Victor Neumann

Victor Neumann

Victor Neumann (born October 28, 1953) is a Romanian historian, political analyst, and professor at the West University in Timişoara. He is a well-known specialist in the recent cultural and intellectual histories of Eastern and Central Europe (focusing his research on interculturalism and multiculturalism). Much of his work deals with Conceptual History, the Jewish-Romanian history, the history of antisemitism, as well as various topics connected with nationalism.As of October 2013, he is Director of the Timisoara Museum of Arts.

Biography

Born in Lugoj from a Christian mother and a Jewish father, Victor Neumann graduated from the University of Cluj-Napoca in 1976, and took a PhD in History from the University of Bucharest in 1992. He was a visiting professor at the Université Catholique de l'Ouest in Angers (1999), Emory University in Atlanta, and Georgia State University in Athens, Georgia (1999), the National Foreign Affairs Training Center din Washington, D.C. (2001), and the University of Vienna (2003-2004). In 1995-1997, he was the recipient of a NATO Scholarship, and, in 2000-2001, of a Fulbright Scholarship (at the Catholic University of America).

Neumann was also head of research at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, and a lecturer at several higher learning institutions (the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Columbia University, the London School of Slavonic and East European Studies, and the University of Udine).

Works

As author

• The Temptation of Homo Europaeus, East European Monographs, Boulder, Colorado, 1993 (Tentația lui Homo Europaeus. Geneza spiritului modern în Europa Centrală și de Sud-Est, 1st edition, Stiințifica Publishing House, Bucharest, 1991; second edition, All Publishing House, Bucharest, 1997; 3rd edition, Polirom Publishing House, Iassy, 2006)
• Istoria evreilor din România. Studii documentare și teoretice, Amarcord Publishing House, Timișoara, 1996
• Identități multiple în Europa regiunilor. Interculturalitatea Banatului, Hestia Publishing House, Timișoara, 1997
• The End of a History: The Jews of Banat from the Beginning to Nowadays, translated by Simona Neumann, The University of Bucharest Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006 (Istoria evreilor din Banat. O mărturie a multi- și interculturalității Europei oriental-centrale, Atlas-Du Style Publishing House, Bucharest, 1999)
• Ideologie și fantasmagorie. Perspective comparative asupra istoriei gîndirii politice în Europa Est-Centrală, Polirom Publishing House, Iassy, 2001
• Between Words and Reality. Studies on the Politics of Recognition and Changes of Regime in Contemporary Romania, translated by Simona Neumann, Council for Research of Values and Philosophy, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., 2001
• Neam, Popor sau Națiune? Despre Identitățile Politice Europene, 1st edition, Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucharest, 2003; second edition, Curtea Veche Publishing House, Bucharest, 2005
• Conceptually Mystified: East-Central Europe Torn Between Ethnicism and Recognition of Multiple Identities, translated by Mihai Luca, Enciclopedică Publishing House, Bucharest, 2004
• Essays on Romanian Intellectual History, translated by Simona Neumann, West University of Timisoara Publishing House, Timișoara, 2008. The second edition Center for Advanced Studies in History Timisoara and Institutul European Publishing House, Iassy, 2013
• Sinntausch/Sinntauschungen. Nationalismus und Ethnische Vielfalt in Mitteleuropa, translated by Patrick Lavrits, Dresden Universitaet Verlag (TUD), 2009
• Iskusenia Homo Europaeusa, translation by Milisav Firulovič, Pešič I Sinovi, Beograd, 2011
• Interculturalitatea Banatului, Art Press – Institutul European Publishing House, Timisoara - Iassy, 2012

Edited and coordinated by:

• Identitate și Cultură. Studii privind istoria Banatului, Romanian Academy of Sciences Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009
• Istoria Romaniai prin concepte. Perspective alternative asupra limbajelor social-politice (together with Armin Heinen), Polirom Publishing House, Iassy, 2010
• Key concepts of Romanian history: alternative approaches to socio-political languages (together with Armin Heinen), translated by Dana Mihailescu, Central European University Press, Budapest-New York, 2013

Translations:

• Reinhart Koselleck, Conceptul de istorie, Introduction by Victor Neumann, translated into Romanian by ... together with Patrick Lavrits, Al.I. Cuza University Publishing House, Iassy, 2005

In collaboration

• Kenneth Cushner, International Perspectives on Intercultural Education, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, New Jersey, 1998
• Dario Castiglione, Iain Hampsher-Monk, The History of Political Thought in National Context, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001

Selected articles and book chapters

• ”Peculiarities of the Translation and Adaptation of the Concept of Nation in East-Central Europe. The Hungarian and Romanian Cases in the Nineteenth Century” in Contributions to the History of Concepts (Berghahn Publishers, New York), vol. 7, N. 1, Summer 2012, p.72-101.
• "Reinhart Koselleck şi Şcoala de Istorie Conceptuală de la Timişoara", [Reinhart Koselleck and the Doctoral School of Conceptual History from Timisoara] in Timpul, N. 4/2012, p.12-13.
• ”The Concept of Totalitarianism in the Romanian Social-Political Languages” in Divinatio. Studia Culturologica Series, N. 31, Sofia, 2010, p.145-161.
• “Timisoara: A multi- and intercultural city” in Transylvanian Review, vol. 17, N. 3, Sept. 2008, p.29-37.

