CV

IRINA VELICU

 

 

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 – 2011, Department of Political Science, University of Hawaii-USA Dissertation title: To Sell or Not to Sell: Resistance to Neo-Liberal Globalization and the Aesthetic Post-Communist Subject.

 Master of Arts, 2003 – 2004, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick- UK, Thesis title: Theoretical Foundations for an Open Society as a Basis for the Reform of Global Governance.

 Bachelor of Arts, 1999 – 2003, Political Science (in English) Department, University of Bucharest. Thesis title: Regional Integration versus Global Disenfranchisement: Enhancing the EU as an International Democratic Actor.

 ACADEMIC Experience

Visiting Researcher, June 2013 – currently, ICTA, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona

• Contribute to the organization of activities (courses, summer-schools, research).
• Deliver lectures on Social Movements and Political Theory.
• Assisting the delivery of doctoral courses on political ecology.

Lecturer, Oct 2010 – currently, Spiru Haret University, Bucharest

• Deliver the following courses and seminars: 1. Globalization: Dimensions and Perspectives (Global Crisis and transnational responses, institutions, ideas and movements); 2. International Relations: theories of IR, history of political thought.
• Plan, design and develop course objectives and material as well as other syllabuses on Feminism in IR.
• Contribute to the research and grant application activities of the Department,
• Other administrative duties.

 Lecturer, July-Aug 2011, Outreach College, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA.

• Teaching a summer class on Political Inquiry and Analysis (qualitative social science methodologies: positivist and interpretative approaches).

 Lecturer, May-July 2010, Outreach College, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA.

• Teaching a summer class on Introduction to Global Politics/International Relations (from state to globalization: the debate over development).

 Lecturer, July-Aug 2007, Outreach College, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA.

• Teaching a summer class on Political Inquiry and Analysis (positivist and interpretative approaches).

 Teaching Assistant, Aug 2004 – July 2007, Political Science Department– University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA

• Deliver the following courses: Introduction to Political Science: political doctrines and from conservatorism to ecologism (Spring 2006, Fall 2006, Spring 2007). Introduction to World Politics: from international to global politics (Fall 2005).
• Assessment and grading of undergraduate student work,
• Provide (written and oral) feedback to undergraduate students,
• Plan, design and develop course objectives and materials,
• Assisting Professor Michael Shapiro in teaching courses on global politics.

 MANUSCRIPTS IN PROGRESS

“Experiencing Nature, Re-Valuing Culture: Stories of Rosia Montana”’, in Landscapes, forthcoming 2014 (ISSN 1466-2035).

“How is the Post-socialist Ecologist Different? Movements’ Stories” in Antipode, 2014.

“Stories of Anonymous Women, Land and (Post)-Communism”, in From Communism to Democracy: Transformations of the Eastern European Female Ideal, Florentina Andreescu and Michael Shapiro (eds.), Palgrave, accepted for publication, forthcoming 2014.

“Demonizing the Emotional: Green Activism against Developmentalism in Rosia Montana”, in Civil Society and the State: Analyzing Public Debates on Gender and Environmental Issues in Post-Communist Romania, Mihaela Miroiu (ed.), National Council for Scientific Research in Higher Education – Romania, forthcoming 2013.

Globalism, Balkanism and the Aesthetic Post-Communist Subject (based on my Ph.D), CEU Publishing House.

 PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

 “Moral versus Commercial Economies: Transylvanian Stories”, in New Political Science: A Journal of Politics and Culture, 36 (1), March, 2014, (ISSN: 0739-3148).

“Peopling the Globe: New Social Movements”, in Handbook of Globalization, Manfred Steger and Paul Battersby (eds.), SAGE Publications, 2013.

„The Aesthetic Post-communist Subject and the Differend of Rosia Montana” in Studies in Social Justice, Vol. 6, Issue 1, December 2012, 125 – 141. (ISSN: 1911-4788), http://ojs.uwindsor.ca/ojs/leddy/index.php/SSJ/article/view/3533

“To Sell or Not to Sell: Landscapes of Resistance to Neo-liberal Globalization in Transylvania”, in Globalizations, Vol. 9, No. 2, April 2012, pp. 307-321 (ISSN 1474-7731), ISI publication.

