t seems that the mage of the
Romanan woman mgrant s most often assocated wth vctmhood,
prosttuton, or crmnaty to the extreme, confatng stereotypca constructons
of femnnty (vctms) and mascunty (crmnas) of eastern European mgrants.
8/ Polic* recommen&ations
Athough mgraton nevtaby brngs about unsettng experences, t s a
fact that t has become, for many Romanans, a way of fe. Therefore the
meda, by underwrtng ther tra|ectores to other cutures and socetes, shoud
empower the mgrants to ntegrate and overcome margnasaton by
hghghtng ther potenta contrbuton to the whoesomeness of the European
hertage.
Snce n todays word, mages tend to carry more persuasve weght
than wrtngs, fmc texts regsterng the dynamc nterpay of cross-cutura
perceptons whch mgraton entas shoud reach out to a wder pubc through:
the organsaton of thematc festvas (or sectons wthn festvas);
broader teevson broadcastng;
the ssung of good quaty mut-anguage subtted copes of the most
representatve productons to be dssemnated at home and abroad;
the creaton of brares (or archves) of mgraton-reated fms to
support research nto the fed.
Because the press has a cruca roe n mentaty formaton and
manpuaton, ts representatona power shoud be used to encourage postve
cross-cutura daogue by:
74
avodng abusve generasatons key to evove nto negatve
stereotypes;
avodng the trap of easy sensatonasm and offerng ther readershp a
more baanced presentaton of (gender n) mgraton topcs, that woud
aow for a more comprehensve vew on them;
even wth controversa ssues, tryng to cast a more nqustve ook at
the arger context to whch ther sub|ects beong, encouragng an
nvestgatve rather than nformatve type of reportng;
recevng professona tranng that woud do out wth pagarsm or
dstorton of orgna sources.
75
7/ "eferences
Badwn-Edwards, Martn (2005) Mgraton Poces for a Romana wthn the
European Unon: Navgatng between Scya and Charybds n
Medterranean Mgraton Observatory, Workng paper no. 7 (December),
Athens: Panteon Unversty, http://www.mmo.gr.
Bosswck, Wofgang and Fredrch Heckmann (2006) Integraton of Mgrants:
Contrbuton of Loca and Regona Authortes, European Foundaton for the
Improvement of Lvng and Workng Condtons,
http://eurofound.test.reggan.eu/pubdocs/2006/22/en/1/ef0622en.pdf.
Buter, |udth (2006) Precarous Lfe. The Power of Mournng and Voence,
London and New York: Verso.
Co|ocaru, Mara, Aexandru Gue, Gabrea Irmescu, Ctn Luca, Adran Lupu,
Vase Mftode (2006) Mgra[a efectee e n pan fama (Mgraton and Its
Effects on Famy Lfe) n Mgra[a trafcu mnoror nenso[[: Msur urgente
pentru mnor afa[ n stua[e de vunerabtate extrem (Irreguar Mgraton
and Traffckng n Unaccompaned Mnors: Urgent Measures for Mnors n
Stuatons of Extreme Vunerabty, IOM (Internatona Organsaton for
Mgraton),
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urse_asstenta_socaa_cop_sngur_acasa/abtat/Mgrata_s_efectee_e_n_
pan_fama_OIM2006.pdf.
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the Perspectve of Romanas Accesson to the European Unon, Pre-
Accesson mpact Studes II, Study no.5, Bucharest: The European Insttute of
Romana.
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Report (|une), http://www.state.gov/documents/organzaton/123357.pdf.
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Ethnobarometer, http://www.ethnobarometer.org.
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workers by EU countres/ EEA countres/ Swtzerand,
(http://eures.anofm.ro/anuntur/restrct_mpuse_romane2.htm.
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September, Hamburg: Hamburg Insttute of Internatona Economcs,
http://www.focus-mgraton.de/upoads/tx_wpubdb/CP_09_Romana.pdf.
Morokvasc, Mr|ana (2007) Mgraton, Gender, Empowerment, n Ise Lenz,
Charotte Urch, Barbara Fersch (eds.), Gender Orders Unbound.
