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    Descriere a artizanatului popular in relatie cu identitatea etnica, in Romania anilor 2000.

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    Descriere a artizanatului popular in relatie cu identitatea etnica, in Romania anilor 2000.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    270 views35 pages

    Marin Constantin - Artisanship and Ethnicity in The 2000s Romania

    Uploaded by

    Marin Constantin
    Descriere a artizanatului popular in relatie cu identitatea etnica, in Romania anilor 2000.

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    oe TT BRILL Canadian ~ American Slavie Studies 45 (2011) 1-35 balla Artisanship and Ethnicity in the 2000s Romania Marin Constantin Francise Rainer Insicuce of Anibropology Abstract “This article is concerned withthe social, economic, and cultural process of the folk artisanship among the ethnic minorities of Hungarians, Turks, and Croatians in contemporary Romania. Ethnographic information is provided on the peasant artistns professional framework (private ‘workshops) aswell as on their crafts development under socialism and in times of market econ- ‘omy in Romania. Similarly considered are the craft traditions, the folk arts and the ethnic rep- resentativeness of artisanship. Relevant categories of analysis are also paternity in crafis and the relationships thatthe craftsmen engage with the ethnographic museums and the national centers, for the conservation of folk culture. Description and interpretation in tis text contribute tothe understanding of artisanship as complex and dynamic pattern of civilization among the minority ‘ethnic groups in Romania. My text examines the relationship between artisanship and ethnicity in con- temporary Romania, based on a comparative ethnography of several craft centers in the areas of Banat, Dobrodia, and Transylvania. In this case, artisan- ship is defined in terms of production, representation, and distribution of folk: artifacts." Ethnicity here includes social groups and networks, folk cultures, and patterns of behavior. Four main theoretical issues are accounted for, as follows: Marin Constantin, “From Socialism to Market Economy: The Folk Artisans and "Their Work. ‘A Fidd Research in Five Regions of Romania,” Sousheastern Europe, 30 (2003): 75-107; Marin Constantin, “The Craf-and-Market Process of Artisanship in Romania.” Gznadian American Slavic Seudies, 41, no. 4 (Wintet 2007): 375-434. 2 M. Constantin | Canadian — American Slavic Studies 45 (2011) 1-35 (1) Do the artisans work on behalf of their ethnic groups, while these groups develop a craft culture at the level, and through some of their mem- bers? My hypothesis is that the attisanship can be part of the genesis and articulation of an ethnic identity (in terms of individual or familial specializa- tion in crafts, guild-like associative esprit, ethnic symbolism of artifacts, and so on) It is difficult, however, to anticipate the degree of ethnographic repre- sentativeness of one or another ethnic grouping’s crafis, which requires the methodological use of comparison. (2) Within the socio-professional and economic process of artisanship, is ethnicity a kind of “wademark? (along with various traditional or artistic characteristics), of is it the one that enacts artisanship as an identity marker and strategy? One expects @ given craft specialization to considerably vary in the framework of the economy, sociality, and culture of this or that ethnic group. (Crafts may be part of a dominant or, contrarily, secondary economy; they also depend on “social fields” of learning, practicing, and wansmitting within one’s family and community; last, but not least, one or another cur rent crafts sometimes belong to the history and tradition of ethnic groups, while in other circumstances they appear as a recent phenomenon. As a result, properties like the “trademark” and the “identity-marker” may alternate accordingly.) (3) Ate there situations of reification or revitalization of the ethnic iden- tity through the practice of crafts? ‘The phases of craft production, representa- tion, and distribution are probably based on ethnic belonging, interrelationship, worldview, and patterns of culture. My interest this time is to find out how ‘much can such correlation fluctuate in the field, bearing in mind that the revitalization of agiven ethnic group reflects sometimes the market enrolment ofits crafts, and sometimes it can favor the artisans’ autarky. (4) Is theethnic membership a framework of craft mono-specialization, or, vice versa, can the multi-specialization in crafts apply in cases of interethnic cohabitation? If ethnic sociality, value system, and collective behavior are processed through the productive, representational, and