Researching the Nation: The Romanian File. Studies and Selected Bibliography on Romanian Nationalism, Edited by Sorin Mitu, International Book Access, Cluj, 2008, 307p. + 165p.

• ”Istoria conceptuală şi deconstrucţia limbajelor social-politice. O contribuţie la înnoirea metodologică a istoriografiei române”, [Conceptual History and the Deconstruction of Social-Political Languages. A Contribution to the Methodological Renewing of Romanian History] in Memoriile Secţiei de Ştiinţe Istorice şi Arheologie, Series IV, Tome XXXII, 2007, p.179-191.
• “Multiculturality and Interculturality: The Case of Timisoara” in Hungarian Studies, vol. 21, N. 1, June 2007, p.3-18.
• ”Approche comparative de l’histoire et de la theorie multiculturelle” in Revue Roumaine d’Histoire, Romanian Academy Publishing, N. 1-4, 2007, p.279-303.
• ”Conceptual confusions concerning the Romanian identity: Neam and Popor as expressions of ethno-nationalism” in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - East European Perspectives, I, vol. 6, nr. 22, December 17, 2004; II, vol. 7, nr. 1, January 11, 2005; III, vol. 7, N. 2, March 9, 2005.
• ”Vergleichende Betrachtungen über die Multikulturelle Philosophie”, in Forschungen zur Volks-und Landeskunde, Institutul de Studii Socio-Umane din Sibiu al Academiei Române, N. 48, 2005, Bucharest-Sibiu, p.7-33.
• ”Umbruch im östlichen Europa. Die nationale Wende und das kollektive Gedächtnis”, Andrei Corbea-Hoisie/Rudolf Jaworski/Monika Sommer (editors), Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2004, the study „Alternative Romanian Textbooks as Sites of Memory”, p.137-149.
• ”Romanian-Hungarian Relations and the French-German Reconciliation”, Smaranda Enache and Salat Levente (editors), Cluj: Centrul de Resurse pentru Diversitate Etno-Culturală, 2004, the study „Relaţiile româno-maghiare într-un moment de răscruce” [The Romanian-Hungarian Relations at a Turning Point], p.307-317.
• ”Permanences et ruptures dans l’ histoire des Juifs de Roumanie”, Carol Iancu (editor), Montpellier: Université Paul Valery, 2004, the study Les Juifs du Banat à la fin du XIXe siècle et au debut du XX-e siècle [The Jews from Banat at the end of the 19th Century and at the Beginning of the 20th Century], p. 127-139.
• ”Vertreibungen europäisch erinnern? Historische Erfahrungen – Vergangenheitspolitik – Zukunftskonzepzionen”, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003, the study „Erzwungene Auswanderungen. Der Fall der Deutschen aus Rumänien. Der Fall der Magyaren aus Rumänien” [Forced Emigrations. The Case of the Germans from Romania. The Case of the Hungarians from Romania], p.102-112.
• ”Temps historique et temporalité”. Autour de Reinhart Koselleck (Die historische Zeit und die Zeitlichkeit. Um Reinhart Koselleck herum), Yvailo Znepolski (editor), Paris: Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 2003, the study „Le temps historique: une perspective comparative entre Braudel et Koselleck” [The Historical Time: a Comparative Perspective between Braudel and Koselleck], p.444-460.
• ”Civic Education and Human Rights in an Intercultural Perspectives: The Case of Transylvania”, in the East-European Studies Journal Papeles del Este, University Computense from Barcelona, N. 3, 2002, p.1-52.
• ”Federalism and Nationalism in Austro-Hunagrian Monarchy: The Aurel C. Popovici’s Theory” in East European Politics and Societies, California University Press, N. 16, 2002, p.864-897.

Notes

References

• The Romanian Jewish community: Incursion in the life and history of the Jew Community in Timişoara. Important personalities [sic]
• (Romanian) Biography at Editura Curtea Veche
• (Romanian) Simona Chitan, "Victor Neumann, evreii şi naţionalismul", in Evenimentul Zilei, March 19, 2006

External links

• Andrei Oișteanu, The History of the Jews of Banat. Chronicle of a Forecasted Book" at the University of Bucharest site