Overcoming Centre-Periphery Approaches in Intercultural Communication. Mythological Commitments and Aspirational Identities in Three Romanian Narratives for Western Audiences

The cultural journeys of Romanian thinking are recurrent meditations on the relationship between the Enlightened West and this island of Latinity in the Slav sea. While confirming the mythological allegiances of Romanian historiography, this metaphor carries another inherent constant in its aspirat...

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Main Authors: Alexandru Cârlan, Mălina Ciocea, Grigore Georgiu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), College of Communication and Public Relations, Bucharest 2023-10-01
Series:Romanian Journal of Communications and Public Relations
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journalofcommunication.ro/index.php/journalofcommunication/article/view/366
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author Alexandru Cârlan
Mălina Ciocea
Grigore Georgiu
author_facet Alexandru Cârlan
Mălina Ciocea
Grigore Georgiu
author_sort Alexandru Cârlan
collection DOAJ
description The cultural journeys of Romanian thinking are recurrent meditations on the relationship between the Enlightened West and this island of Latinity in the Slav sea. While confirming the mythological allegiances of Romanian historiography, this metaphor carries another inherent constant in its aspirational identity, the relationship of a peripheral culture with the locus of the centrality of the world-system (cf. Dussel, 2004). The antonymic vein in Romanian reflexive consciousness, fed by permanent self-critical measurement against Europe, is constantly amended by a relativist conjunctive paradigm attempting to structurally integrate ruptures in meaning (cf. Alexandrescu, 2000). Our analysis of three such attempts to present Romanian culture to an Academic Western audience will follow the construction of a narrative about Romanian identity which employs various degrees of reflexivity in order to define a relational paradigm. We are going to illustrate this mythological commitment in relation with the centre-periphery paradigm and its subsequent influence on identity construction by treating this type of narrative as a rhetorical genre in its own right, governed by a typical exigence (cf. Bitzer, 1968) and generic constraints (cf. Jamieson, 1973). We will show that although dichotomic concepts for discussing identities can hardly be avoided (as is the case of myth in historiography), an evolution from a disjunctive to a conjunctive paradigm is possible through reflexivity.
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spelling doaj.art-ab7b838c2d8447df8db619ca58ec35b12023-12-18T01:00:04ZengNational University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), College of Communication and Public Relations, BucharestRomanian Journal of Communications and Public Relations1454-81002344-54402023-10-01134Overcoming Centre-Periphery Approaches in Intercultural Communication. Mythological Commitments and Aspirational Identities in Three Romanian Narratives for Western AudiencesAlexandru Cârlan0Mălina Ciocea1Grigore Georgiu2National University of Political Studies and Public AdministrationNational University of Political Studies and Public AdministrationNational University of Political Studies and Public Administration The cultural journeys of Romanian thinking are recurrent meditations on the relationship between the Enlightened West and this island of Latinity in the Slav sea. While confirming the mythological allegiances of Romanian historiography, this metaphor carries another inherent constant in its aspirational identity, the relationship of a peripheral culture with the locus of the centrality of the world-system (cf. Dussel, 2004). The antonymic vein in Romanian reflexive consciousness, fed by permanent self-critical measurement against Europe, is constantly amended by a relativist conjunctive paradigm attempting to structurally integrate ruptures in meaning (cf. Alexandrescu, 2000). Our analysis of three such attempts to present Romanian culture to an Academic Western audience will follow the construction of a narrative about Romanian identity which employs various degrees of reflexivity in order to define a relational paradigm. We are going to illustrate this mythological commitment in relation with the centre-periphery paradigm and its subsequent influence on identity construction by treating this type of narrative as a rhetorical genre in its own right, governed by a typical exigence (cf. Bitzer, 1968) and generic constraints (cf. Jamieson, 1973). We will show that although dichotomic concepts for discussing identities can hardly be avoided (as is the case of myth in historiography), an evolution from a disjunctive to a conjunctive paradigm is possible through reflexivity. https://journalofcommunication.ro/index.php/journalofcommunication/article/view/366foundation mythscentre-periphery paradigmconjunctive paradigmaspirational identityreflexivity
spellingShingle Alexandru Cârlan
Mălina Ciocea
Grigore Georgiu
Overcoming Centre-Periphery Approaches in Intercultural Communication. Mythological Commitments and Aspirational Identities in Three Romanian Narratives for Western Audiences
Romanian Journal of Communications and Public Relations
foundation myths
centre-periphery paradigm
conjunctive paradigm
aspirational identity
reflexivity
title Overcoming Centre-Periphery Approaches in Intercultural Communication. Mythological Commitments and Aspirational Identities in Three Romanian Narratives for Western Audiences
title_full Overcoming Centre-Periphery Approaches in Intercultural Communication. Mythological Commitments and Aspirational Identities in Three Romanian Narratives for Western Audiences
title_fullStr Overcoming Centre-Periphery Approaches in Intercultural Communication. Mythological Commitments and Aspirational Identities in Three Romanian Narratives for Western Audiences
title_full_unstemmed Overcoming Centre-Periphery Approaches in Intercultural Communication. Mythological Commitments and Aspirational Identities in Three Romanian Narratives for Western Audiences
title_short Overcoming Centre-Periphery Approaches in Intercultural Communication. Mythological Commitments and Aspirational Identities in Three Romanian Narratives for Western Audiences
title_sort overcoming centre periphery approaches in intercultural communication mythological commitments and aspirational identities in three romanian narratives for western audiences
topic foundation myths
centre-periphery paradigm
conjunctive paradigm
aspirational identity
reflexivity
url https://journalofcommunication.ro/index.php/journalofcommunication/article/view/366
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