distributive mecha- nisms of artisanship, the forms of such usage may substantially differ in con- texts of multicthnic cohabitation. “The ethnographic data of our study were collected in October-November 2007 and August 2008, in the localities of Korond (Hungarians, the Harghita County), Cisnidioara (Germans, the Sihiur County), Cobadin (plus Indepen- dena and Baspunar-Fantana Mare [Turks, Aromanians, Tatars, the Constanta County), and Carasova (Croatians, the Caras-Severin County). A further doc- ‘umentation was pursued among the Roma artisan groups of Céldarari (Brateiu, M. Constantin / Canadian — American Slavic Studies 45 (2011) 1-35 3 the Sibiu County), Rudari (Babeni, the Valcea County), and “Tigant” (Fofeldea, the Sibiu County), during the Fair of Roma Craftsmen in Sibiu (September 20-21, 2008). Ethnicity and artisanship in the anthropological literature According to several authors, echnicity can sepresent a “constituent” in crafis, while the artisanship may reflect the ethnic belonging and interaction. However, the ethnic “constituency” is notinvariably conceived and enacted by artisans with theit ethnic polymorphism. In Geana’ cerms, wich the late Middle Ages, the folk fairs in the Carpathian Mountains would have fulfilled, alongside enculturation and commerce, the function of “reinforcing ethnicity” among Romanian peasant groups that ‘exchanged items such as wooden vessels and tools, pottery, and sheepskin ccoats.* In Souther Galicia, the makers of culeires (grape harvesting baskets) have developed “their own, unique language comprising several thousand words” which would have “re-enforced a sense of belonging and social bond- ing” among them.} Weaving artifacts (like the spinning wheel) confer a “sense of having roots” and “historical continuity” with “the possessions of forebears” in the Sigeuna district, North Stockholm. ‘The craft of straw plaiting and hat making is depicted as a “birth heritage,” “unchanged since the nineteenth cen- tury.” among the Hungarian-speaking villagers from Szék, which is “one of the last strongholds of the Székely culture and traditional way of life’ in the Cluj county, Transylvania. “The Guatemalan women craft workers in cooperatives, with their links to imemational wade, are described as producing items that have “a distinct, ‘Guatemalan look,” such as fashioned from the jaspe (séz#) cloth.* Similarly, ® Gheorghiti Geana. “The Carpathian Folk Fairs and the Origins of National Consciousness among Romanians” Naonalies Pape, 34, no. ¥ (2006): 91-110. Anna Champeney, “Ethnography in North-West Spain, Pesant Crafts in Galicia: Present and Futur,” Fol Lif, 34 (1996): 83-91. 10 ea Ljangstromm, Crafi Anefats Keyes to the Past. Neratives fiom a Crefe Documentation Project in Sweden,” si, 28 (1991): 75-89. ° Veronica Main, ““We Are Born in Straw’ Staw Plaiting and Hat Making in Transylvania,” Ibid, 39 (2001): 75-90. © Brenda Rosenbaum, “OF Women, Hope, and Ange’ Fair Trade and Artisan Production in a ‘quater Selement in Guatemala Gis” in Arzsans and Cooperatives: Developing Alerative 4 M. Constantin | Canadian — American Slavic Studies 45 (2011) 1-35 the social barriers among the ethnic groups in Nepal are “broken down” as local artisans work together across boundaries of class, caste, and ethnicity; the local “Nepalese hemp weaving,” which is “weighty and thick,” is in this case contrasted to the “crisp and light Thai hemp weaving.”’ In other situations, artisanship is seen as playing a role in the cargo-cults movements of cultural revitalization, such as in Chiapas, Mexico, where weaving and the “traditional clothing” ate claimed “to cleanse” the native people from “contamination of [...] nonindigenous influences.”* Authors like Lackey and Lynd argue that commoditization of the craft production in respective Mexico (the “Acatlén pottery”) and Guatemala (the weaving of corts, “traditional-style” skirt) tales plice within the cultural traditions of the local ethnic groups.” According t Henrici, Andean ethnicities are represented in both the making and sale of artifacts like handmade baskets, woolen knits, and ceramics (for instance, “the Pisac ceramics”)."” When the artisanship plays with the ethnic symbolism, its relationship to marketis unstable. The ethnic identity may be conservative in crafis, as associ- ated with barter economy among the Kalinga potters in Philippines,” or sim- ply ‘artificially created” such as the “Pomo” ethnicity among the various ‘groups of basket-makers on the California North Coast, as a consequence of heir market contact with White collectors.” Equation between crafts and one or another ethnic value-system is not universally lineas, and, at any rate, i cannot be reduced to the same deterministic correlation according to which Trade forthe Global Economy, eds. K. M. Grimes and