Brief Description(s) of the Talk(s):

How could the experiences of post-communist transitional justice inform current controversies in the United States regarding its reckoning with the past? We will briefly explore in this talk different facets of American exceptionalism that have preempted any substantive reparations for the crimes against humanity perpetrated against enslaved Africans and their descendants, followed by a discussion of the 1989 revolutions in East and Central Europe that overthrew communism, yet failed to promote an inclusive and pluralistic model of the past. Instead, current representations of the past rooted in essentialist and ethnocentric historical narratives are weaponized by non-democratic political actors. Finally, we caution against misguided representations of historical trauma and memory wars in the US that could potentially reproduce white supremacist ideologies and escalate existent political and cultural divisions.

Brief Bio of the Presenters:

Monica Ciobanu holds a PhD in sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research and is Professor of Criminal Justice at Plattsburgh State University of New York. Dr. Ciobanu has published about democratization, memory, truth, and justice in post-communism and especially in Romania. Her book Repression, Resistance and Collaboration is Stalinist Romania 1944-1964: Post-Communist Remembering was published in October 2020 by Routledge Press. She has also co-edited (with Mihaela Şerban) a special issue on Law, History and Justice published by the Journal of Romanian Studies (October 2020).
Profile Link: https://www.plattsburgh.edu/academics/schools/arts-sciences/criminal-justice/faculty/ciobanu-monica.html

Mihaela Şerban is Professor of Law and Society at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Her teaching and publications are in the areas of law and society, human rights, the rule of law, and Romanian Studies. Her book Subverting Communism in Romania: Law and Private Property: 1945-1965 was published in July 2019 by Lexington Books/ Rowman and Littlefield. She has also co-edited (with Monica Ciobanu) a special issue on Law, History and Justice published by the Journal of Romanian Studies (October 2020).
Profile link: https://www.ramapo.edu/sshs/faculty/mihaela-serban/

Co-Sponsors: Ramapo College’s International Center, Ramapo College’s Office of the Provost, Ramapo College’s Law & Society Program, and Ramapo College’s Human Rights Program.

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