Mises à distances. Ethnographie des places publiques centrales de Cluj-« Napoca » (Roumanie) dans le postsocialisme
This research focuses on the social change in the Transylvanian city of Cluj-“Napoca” in post-socialist Romania. The study explores the principles of differentiation in both social and spatial terms. Drawing on the concepts of “public space” and “place”, a multi-dimensional analysis was conducted in four areas: materiality and visibility of space, public-political sphere, public social life, individual investment and appropriation. Thus, the thesis examines the activities that take place in the central public squares, the spatial investments, the everyday rituals and the protests, the inhabitants’ multiple ethnic and religious attachments. The ethnography of the central public spaces of Cluj-“Napoca” shows a “weak classification of spaces” in the center city, which reflects a wide social diversity. The marks of ethnic identification found throughout the population and public space of Cluj-“Napoca”, refer to ethnic groups but also to a number of issues related to the process of political restructuring in post-socialism. In the same vein, ethnically based strategies are put in place in order to identify new criteria of social differentiation and redefine old social categories. Omissions, silences and aesthetic requirements convey the way that the inhabitants’ implicit claims redefine the policy framework.  In conclusion, the thesis shows how the public space in post-socialist Cluj-“Napoca” is an on-going process of social diversification and invention of Others by adopting a continuous stance of distancing. The public space is not the inquiry of what could be the “living together” (vivre ensemble), but the quest of what threat us and must be hold-off.
Ethnicisation Cluj-Napoca Public square Public space Place Ethnicity Post-socialisme Political sociology Urban sociology Cluj-Napoca Romania