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After the fall of the communist regime, the economic migration increased significantly within the Romanian society, as people were seeking higher conditions of life in western countries. Being a major social phenomenon, the economic migration became a frequent literary theme in the postcommunist Romanian literature, as Sanda Cordoş notices. Whether fictional or autobiographical, the literary works on migration depict the multiple identity traumas that the emigrant subject generally suffers. Originating from a peripheral country and culture in Eastern Europe, Romanian migrants experience multiples affects such as profound traumas, due to the identity split that is generally accentuated by the hard conditions of work in the countries where they travel, and by the affective separation from their families. By analysing three contemporary novels, namely Dan Lungu's The Little Girl Who Played at Being God [Fetişa care se juca de-a Dumnezeu], Liliana Corobca's Kinderland and Liliana Nechita's Bitter Cherries [Cireşe amare], the present paper outlines the double peripheral status of women emigrants in Italy who are perceived in their marginality not only as Romanian migrants, but mainly as female ones in a masculine dominated society. These literary works emphasize the difficulties that women as mothers and wives encounter in a completely foreign western culture and the multiple traumas that they suffer together with the children who remain in a peripheral space and continually wait the return of the protective mother. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of culture in economic development is still not fully recognized. However, institutional economists have been known for playing an active part in the inquiries into identifying the culture-embedded factors influencing economic performance. Somewhat surprisingly, certain recent theories by the influential new institutional economists recognize culture as an exogenous variable, denying its importance for coining prosperity. By taking Acemoglu and Robinson's theory, presented in Why Nations Fail and elaborated on in their earlier papers, as a representative example, we bring to light the limitations of such an approach. Firstly, we demonstrate how the eradication of culture leads to an internal inconsistency in Acemoglu and Robinson's theorizing on economic performance. Their strong rejection of the culture hypothesis is impossible to reconcile with their concept of institutional changes outlined in Paths to Inclusive Political Institutions and The Narrow Corridor. Secondly, we also point to certain cases in which culture was an ontologically important factor affecting economic performance. Our claim is illustrated by some examples of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries' paths of economic development. We conclude that neglecting culture diminishes the explanatory power of such theories of economic development and significantly undermines their practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a literature review, this paper addresses how political science and sociology incorporate religion in their theories and research. A particular focus is placed on how both sciences theorise the relationship between religion and politics. The paper argues that political science and sociology struggle with incorporating religion into their main theories, which reflect different views on religion's importance and its overall role in contemporary societies. Some key concepts, such as 'politicisation' and 'religionisation', are also discussed. A brief overview of the scholarship of religion in Central and Eastern Europe since the fall of communism is used as an example of how the radically changed social and political context was reflected in the scholarship. The paper's final section summarises current debates on religion, populism and culture in political science and sociology. It shows how a new way of communicating political messages produces complex and contradictory references to religion. While this is captured in the literature by interpreting religion as a cultural identity marker, the argument is that this should not be dissociated from the role of secular actors in imposing cultural features on some religions or political features on others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, as part of a study explores the reinvention of identity and culture through community making, specifically in the process of creation and way of functioning of autonomous temporal groups and intentional communities through socio-cultural spaces. The analysis makes use of a network of four different organized communities from Western and South-Eastern Europe, namely Toestand (Brussels, Belgium), Termokiss (Prishtina, Kosova), Space Tetova (Tetova, North Macedonia), with a specific focus on the performance of the project - event Uzina (Tirana, Albania). Through an ethnographic approach, based on active participant observation and interviews that are shown below, this research is an attempt to engage the participating members of the different groups in the construction of the thorough insight of the research. The patterns of intercultural contact and reflexive behaviors in this collective's endeavors, accentuate the complexity of relationships that arise in the course of the collaboration of the network and wider, revealing the 'agonistic' dynamics of Self and Other, West and East, unity and diversity, giver and receiver, hierarchy and equality, global and local, concentrating on new social movements and contemporary identity practices in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding how Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) evolves over time is crucial for fostering social and environmental responsibility. This study aims to develop a conceptual model of plant knowledge circulation, providing insights into the temporal dynamics of LEK in the