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

Introducere in Relatiile Internationale, (Student Handbook on Introduction to International Relations), (Romania de Maine: Bucharest, 2013), ISBN: 987-606-20-0152-0.

 “The Crisis and the Movements of Global Capitalism” in Sfera Politicii, forthcoming 2013, (ISSN: 1221-6720).

“An Aesthetics of Post-Communist Resistance to Neo-liberal Politics”, in Sfera Politicii, No. 1 (167), Vol. XX, 2012, (ISSN: 1221-6720), http://www.sferapoliticii.ro/sfera/167/art11-Velicu.php

 ”New Powers, Old Habits: A Critical Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility”, in Sfera Politicii, no. 3 (145), March 2010, (CNCSIS 745), http://www.sferapoliticii.ro/sfera/145/art06-velicu.html

Book review of: Michael J. Shapiro, Cinematic Geopolitics, Routledge, New York, 2009, for Studia Politica, Special Issue on „Art and Politics”, nr. 4, 2011, (ISSN 1582-4551) http://www.studiapolitica.eu/Archive/2011/studia-politica-vol-xi-no-4-2011

  “2008 Parliamentary Elections and the Economic Crisis” in Elections 2008 – Campaigns, Leaders and Opinion Polls, (Bucharest: Polirom Publishing House, 2009), pp. 189-204 (ISBN: 978-973-46-1416-5).

“Transnational migration rights: Idiom tensions and practical paradoxes” in Re-public, July 2007, http://www.re-public.gr/en/?p=153 (ISSN 1791-857X)

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Think Green Politicies: Research Report on Environmental Protection in Urban Romania, collaborative work, TERRA Mileniul III, 2008, http://issuu.com/ghiny/docs/politici_verzi

The Environmental Electoral Agenda: An Analysis, collaborative work, TERRA Mileniul III, 2008, http://issuu.com/ghiny/docs/oferta_electorala_final

“Public Participation and the Environmental Decision” in Integrated Strategies for Natural Resources Use, Soros Foundation Romania, 2008 http://www.soros.ro/ro/publicatii.php?pag=6#

“Crisis of the Earth, Crisis of the Soul: What values do we need to further sustain life?” in Romanian Environmental News, No. 4/2008, http://www.liltransyl.co.uk/ren4/REN4ENG.pdf

 

 CONFERENCE PAPER PRESENTATIONS/PARTICIPATION

“In-between Worlds – The Ambiguous Dissent of Post-Socialist Transylvania”, 7th ECPR General Conference, Bordeaux, 4 – 7 September 2013.

Participation to the ENTITLE Summer School on „Commons, Conflicts and Disasters”, organized by ICTA-UAB, Syros-Greece, 7-14 July, 2013.

“Experiencing Nature, (Re)Valuing Culture, Stories of Rosia Montana”’ (poster presentation), conference on Landscapes of Conflict: Considering the role of landscape in civil and military conflicts, Centre for Environmental History and Policy, University of Stirling, 7-8 June 2013.

Participation to the „International Conference on Environmental Economics” organized by the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE), Lille-France, 17-21 June, 2013.

Participation to the ENTITLE Intensive Course on Research Design and Methods in Political Ecology, ICTA-UAB, Barcelona, 2-7 June, 2013.

“Demonizing the Emotional: Green Activism against Developmentalism in Rosia Montana”, Conference on Civil Society and the State: Analyzing Public Debates on Gender and Environmental Issues in Post-Communist Romania, organized by the National School of Political Science and Public Administration, Bucharest 16-17 May,  2013.

“Anti-mining in Rosia Montana”, research presentation at the Political Ecology course organized by the Manchester University and ICTA-UAB, Manchester, 18-22 February 2013.

„Resistance to Globalization in Transylvania”, Summer School on Power and Dynamics of Civil Resistance, Central European University – Budapest, 9 – 14 July 2012.

“Moving Borders of the Mind: Economic Development and Labor Migration in Eastern Europe”, Borderscapes III Conference, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Italy, 28-30June, 2012.

“Public Participation and the Environmental Decision”, Soros Foundation Workshop on Integrated Strategies for Natural Resources Use, May 2008.

