Andrei Oişteanu

Andrei Oişteanu (born September 18, 1948) is a Romanian historian of religions and mentalities, ethnologist, cultural anthropologist, literary critic and novelist. Specialized in the history of religions and mentalities, he is also noted for his investigation of rituals and magic and his work in Jewish studies and the history of antisemitism. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, he also became noted for his articles and essays on the Holocaust in Romania. He is, together with Ioan Petru Culianu, one of Mircea Eliade's leading disciples in Romania. A researcher at the Institute for History of Religions in Bucharest (Romanian Academy), a member of the Romanian Academy's Folklore and Ethnology Commission and the International Union of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences in London, he is the president of the Romanian Association for the History of Religions (RAHR). Andrei Oişteanu is a Knight of the Order of the Star of Romania, awarded by the Romanian President (2006), and a Commander of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, awarded by the Italian President (2005). He is the brother of American poet Valery Oisteanu.

Biography

Born into a Jewish family in Bucharest, Andrei Oişteanu took a post-graduate course in Oriental Studies at the University of Bucharest (professors: Sergiu Al-George and Amita Bhose).^[1] During the 1970s, he was active in Ceata Melopoică, an experimental music and concept band led by Mircea Florian.

In 1997 he graduated in Jewish Studies from the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary (professors: Moshe Idel and Michael Silber). Between 1997-2000, he had a research grant at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, International Center for the Study of Antisemitism.

Works

• Grădina de dincolo. Zoosofia. Comentarii mitologice ("The Garden Beyond. Zoosophy. Mythological Commentaries"), Dacia Publishing House, Cluj, 1980
• Motive şi semnificaţii mito-simbolice în cultura tradiţională românească ("Mytho-Symbolical Motifs and Meanings in Romanian Traditional Culture"), Minerva Publishing House, Bucharest, 1989
• Cutia cu bătrâni ("The Box with Old People", novel), Meta Publishing House, Bucharest, 1995 (second edition, Cartea Românească Publishing House, Bucharest, 2005)
• Mythos & Logos. Studii şi eseuri de antropologie culturală ("Mythos & Logos. Studies and Essays in Cultural Anthropology"), Nemira Publishing House, Bucharest, 1997 (second edition, 1998)
• Cosmos vs. Chaos. Myth and Magic in Romanian Traditional Culture, Romanian Cultural Foundation Publishing House, Bucharest, 1999
• Imaginea evreului în cultura română. Studiu de imagologie în context est-central european ("The Image of the Jew in Romanian Culture. A Study of Imagology in Central-East European Context"), Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2001 (second edition, revised, enhanced and illustrated, 2004). The volume was awarded with five major prises in Romania and Israel;
• Das Bild des Juden in der rumänischen Volkskultur ("The Image of the Jew in Romanian Popular Culture"), Hartung-Gorre Verlag, Konstanz, 2002;
• Jewish Identity and Antisemitism in Central and South-Eastern Europe, volume edited, foreworded and illustrated by Andrei Oişteanu, Goethe Institut, Bucharest, 2003;
• A Képzeletbeli Zsidó ("The Image of the Jew", translated in Hungarian), Kriterion Publishing House, Cluj, 2005;
• Ordine şi Haos. Mit şi magie în cultura tradiţională românească ("Order & Chaos. Myth and Magic in Romanian Traditional Culture"), illustrated edition, Polirom Publishing House, Iaşi, 2004
• Religie, politică şi mit. Texte despre Mircea Eliade şi Ioan Petru Culianu ("Religion, Politics and Myth. Texts on Mircea Eliade and Ioan Petru Culianu"), Polirom Publishing House, Iaşi, 2007
• Il diluvio, il drago e il labirinto. Studi di magia e mitologia europea comparata ("The Deluge, the Dragon and the Labyrinth. Comparative Studies in European Magic and Mythology"), Edizioni Fiorini, Verona, 2008
• Inventing the Jew. Antisemitic Stereotypes in Romanian and Other Central-East European Cultures, foreword by Moshe Idel, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln & London, 2009. The volume was awarded with the Prise "A.D. Xenopol" of the Romanian Academy.
• Konstruktionen des Judenbildes: Rumänische und Ostmitteleuropäische Stereotypen des Antisemitismus, Aus dem Rumänischen übersetzt von Larisa Schippel, Frank & Timme Verlag, Berlin, 2010.
• Narcotice în cultura română. Istorie, religie şi literatură ("Narcotics in Romanian Culture. History, Religion and Literature"), illustrated edition, Polirom Publishing House, Iaşi, 2010 (second edition, revised and enlarged, 2011). The volume was awarded with the Special Prise of the Union of Writers from Romania

References