Authors

Discussion

This study explores the transformations of remoteness in rural Romania, drawing from current ethnographic fieldwork in a group of mountain hamlets in the country’s southwest. Usually a function of distance, remoteness can be approached as a relational, affective and political construct (Ardener, 2007; Harms et al, 2014, Dzenovska, 2020). Forever in flux, it is constantly shaped by the gaze of the actor or observer and the socio-economical transformations of the wider landscape.

In this context, I ask how remoteness has transformed over the (recounted) timeline of the villages, and how it is embodied, negotiated and performed in post-socialist rural life.

Rurality in Romania has a long history of serving as a repository of tradition, authenticity and national identity. It has been investigated as such by the Gusti School and the ISBC (Albert, 2012), followed by calls to ‘salvage’ what was left of it following the fall of the Iron Curtain (Transilvania, 1994). It has since been talked of (Bourdieu, 1977) in media and common discourse as a space of absence and decline. Today, these views mix with renewed interest in the rural as a space of tranquillity and a simpler life, following a wave of reverse migration and uptake in outdoor tourism.

My research uses qualitative data obtained from interviews, participant observation and archival research since March 2025, and earlier field visits between 2021-23. During this time I interacted with long-term residents, returnees, newcomers, former residents, as well as local figures of authority. Preliminary findings indicate a complex, transforming, layered remoteness. It remains an infrastructural hurdle, but less poignant than even just half a generation ago. It is also a point of pride for many, an attraction for newcomers, but increasingly performative.

It used to be a choice or a need, and the bonds with the larger village that sprung these settlements are still visible some 200 years later. Locals enjoy the freedom it affords them, which they feel balances out the disadvantages. Against such a scene setting, the area is continuously and increasingly sought by incomers as a site of authenticity, healthier life and escape. Thus, it is a space where the memory of limiting remoteness clashes with the curated remoteness of present, in a community with increasing access to consumer goods, on the verge of a touristic boom, but at the mercy of global warming.

Further avenues for research include explorations of past and present mobility, belonging and consequences of speculative development. What futures are imagined for such communities and who gets to decide, experience, and narrate them?

Keywords: Romania, remoteness, rurality, social transformations