Xenophobic Mountains: Landscape Sentience Reconsidered in the Romanian Carpathians

This book explores the ontological roots of xenophobic landscapes in Romania, tracing how the country's understanding of the landscape has been shaped by political regimes, cultural narratives, and everyday experiences. It demonstrates how the landscape is perceived as a sentient being imbued with willpower and the ability to act on the world, leading to acts of violence against perceived threats to the country's unity. The book challenges traditional binaries and offers a new perspective on the ontological complexities of sentient landscapes.

Format: Hardback
Length: 140 pages
Publication date: 20 September 2022
Publisher: Springer International Publishing AG

This book, based on ethnographic research in Romania, delves into the ontological foundations that shape a world where xenophobic landscapes emerge. While the last couple of centuries in Romania's history have witnessed a series of political regimes, this manuscript equally emphasizes a significant continuity in Romania's ontological realm: its understanding of the landscape and the intricate relationship between the Romanian people and their land. From political discourses to children's books, literature, and explanations for everyday events, the book explores the various ways in which the landscape of Romania has been perceived as a living entity endowed with willpower and the capacity to impact the world.

A distinctive aspect of Romania's landscape is its sentience, characterized by a profound xenophobia, a fear and distrust of ethno-religious others. This sentiment has been historically interpreted by Romanians as manifesting through acts of violence perpetrated by the landscape against various groups of humans perceived as threats to the country's unity. The novelty of this book lies in its comprehensive analysis of an ontological world where sentient landscapes are de-romanticized and presented in their uncomfortable complexity. By questioning binaries such as colonized/colonizer, indigenous/colonial, sentient landscape/industrial superpower, the concept of sentient xenophobic mountains adds a valuable dimension to the current literature on the ontological turn and ontological multiplicities.

Romanias history serves as an ideal case study for this exploration, as the country has been situated at the margins of empires, both coveted for its natural resources and rejected due to perceived inferiority of its people, both racialized and racist, both neoliberal and embracing absolute sovereignty. This multifaceted history contributes to the richness and depth of the analysis, providing a comprehensive understanding of the complex interplay between the landscape, society, and power dynamics in Romania.

Weight: 341g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783031131110
Edition number: 1st ed. 2022