Widening “Ground-Up” Nationalism: Some Reflections on Religion and Gender in the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

This article argues that although the study of nationalism and nation-building in the post-Soviet Republic of Moldova has included many ground-up perspectives on ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and memory-related aspects of national identity, the themes of religion and gender continue to be neglected. Over the past decade, attention to religion has been increasing—not least because of concern that the growing presence of Orthodoxy in the public sphere might endanger the state’s commitments to civic and human rights—yet what is still lacking is a considered discussion of religion and nationalism. The author considers how the 2017 Soros-published report on Church and State in the Republic of Moldova may spur us to better conceptualize the dynamics of religion and gender with respect to nationalism from the ground up.

Keywords

• nation-building
• gender
• religion
• religious nationalism
• republic of moldova