Transylvania as Heterotopia: an Empirical Enquiry into the Image of the Romanian Internal Other

Researcher: Andrei Belibou
Supervised by: Marijn Nieuwenhuis
Home department: Politics and International Studies
Expected start date: 11/07/2016
Expected end date: 12/09/2016

Hello! I'm a third-year student in Politics and International Studies. My main interests are political theory, especially critical theory, and intellectual history. I try to engage in trans-disciplinary endeavours and discover as many sides of political theory and practice as I can.

My project about Transylvania has two main goals. First, to explore Foucauldian philosophy, especially his concept of heterotopia, discussed very little by Foucault himself, but extensively in subsequent literature. Second, I wish to understand more about myself and my homecountry. I want to deepen my awareness of the discourses I appropriated while growing up and being educated in Romania, especially concerning the issues of difference, national identity, and history, which are central to my interests. Thus, I hope my project will be a well-rounded exploration in both theory and empirical research.