Gobasaton, Restructurng and Recprocty, Opaden, Farmngton Hs:
Barbara Budrch Pubshers, pp. 69-97.
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Abroad), http://www.anofm.ro/146_munca-n-stranatate.
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Popuaton, http://www.nsse.ro/cms/rw/pages/anuarstatstc2008.en.do.
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Externa Mgraton n the Context of Accesson to the EU: Mechansms,
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http://en.wkpeda.org/wk/Cotdanu.
6/ Appen&i3$ ,ilm 9verviews
6/./ ,eature ,ilms
1. -ee?en& cu mama (-ee?en& with m* Mother) @ -M
- drector: Stere Guea
- producer: Andre Boncea
- reease date: 2009
- genre: drama
- duraton: 90 mnutes
- anguage: Romanan
- settng: Bucharest and the countrysde
- Cast: Medeea Marnescu (Luza), Adea Popescu (Crstna), Tudor Aaron
Istodor (Gon[), Gheorghe Dnc (stepfather), Ecaterna Nazare (Eena).
- Awards: Best Fm at the Independent Producers Internatona Fm Festva -
IPIFF, Constanta (2009).
2. =chimb valutar (:3chan!e) @ :
- drector: Ncoae Mrgneanu
- scrpt: Tudor Vocan
- reease date: 2008
- genre: drama
77
- anguage: Romanan
- settng: Bucharest and the provnces
- Cast: Cosmn Sees (Em), Aona Munteanu (L), Rodca Ionescu (Ana),
Vaentn Urtescu (father n aw), And Vasuanu (Streche).
- Awards: 4 nomnatons (Best Actor n a Leadng Roe- Cosmn Sees, Best
Scrpt - Tudor Vocan, Best Actress n a Supportng Roe - Aona Munteanu,
Best Orgna Musc Score- Petru Margneanu) at the GOPO Fm Festva
(2009).
3. ;e!iunea strin (#he ,orei!n ;e!ion) @ ,;
- drector: Mrcea Daneuc
- scrpt: Mrcea Daneuc
- reease date: 2008
- genre: drama + comedy
- anguage: Romanan
- settng: a sma vage n the mountans
- Cast: Oana Pecnta (Lca), Ctn Paraschv (Aure), Radu Cobnasu
(Steca), Mrcea Radu Iacoban (Mtu), Rc Rducanu (Marce), Despna
Stnescu (grandmother Vergna), Toma Cuzn (poceman 1), Oxana Moravec
(doctor), Ncodm Ungureanu (coone), Mrcea Teodorescu (busnessman 1).
4. Italiencele (#he Italian -omen) @ I-
- Drector: Napoeon Hems
- Wrter: Napoeon Hems
- Producer: Ion Mtteu
- Reease date: 2004
- Genre: comedy
- Duraton: 82 mn
- Language: Romanan and French
- Settng: a vage n Otena
- Cast: Mara Ncoescu (|en), Ana Uaru (Lenu[a), Vaentn Popescu (the
father), Vad Zamfrescu (Govan), Em Hotn (Fane), Coste Cacava
(Gge), Ion Coceru (the raway staton chef).
5. 9cci&ent (9cci&ent) @ 9
- Drector: Crstan Mungu
- Wrter: Crstan Mungu
- Producer: Dan Badea
- Reease date: 2002
- Genre: comedy
- Duraton: 110 mn
- Language: Romanan, French, Itaan, Engsh
- Settng: Bucharest
- Cast: Aexandru Papadopo (Luc), Anca-Ioana Androne (Sorna), Tana Popa
(Mhaea), Dore Vsan (Mhaeas father), Coca Boos (Mhaeas mother),
Eugena Bosnceanu (Aunt Leana), Ioan Gyur Pascu (Gca), Tora Vasescu
(the schoo-mstress), Samue Tastet (|erome), Mchae Beck (The
Dutchman), |rme Bounkaz (The Itaan).
78
- Awards: Best new Drector Award, Leeds (2002); Nova Prze, Monpeer
(2002); Audence Award, Thessaonk (2002); Great Prze for Best Pcture,
Annonay (2003); Ounzane des Rasateurs, Cannes (2002).
