Performative Contradiction and the Romanian Revolution

Jolan Bogdan is a founding member of INC Continental Philosophy Research Group, Goldsmiths, University of London. She is currently editing an anthology on nationalism and maternal ambiguity as a theme in the works of Jacques Derrida. She has taught Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, and at the University of Birmingham. She has published articles in Word and Text, Parallax and The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest.

• Introduction – On the fractured narrative of the Romanian revolution / 1. Performative contradiction: structuralist and poststructuralist perspectives / 2. The performance of authenticity: philosophers question the revolution / 3. The problem with the “event”: Badiou’s split loyalties / 4. Nostalgia for the old regime: a Freudian interpretation / 5. Pro-natal legislation and the systematic destruction of intimacy / 6. The interruption of mourning: on forbidden burials / 7. On violence: can the revolution be saved? / Conclusion : Other examples / Bibliography / Index

Within the concluding section of the book, Bogdan demonstrates that performative contradiction, as a conceptual paradigm, proves a “productive and versatile” tool, which can be successfully employed to examine a variety of recent events, ranging from the Arab Spring and the current tensions within the European Union to the ongoing refugee crisis (190). Reading this volume, one becomes more and more aware that performative contradiction is indeed a useful tool, which not only enables new insights into the intricacies of the bloody revolution of 1989 in Romania, but also allows new approaches to worrisome phenomena facing the present day world.