Polish-Lithuanian-Belarusian border region. It explores the key patterns and driving forces behind changes in the use of wild plants for food. Methods: Field research was conducted in 60 rural settlements across Podlasie Voivodeship (Poland), Vilnius Region (Lithuania), and Hrodna Region (Belarus). This included 200 semi-structured interviews and participant observation among two local communities, Lithuanians and Poles. To assess the temporal dynamics of wild food use, we performed a cross-ethnic, cross-border analysis over time, dividing the data into three major temporal dimensions: past, continuous, and recently acquired uses. Results: Of the 72 wild plant taxa reported by Poles or Lithuanians in the Polish-Lithuanian-Belarusian borderland, 47 were continuously used for food, 58 were utilised in the past, and 41 were recently acquired. Cross-country trends were similar, with Poland showing more past uses. Diachronic comparisons between Poles and Lithuanians in each studied country revealed no significant differences. Recently acquired taxa overlapped considerably with those used continuously and in the past. The most diversely utilised taxa showed the greatest overlaps. By observing the movement of specific plant taxa within various time dimensions, we distinguished overlapping flow variations: retention (3 taxa), decay (11), invention (8), stagnation (17), revitalisation (6), re-invention (3), and knowledge in motion (24). Shifts in the use of wild food plants were influenced by changes in environmental conditions, governmental policies, cultural practices, and economic factors. Conclusion: The findings of this study have important implications for improving methods of tracking changes in LEK and enhancing our understanding of the relationship between people and nature. Our results underscore the importance of considering knowledge circulation over time in different directions. Recognising the various stages of knowledge circulation might help in pursuing sustainable solutions that balance the needs of human communities with environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enormous attention devoted to populism has simplified the framework for analysis of the "illiberal turn" in Central-Eastern Europe. Although a populist aspect is certainly present, reductio ad populismum neglects other interpretations of the current political polarization. The article contributes to the literature on the cultural aspects of illiberalism as it offers an innovative theoretical examination of illiberalism(s) in the region. It proposes the concept of neo-traditionalism as a more comprehensive lens of analysis of the anti-colonial narrative against the "foreign liberal West" to defend the "genuine traditional Europe." Neo-traditionalism in Central-Eastern Europe captures two criticisms of progressive liberalism. First, it contrasts progressive modernizing values. Emancipation and fluid identities are counterbalanced by a discourse where traditions provide ontological security and culturally defined identities. Second, it denounces the foreign origin of progressivism. The liberal West is described as a colonial power aiming to destroy "our authentic way of life." Thus, the populist dimension of illiberalism in Central-Eastern Europe could be better grasped if we applied the concept of neo-traditionalism. Not only are the elites isolated from the people. They are also deemed to impose a colonial project to replace and modernize true European values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the culture-regulations-gender triad in relation to small and medium enterprises' (SMEs') performance. Using a firm-level panel dataset drawn from 27 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia between 2005 and 2014, we show that women and men experience and respond differently to regulations. Women take regulations very seriously and as a result, their SMEs see improved performance, whereas men discount the influence of regulations which then depresses the performance of their SMEs. However, when women respond to regulatory enforcers, it erodes the performance of their SMEs, whereas when men engage enforcers, the performance of their SMEs improves. The fact that women and men experience and respond to the same regulations differently—regardless of country effect and whether their SMEs are high- or low-performing businesses—suggests that regulations perpetuate gender biases, thus impacting not only individuals but even the organizations they lead. Our study expands gendered institutions theory by clarifying how regulations diffuse cultural values and influence women and men, as well as their SMEs, differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the relationship between national cultural dimensions and the probability of a firm being externally audited. It uses a large set of representative micro-data from nearly 3000 firms across 34 industries in 13 countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East over the period 2008–2010, and Schwartz's cultural dimensions, namely autonomy, embeddedness, egalitarianism and hierarchy. The findings show that the relationship between firm audits and cultural autonomy and egalitarianism is strongly positive and statistically significant. Specifically, they show that an increase of one standard deviation (SD) in affective autonomy increases the probability that a firm will engage in an external audit by 3.37%. Along the same lines, a 1 SD increase in egalitarianism leads to a 8.36% increase in the likelihood of a firm engaging in an external audit. However, there is no clear evidence that embeddedness and hierarchy play a role in firms' external auditing trends. These findings remain robust to the use of several confounding factors at the firm and country levels. This research highlights its uniqueness in the choice of national culture as a determinant for the likelihood of external audits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]