6. Asfalt #an!o (Asphalt #an!o) @ A#
- Drector: Nae Caranf
- Wrters: Nae Caranf and Stphane Lpne
- Producers: Marc Ruscart, Crstan Corneag
- Reease date: 1996
- Genre: comedy
- Duraton: 100 mn
- Language: Romanan and French
- Settng: Bucharest and the provnces
- Cast: Charotte Rampng (Maron), Mrcea Daconu (Andre), Forn Cnescu
(Gg), Constantn Cotmans (the drver), Ctna Rhanu (Dora), Marthe
Feten (Feca), Adna Cartanu (Grazea)
- Awards: UCIN (Romanan Fmmakers Assocaton) - Best Drector (1996-
1997).
7. Il resto &ella notte (#he "est of the i!ht) @ "
- Drector: Francesco Munz
- Wrter: Francesco Munz
- Reease Date: 2008 (Itay)
- Genre: Drama
- Language: Itaan and Romanan
- Settng: Bresca, Itay
- Cast: Sandra Ceccare (Svana Boarn), Aureen Recong (Govann Boarn),
Stefano Cassett (Marco Ranca), Laura Vasu (Mara), Vctor Cosma
(Vctor), Constantn Lupescu (Ionut), Veronca Besa (Anna Boarn), Vaentna
Cerv (Francesca), Dtta Teresa Acerbs (Euseba), Susy Laude (Mara), Bruno
Festo (Luca), Corrado Invernzz (Drver), Govann Morna (Davde), Maurto
Taban (Vncenzo), Smonetta Benozzo (Operator)
- Awards: Premered at Ounzane des Rasateurs at Cannes Fm Festva;
Itaan Fm Festva - Cnema Mracoo - |ury Award (2008).
8. 'e vous trouve trAs beau (I ,in& Bou Cer* ice) @ #<
- Producer: |ean- Lous Lv
Drector: Isabee Mergaut
- Wrter: Isabee Mergaut
- Producton company: Gaumont & France 2 Cnma
- Cast: Mche Banc (Aym Pgrenet), Medeea Marnescu (Eena), Wadmr
Yordanoff (Roand Banchot), Benot Tur|man (Antone), Eva Daran (Mme
Maras), Esabeth Commen (Franose), Vare Bonneton (Matre
Labaume), |uen Cafaro (Therry), Vaentn Travers (|ean-Pau), Rapha
Dufour (Ncoas)
- Reease Date:
- 11 |anuary 2006 (France)
- 18 |anuary 2006 (Begum)
- 27 Apr 2006 (Itay)
79
- 14 |une 2006 (USA)
- 15 |une 2006 (Israe)
- 23 September 2006 (Serba)
- 6 December 2006 (Romana)
- 8 February 2007 (Germany)
- 21 September 2007 (South Korea)
- 4 Apr 2008 (Mexco)
- Awards: Csar Best Frst Work (Isabee Mergaut) (2007); Love s Foy
Internatona Fm Festva, Bugara - Best Actor (Mche Banc) (2007).
6/2/ Documentaries
./ <e*on& the ,orest @ <,
- Genre: nteractve or partcpatory documentary
- Producton: Goden Grs Fmprodukton
- Drector: Gerad Igor Hauzenberger
- Screenpay: Gerad Igor Hauzenberger
- Language: German, wth Romanan subttes
- Duraton: 75 mn
- Reease: 2007
- Settng: Transyvana, Romana
- Characters: an od man (|ohann Schuff), an od woman (Mara Huber)
- Awards: FIPRESCI Award at Transvana Internatona Fm Festva (2007);
Erasmus EUROMEDIA Sponsorshp Award (2007); Best fm at Saratov
Sufferngs Fm Festva, Russa (2007).
2/ ;eavin! #rans*lvania @ ;#
- Genre: nteractve or partcpatory documentary
- Drector: Deter Auner (a Saxon-Romanan who mgrated n Germany to
eventuay sette n Ireand)
- Language: Saxon-German, Romanan
- Duraton: 52 mn
- Reease: 2006
- Settng: Arbegen, a sma vage n Transyvana; Augsburg, Germany
- Characters: an edery Saxon coupe Hans Kenze and Mara Kenze.
