Call for papers: How was Romanian Sociology conceptualized and practiced in the 20th century?

“How was Romanian Sociology conceptualized and practiced in the 20^th century?”

Coordinator: Zoltán Rostás, University of Bucharest

The special theme of the journal Sociologie Românească [Romanian Sociology] (2/2014) considers itself as a challenge addressed to social scientists and historians working on Romania. It encourages new research approaches that extend beyond the history of sociology into the field of social history. The aim is a better and more nuanced understanding of the personalities, movements, and institutions relevant to the development of Romanian sociology in the 20^th century.  

We therefore invite the authors to investigate the motivations/ justifications, the modes of manifestation, as well as the temporal, local, and social contexts of their proposed theme. We are thus more interested in the path taken towards the subject-matter of the article, rather than the synthetic description of its topic. In other words, we are more interested in synchronic understandings as opposed to critical-diachronic evaluations. Hence, we seek the grounding of the articles’ themes into a concrete socio-cultural field.

We do not wish to contest the legitimacy of other approaches. For this issue, however, we do not accept conceptual syntheses of currents, schools, oeuvres, research accomplishments, debates, and theories. Above all, we do not accept evaluations pertaining to their contemporary relevance. For example, we are less interested in what Eugeniu Speranţia said, nor or in the main features of his sociology and their potential present-day applicability. What does hold our primarily interest are the reasons, the ways, and the social context that led to the development of E. Speranţia’s sociology.

This undertaking conceives itself as encompassing a multitude of historical sources. In addition to sociological and ideological texts, we encourage the utilization of memoirs, oral histories, archival documents, and social histories that have the potential for broad and/or narrow-focused analyses of the period under study. This project seeks neither to demythicize, nor to rehabilitate. We do seek to  comprehend the personalities, organizations, and institutions of a bygone era.

For further inquiries or clarifications please contact the coordinator of this special issue, Professor Zoltán Rostás at the following email address: zoltan.z.rostas@gmail.com.

The deadline for the submission of articles is: January 15, 2014

Please upload the articles in electronic format (.doc or .docx) via the following portal address: www.arsociologie.ro/ro/sociologieromaneasca/formular-de-trimitere-online-a-manuscriselor, respecting the journal’s instructions for authors, which are found below:  www.arsociologie.ro/ro/sociologieromaneasca/instructiuni-autori