“Anti-globalization movements and Eastern Europe: For an Archaeology of Resistance” – Paper presented in the panel “Foucault – Power and Responsibility” at the International Student Association – Chicago, USA, March 2007.

“Following the emergent: Counter-domination movements” – Paper presented at the “Globalization & Resistance” Graduate Student Conference of the English & Philosophy Program, Purdue University, Indiana, USA, March 2006.

“Globalization and Anti-Globalization”, Summer School on Globalization, Security and Global Governance – Central European University – Budapest, July 2005.

Paper presentation entitled ‘Regional Integration vs. Global Disenfranchisement,’ – Rethinking European Spaces conference, Royal Holloway – University of London, UK, April 2005.

 AWARDS AND GRANTS

2013 – Marie Curie Post-doctoral Fellowship

2008 – Doctoral Research funding, OSI Fellowship, Romania.

2007 – Travel Grant, Graduate Student Council, University of Hawaii, ISA conference participation.

2006 – Doctoral scholarship: Global Supplementary Grant, OSI- New York.

2004-2007 – Graduate Teaching Assistantships, University of Hawaii.

2003-2004 – Chevening Scholarship, Open Society Foundation and British Council, University of Warwick.

UNIVERSITY SERVICE

2012-2013 – Chair of the Commission for Quality Evaluation, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Spiru Haret University, Bucharest.

2011 – 2012 – Chair of the Research Committee, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Spiru Haret University, Bucharest.

2006 – Graduate Student Member, Grants and Awards Committee, Department of Political Science, University of Hawaii.

 

References

Professor Michael Shapiro, University of Hawaii, E-mail: shapiro@hawaii.edu, Phone: (808) 956 8628

ICREA Professor Giorgos Kallis, ICTA-Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Email: giorgoskallis@gmail.com, Phone: (0034) 93-581 3749

Professor Jon Goldberg-Hiller, University of Hawaii, E-mail: hiller@hawaii.edu, Phone: (808) 956-8563.

Professor Sankaran Krishna, University of Hawaii, E-mail: krishna@hawaii.edu, Phone: (808) 956 8841

Professor Nevzat Soguk, University of Hawaii, E-mail: nevzat@hawaii.edu; Phone: (808) 956-7536.

Professor Manfred B. Steger, RMIT University & University of Hawaii, E-mail: manfred@hawaii.edu; Phone: (808) 351-3509

Professor Annette Freyberg, University of Amsterdam, freyberg_inan@yahoo.com.

PhD Dissertation Abstract

TO SELL OR NOT TO SELL

RESISTANCE TO NEO-LIBERAL GLOBALIZATION AND THE AESTHETIC POST-COMMUNIST SUBJECT

 How does one articulate resistance to neoliberal globalization in a post-communist context? In my dissertation I address the ambiguous encounter between the moral and the commercial economy by looking at the ongoing Transylvanian controversy in Rosia Montana. Examining the ambiguity within the discursive practices (re)producing both Rosia Montana (as an object of commodification) and Rosienii (as subjects) in dichotomous representations, I illustrate how selling or preserving land in the new global economy is not a simple ‘economic’ choice. While the corporate supporters attempt to produce the image of a troubled space in need of aid – thus, essentializing what a Rosian means by appealing to a proletarian consciousness of the miner occupation – NGOs are producing the ‘Save Rosia Montana’ campaign by appealing to a pristine/peasantry essence and to the ‘liberal rights’ discourse. While a prevailing narrative among the Rosieni is reiterating motifs of sacred spirituality, all these representations are rather unstable and blurred in everyday life. Interviews, personal stories and quotations of media texts will illustrate how Rosienii are seduced by the various ideological discourses attempting to arrest the experience of Rosia and how ‘partitioning’ their sensible experience is rather contentious. My argument is that resistance is to be viewed aesthetically as it eludes certainty; political subjectivities are mobile and events of subjectification are unstable. The paradoxes of this encounter are important in terms of continuities and similarities between capitalism and the totalitarian experiment of Eastern Europe, making the discourse of ‘post-communism’ more complicated than it is traditionally presented.