Collective Imaginaries and National Identities: The Encyclopedia of Romanian Imaginaries

Abstract

"This paper presents how The Encyclopaedia of Romanian Imaginaries. Historical Patrimony and Cultural-Linguistic Identities (Polirom Editing House, 2020) reflects the Romanian cultural identity. The five volumes provide a synoptic perspective on the cultural inheritance and spiritual identities of Romania. Guided by the powerful and innovative concept of social and cultural imaginaries, it uses multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary methodologies in order to highlight the main domains of Romanian collective representations. The scientific key concepts, which ensure the originality of the approach, are imagination studies (“recherches sur l’imaginaire”), semantic basins, linguistic fields, image constellations, and fractal identity."