BEFORE THE DELUGE: ŞTEFANIA CRISTESCU-GOLOPENŢIA’S PIONEERING WORK ON WOMEN, MAGIC, AND PEASANT HOUSEHOLD INTEGRITY IN THE INTER-WAR YEARS

Abstract

This essay locates Ştefania Cristescu-Golopenţia in inter-war and post-war Romanian society and social science and shows how Ştefania’s career was cut short by political transformation and personal tragedy. I evaluate Cristescu-Golopenţia’s work, focusing on her discussion of women’s magico-ritual practices as critical for the strength and safety of peasant households. I then consider these ideas in the context of my own fieldwork, and how socialist state policies might have articulated with women’s magico-religious household ritual