B. L. Milgram (Tucson: Univ. OF Arizona Press, 2000), pp. 85-106. Rachel MacHleney, “Building on Local Strengths: Nepalese Fait ‘rade Textiles, ibid, pp. 25-44. © Christine E. Eber, “that ‘They be in the Middl, Loni: Women, Weaving, and Cultural ‘Survival in Highland Chiapas, Mexico,” rbd. pp. 45-63. © Louana M. Lackey, “Pow and Pesos: Powers’ Responses wo a Changing Matket.” in Research 1m Ecmonte Ancinopelogy, ed. B. L. Isaac, 10 (Sramford, CT: JAI Press, 1988), pp. 257-665, ‘Martha Lynd, “Ihe Intemational Craft Market: A Double-edged Sword for Guatemalan Maya Women,” in Arsans and Cooperatives, eds. Grimes and Milgram, pp. 65-83. ° Jane Henri, “Non-governmental Organizations and Craft Producers: Exchanges South and. North,” Visual Ansbropology, 16 (2003): 289-313. Miran, Stark, “Economic Intensification and Ceramic Specialization in the Philippines: [A View from Kalinga.” in Raearch in Economic Anchropolegy, od. B. 1. Isaac, 16 (1995). pp. 179-226. "© John Pryor, “Market Forces in the Creation of Pomo Basketry Style and Pomo Ethnicity” ‘ibid. 11 (1989), pp. 181-216. ‘M. Cansuaniin { Canadian ~ American Slavic Seudtes 45 (2011) 1-35 5 ‘rafts would reify ethnicity or the ethnic groups would build up their ideolo- gies following the material and economic “necessity” of crafis. Socio-professional framework of ethnic minority artisans In all the cases examined here, the artisans of ethnic-minority status work in private workshops set up within their own homesteads, both when a craft specialization is generalized in villages (such as the Korond pottery), and when an individual monopoly occurs (like in the blacksmiths wade at Baspunar {HR}, carpentry [RI], leather processing [AD], and tinsmith’s trade [GM] at Cobadin, carpentry at Independenta, pottery at Cisnadioara, and hogsheads making at Carasova). Almost always, such workshops include relatively mod- ‘em tools and devices (electrical equipment for the potter's wheel, the clay mixer, and the oven — at Korond and Cisnidicara [AP GT, TG, LT, MH ...1s the lathe and machines for cutting and shaping the wood, and also for process ing the tin materials — at Cobadin [RI] and Independenga [VE]; machines for the carpentry processing of the wood — at Carasova [MC], and so on) Along with the use of specialized machinery, the craftsmen often adjust their tradi- tional devices to the modern technology (the washing-machine motor as adapted to TG’s potters’ wheel and a similar motor adapted to HR's tinsmith's bellows). The archaic devices become increasingly rare, practically restrained 10 the aged people's usage (for instance, KM’s weaving loom, which is unique in the village of Carasova, according to our field data) and to marginalized ethnic ‘groups (like the calf skin used for the bellows in EC tinsmith’s workshop). In these workshops, the craftsmen work individually or based on a family labor organization. In Korond it is the potters themselves that obtain their needed clay: they also shape and burn it, before going to the markets or fairs where their artifacts will be sold; the potters’ wives and children take part to the clay mixing and to the work of artistic ornamentation; sometimes, a por ters family will also accompany him to the fairs. LT’ shares his craft efforts with his wife (who accompanies him to the fairs), his sister (who makes the pottery decoration), and his father-in-law (in the carpentry work, ie., another ‘occupation of LT). GT's wife and daughter help him in the pottery ornamen- tation. Also in Korond, the traditional processing of tinder consists of the husband’ fieldwork (EF) in collecting the tinder in the neighboring forests from the Harghita Mountains, as well as in the Maramures County, then of the hand shaping of the tinder-made artifacts, in which EF and his wife, ME — do teamwork. MB chops her wooden plates and spoons in cooperation 6 ‘M. Censtaniin { Canadian — American Slavic Seudies 45 (2011) 1-35 with her husband, son, and daughter-in-law; the same carver lives in the vicin- ity of her brother, who in his turn is specialized in this characteristic craft of the Roma subgroup of Rudari from Babeni-Valcea. Another example is that of “TF and his baskets made of wooden branches, within a domestic productive unit that includes (in the village of Fofeldea-Sibiu) the artisan’s wife and daughter. Apprenticeship contributes to the transmission of the Korond pottery from generation to generation (LT, MA), just like in Carasova village the local weav- ing passes from someone's grand-mother to mother and daughter (CM), and the carpentry, from the grand-father to father and son (MC). The Roma tink- cers learn (in the Bratei village) their craft beginning with early ages (EC describes the case of his four-year son who “would not need any toys” except for “the hammer, anvil, and a plate ison.” The tnsmith’s uade (in Baspunas, cf. HR) and the leather processing (in Cobadin, cf. AD) are crafts taught from one’ uncle. Once grown up, the craftsmen’ sons make their own village workshops (MA, Korond), or assist their parents with the car transportation, of ceramic artifacts to fairs (GT), as well as by opening up a shop in the urban location of Poiana Brasov in order to sell ceramic items in during the winter (TG)."