Reference Type:  Journal Article
Author: Majuru, Adrian
Year: 2006
Title: The Albanian Bucharest: From Merchant Elites to Cultural Elites
Journal: Plural
Volume: Nr. 1/sem. I 27/2006.
Pages: 33-39
Language: English
Keywords: Albanians Romania history Culture identity
Abstract: (ENG) The gradual development of a cultural Moldo-Walachian elite of Albanian origin, that was able to manifest an awareness of the cultural identity of its origins through certain activities in this respect, an elite devoted to the idea of a modern and independent Albania, comes into view at the beginning of the 19th century. The process started, in incipient forms, at the end of the 18th century but became larger when the Moldo-Walachian aristocracy started to make efforts to establish a modern Romanian state. The process was accelerated especially by the fact that elements of Albanian origin inside the Moldo-Walachian aristocracy integrated in the development process of modern Romania. In the 16th and 17th centuries, many Albanians and Macedo-Romanians penetrate the social structures, mainly the military and merchant ones, becoming then political or military leaders or merchants. The term elite is used in the present discourse with a larger meaning, referring to people within hierarchies of various Moldo-Walachian social categories, even if, as far as education, culture and sometimes manners were concerned, they did not correspond to the true elitist structures.
URL: http://www.icr.ro/bucuresti/the-continent-of-romania-romania-s-national-minorities-27-2006/the-albanian-bucharest-from-merchant-elites-to-cultural-elites.html