Katherine Verdery is Julien J. Studley Faculty Scholar and Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. Since 1973 she has conducted field research in Romania, initially emphasizing the political economy of social inequality, ethnic relations, and nationalism. With the changes of 1989, her work has shifted to problems of the transformation of socialist systems, specifically changing property relations in agriculture.
Nothing in Soviet-style communism was as shrouded in mystery as its secret police. Its paid employees were known to few and their actual numbers remain uncertain. Its informers and collaborators operated clandestinely under pseudonyms and met their officers in secret locations. Its files were inaccessible, even to most party members. The people the secret police recruited or interrogated were threatened so effectively that some never told even their spouses, and many have held their tongues to this day, long after the regimes fell.With the end of communism, many of the newly established governments—among them Romania's—opened their secret police archives. From those files, as well as her personal memories, the author has carried out historical ethnography of the Romanian Securitate. Secrets and Truths is not only of historical interest but has implications for understanding the rapidly developing security state of the neoliberal present.
List of Figures, Preface and Acknowledgments, Note on Pronunciation, Introduction: What Was the Securitate?, Chapter 1. An Archive and Its Fictions, Chapter 2. The Secrets of a Secret Police, Chapter 3. Knowledge Practices and the Social Relations of Surveillance, Conclusion: The Radiant Future?, Bibliography, Index
Presents a historical ethnography of Romania's secret police (Securitate) based on newly opened archives and personal memories, exploring an institution that operated in complete secrecy with threats so effective that many victims never disclosed their experiences even to spouses and remain silent today.
Secrets and Truth offers a rare insider's look into Secret Police's actions in Romania.
Über den Autor
Katherine Verdery is Julien J. Studley Faculty Scholar and Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. Since 1973 she has conducted field research in Romania, initially emphasizing the political economy of social inequality, ethnic relations, and nationalism. With the changes of 1989, her work has shifted to problems of the transformation of socialist systems, specifically changing property relations in agriculture.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
List of Figures Preface and Acknowledgments Note on Pronunciation Introduction: What Was the Securitate? Chapter 1.An Archive and Its Fictions Chapter 2.The Secrets of a Secret Police Chapter 3.Knowledge Practices and the Social Relations of Surveillance Conclusion: The Radiant Future? Bibliography Index
Klappentext
Nothing in Soviet-style communism was as shrouded in mystery as its secret police. Its paid employees were known to few and their actual numbers remain uncertain. Its informers and collaborators operated clandestinely under pseudonyms and met their officers in secret locations. Its files were inaccessible, even to most party members. The people the secret police recruited or interrogated were threatened so effectively that some never told even their spouses, and many have held their tongues to this day, long after the regimes fell.With the end of communism, many of the newly established governments-among them Romania's-opened their secret police archives. From those files, as well as her personal memories, the author has carried out historical ethnography of the Romanian Securitate. Secrets and Truths is not only of historical interest but has implications for understanding the rapidly developing "security state" of the neoliberal present.