° In Cobadin, RI’s carpentry implies the joint work of the craftsman with his son, who takes part to the workshop daily activities while preparing himself to undertake his parent’ craft administration, as he has graduated from a faculty Cf business management. A similar example of a parent-son partnership in carpentry is that of MC (Carasova). In the copper metalwork, EC isassociated with his son (NC), both in the making of cauldrons and kettles, and in the ‘market disuibution of such artifacts (EC & NC’ wives help them too in crafi- work and commerce). °S Apprenticeship and the farily division of labor are significant not only forthe “economy” of arisanship, bt alio forthe qualitative cvoltion of ers though the generations. Acconding to the ehnographic literature, Pl Anal (¢ Hungarian ceranist from Korond) bas inbested the pottery from his yrandlieher and father, wogether wis which he made for 2 while the ancient- (ype vases of Korund (a red umenameled and wultaran ceramics) Aer that, Antal crewed an ‘omanental potery (plates, pos, pitches, and 0 on), specifically decorated in his enc proups ‘manner (with mous like the “Bird the “Tap the “Chrysanthemum,” the “Peacocks ye,” the “Zigiag the “Wave, and = on) While Pll Antal worksby his potters wheel, hs wife decorates by hand the ceramic artifacts. On such individual and private bases, “iis family of posters con- ‘nbutesto the enriching of the conteraperaryfelk cultarein Romania” (cf.1on Vibdutiu, Ceasar! pepudari dix Rominia [Folk Craftsmen in Romania) [Bucuregi: Editura Sport Turism, 1981], p. 205.06). (M. Constantin | Canadian — American Slavie Studies 45 (2011) 1-35 7 Inside minority ethnic groups, crafts are first of all a family enterprise, which do not exclude the existence of some non-kin forms of association and cooperation. An Aromanian tinsmith from the Cobadin village, GM, is indebted for his crait knowledge to a Tatar craftsman; in his turn, he had in the past a Turkish apprentice. Neighbors helping in the pottery omamenta- tion can ordinarily be met in the workshops of Hungarian artisans from Korond (such as AP, GT, TG), among which MA makes use in his firm admin- istration of the services of a so-called “finant” (accountant). Apprenticeship is alo pursued under assistance of village artisans fom outside one’s family, ‘equally in the Korond pottery (GT, TG) and in the Carasova sheepskin coat tailoring (NF, NO): in NC°s case, the apprentice manages to rise himself — he assumes — above his craft master: ‘Asa young apprentice, I went to avery skill and reputed man in Caragova and I asked. him to talorsuch [Croatian folk clothing] for me, which he did. also asked him to show ime how to make sheepskin coats. I only needed to look how he was working, and then kept it all on my mind. At other time, 1 made some trousers with my own hands; that ‘man only showed me how to make it, and eventually he sad “you did your work better than Ido” Afecr 1989, R's and MC’s home carpentry workshops (in Cobadin and ‘Caragova, respectively) function within a “SRL” limited administrative regime, which allows them (as well as VE, a carpenter from Independent village) to employ ausiliary personnel. Another SRI. is that of the tinsmith GM (Cobadin), while the potters GT and LT, as well as the Roma tinsmiths EC and NC, are licensed as “private entrepreneurs”; the Saxon ceramist MH man- ages his “family association.” Preponderance in the ceramic specialization within the village community of Korond is a ground for the local “guild”-rype craft association of Flegfa ("The Life Tree”). Eledfe comprises a number of 20 associated potters, with their president, secretary, membership fees, and periodical meetings. “We are ill in our beginnings?, says MA, one of the Founders of Hlesfe, while compar- ing this association to “a hid whoi kamning to walk. ...” LT outlines the making of Eleyfa due to the efforts and interests of the local porters, unlike the socialist co-operative that functioned there before 1989. The same associa tion (which is registered by the Romanian Ministry of Culture) has also edited its brochure (“Eleefa” Korondi Fazekasob Sziversége, 2007), in which the mem- bers’ personal data (with photographs and mail addresses, and also images of the artifacts) are published. Beginning with 2007, Eleefa sets up (in collabo- ration with the Corund municipality) a village annual fais, where