5/ =tella @ =
- Genre: nteractve or partcpatory documentary (part of a trogy on
Romanan women)
- Drector: Vanna Vgna
- Languages: Romanan and French
- Duraton: 77 mn
- Reease: 2006
- Settngs: Pars, France and Braa, Romana
- Characters: Stea Margean, Marce Margean (husband), Gab (Steas sster)
- Awards: Cnma du re, Internatona Documentary Fm Festva, Pars -
Patrmony award (2007).
1/ Inhuman #raffic @I#
80
- Genre: TV documentary
- Produced by: MTV - An MTV Ext Speca as part of the campagn Ext - to
end expotaton and traffckng (aunched n |uy 2004 at the EXIT
Festva n Nov Sad, Serba & Montenegro and broadcasted n Romana
on a natona teevson channe, TVR2; for the show Lumea de aproape
/The Word under the Lens)
- Duraton: 30 mn
- Reease: 2005
- Presenter: Angena |oe
- Languages: Engsh, Dutch, Check, Romanan;
- Subttes: Romanan
- Character st: Anna - Romanan vctm of traffckng; Ludma - potenta
vctm; from Modova; Govann - cent of sex wth prosttutes; Dutch; Steve
- owner of strp cub n Prague; Luan Pakc - Abanan traffcker; Stefano -
works for a UN Centre for Traffckng Unt - Kosovo, Serba; fghts to prevent
the phenomenon from spreadng; saves vctms and prosecutes traffckers;
Mara - Romanan ant-traffckng actvst; rescues, offers protecton from
traffckers; runs a safe house for vctms; Tatana - Modovan vctm of
traffckng; Ana - counseor for women seekng work abroad; works for the
La Strada ant traffckng organsaton; Modovan.
4/ #he ;ast Peasants/ 'ourne*s @ '
- Genre: observatona documentary (frst part of the trogy)
- Producton company: October Fms
- Producer: Angus MacOueen
- Scrpt: Angus MacOueen
- Language: Romanan and Engsh
- Narraton: Tom Wknson
- Cnematography: Roger Chapman
- Duraton: 50 mn
- Reease: 2003
- Settng: Budest, Maramures (North-Western Romana); Dubn; Pars;
Venna.
- Characters: Vase Daman (father), Petru Daman (son), Ion Daman (son),
Mara (Petrus wfe), Mara (Ions wfe).
6. #he ;ast Peasants/ #emptation @ #
- Genre: observatona documentary (second part of the trogy)
- Languages: Engsh and Romanan
- Narraton: Tom Wknson
- Cnematography: Roger Chapman
- Duraton: 58 mn
- Reease: 2003
- Settng: Budest, Maramures (North-Western Romana); Bucharest; London
- Characters: Gheorghe Opr and hs wfe, Irna; ther son Lauren[u and hs
grfrend from town; the od generaton of the Bud famy (father, mother,
81
grandmother); the new generaton of the Buds (Forca and Lorn[, daughter
and son).
7/ #he ;ast Peasants/ A Goo& -ife @ G-
- Genre: observatona documentary (thrd part of the trogy)
- Languages: Engsh and Romanan
- Duraton: 48 mn
- Reease: 2003
- Settng: Budest, Maramures (North-Western Romana); Pars
- Characters: Radu Bud, Vase and Mhaea Marnca (the good wfe),
Marana (Mhaeas sster), Ion (Maranas husband), Anuta (Radu Buds
good brde)
- Seres Awards: Prx Europa IRIS (TV Non-fcton), Bern (2003); BFI Grerson
Best Documentary Seres Award (2003); Kodak Award (2003); Roya
Teevson Socety Awards for Photography, Edtng and Team - Best
Documentary Seres (2003);
Frst Annua Drectors Gud of Great Brtan (DGGB) Awards - Best
Documentary for The Last Peasants. A Good Wfe (2004); Astra Fm Festva
Speca |ury Prze, Sbu (2004).
82

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