the local 8 ‘IM. Constantin | Canadian — American Slavic Studies 45 (2011) 1-35 ‘Hungarian potters can expose their production for sale; the website of Elerfais suncnhorondifazckasobsonetsege ro Ethnic traditions in crafts At times, the minority-ethnic artisans appear as developing some local mono- specializations in the wadition of their folk handicrafts. In Korond, craftsmen like AF and GT estimate to “200” or, respectively, “250” the number of Szekler families of porters; in the same village, EF identifies “seven or eight” families of tinder crafting processors. While in Brateiu, only “three or four” families of ‘Roma tinsmiths continue their handwork today (EQ), in Babeni-Valcea are “ten families” of Roma woodcarvers (MB), and in Fofeldea-Sibiu, “twenty families” of Roma do basketry of vegetal thin branches (TF). “The current usage of some of the artisans’ products in the daly village life contributes to the persistence of their crafe traditions. Of the Korond ceramists’ ivems, artifacts like (in TGs case) “the pot for boiling the vine leaves, or the ‘meat rolls in cabbage leaves, the salt cellar, and the candlestick’ serve to the immediate needs of peasants. The round and lower wooden tables (as worked in different ethnographic areas by the Tatar carpenter VE and the Roma wood- carver MB) are still in domestic use at Baypunar-Constanta and, respectively, at Babeni-Valcea. The baskets knitted by TF (of hazel tree or osier willow branches) are useful during the “weddings and funerals,” but also “in agricul- sure and animal breeding,” within his community of Fofeldea-Sibi “The Hungarian artisans from Korond acknowledge the oldness of pottery in their native locality, though this “ethno-historical” vision belongs to the local oral culture, with fluctuating chronological landmarks. Thus, while LT presumes at “130 years” the age of the Korond ceramic centre, MA considers here a duration of “300-350 years.” EF (a tinder craft woman) dates the begin- ning of her crafis in Korond “back wo the year of 1800”; the wo-centuries age of local tinder artisanship would make the exclusivity of the seven-eight families in Korond as to the processing of such “raw material” on the whole of folk cultures in Romania."* © In relation to social events and proceses that an epodis written souress attest, the historizal ‘reconstructions of the ethnographic taditions make a chrouological frame forthe folk aruifats. aa general assessment of the evolution of “the Saxon national clothing in [Transylvanian] ‘aties," [ulus Bielz identifies “Tour phases” beginning with the arnval of a German population in “Transylvania (the twelfth century). ‘Thus, “the most ancient traditions" in the folk female (M. Constantin | Canadian — American Siavie Studtes 45 (2011) 1-35 9 In the other villages mentioned here, the craft traditions rarely resort to such retrospective references. EC oscillates between “200” and “400” years in ‘evaluating the “ancestral” oldness of copper processing among the Roma tink- ‘ers of Brateiu. He also claims having “collected ancient pieces since 300 years ago” (for instance, cauldrons) from his “[kin] ancestors,” in order to “study” and reproduce them nowadays, through his current craftwork (EC & NC uphold that, in so doing, they would work in accordance with the “ancient style” of their ethnic and professional group). MR approximates to “around 1800” the period when antecedents of the wear of feregea ~ the female black ‘coat—can be detected. The shoemaker AD evakes the “five-to-six generations” of doing such a craft (with no farther collective reminiscences of the history of multiethnic community of Cobadin), by his [paternal] uncle, grandfather, grand-grandfather ..., but including the process of making the Turkish tradi- tional sandals, or op ‘This isthe shoemaker’schair; he’ sewing sting oa it. Here aresome [cate] skins remained. from my unde ~ God forgive him! Hee was my father’ brother. In my family, shoemaking hhas been practiced since ive-o-sx generations ago. ... My uncle too did it it a pity lam notable to make you see some of his patterns ... In my ctildhood, | made skin sindalsas well. They were being worn in our vilage. We had a client named Ismail, who aways wanted opinc He wasa Turk, and he had many sheep. We had our own working pattem. TAD scars drawing his familys craft pattern on his workable] Look, the used skin was punctured, and then set up on the pattem, which was sharpened: the sandal leather was sown by a cord all around, and finally the coed was ted up. ... Thar enfeworke continusd with making the sandal bend just ike the bend of a walking boot. Thus, the sandal was given its definite, curved, shape. When the opinca was being shaped on the pater, its "upper ip was tapered.

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