6/2/2021

The trend of sustainable consumption induces a change in the marketing strategies, applying a marketing type that promotes the culture of quality, and employs the principles of eco-rationality in choosing the tools of interaction with the consumers. The originally Finnish REKO (abbreviation of the Swedish “Rejäl Konsumtion”, meaning “Fair Consumption”) model of alternative food network (AFN) is a perfect example of implementing the principles of sustainable marketing. This survey focuses on ROA (Roade Online din Ardeal; Fruits/Harvest from Transylvania online), a REKO type direct marketing network, based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The aim of the study is to assess the chances and challenges of this type of AFN in the Romanian context. For this, we analyse the opportunities and impediments of development, and the cost and benefits of the AFN for the involved producers. The objective of the survey is to reveal the potential contribution of AFNs to sustainable production, marketing, and distribution of local products. The applied qualitative research is based on (1) an interview with a coordinator of the investigated initiative, (2) a survey among the involved producers, (3) participant observation as consumer, (4) informal discussions with the AFN stakeholders, and (5) secondary data analysis. As conclusions, we can state that Romania holds significant resources for the implementation of AFNs due to numerous favourable circumstances, such as the rising demand for qualitative local and regional products, and the willingness of consumers and producers to get involved in direct marketing networks. However, grassroot initiatives of direct marketing face administrative and legal challenges. The lack of real support of public policies, the weakly developed idea of self-government, and not firmly established in practice, confine the short food supply chains to a niche phenomenon.

The present article is a conceptual and bibliometric radiography of ‘the new trinity of governance’ (Joseph & McGregor, 2020) that includes sustainability, resilience, and wellbeing from the viewpoint of territorial approaches. First, the paper makes theoretical considerations of the three concepts by analysing their definition and characteristics. Second, the study proposes a bibliometric analysis of the three well-established concepts, taking into account the papers that include the relations between all three in a single framework. Third, we developed a content analysis considering only the most relevant papers in the proposed study area as we try to highlight the main theoretical and empirical implications of overlapping sustainability, resilience, and wellbeing from the viewpoint of place-based strategies and planning as reflected by current scientific research. The results show the prevalence of four major directions of research which include the three concepts as pillars for the theoretical and empirical approaches: 1) nature-centred assessments, 2) safe and sustainable human activities and critical services, 3) participative governance for planning human settlements, 4) individuals’ and communities’ culture and identities. Finally, the missing link that can transform all these convergent, but still diverse, perspectives is identified as being the capabilities theory of Amartya Sen. To accomplish this role, the classic theory was reinterpreted in a broader sustainability-related approach that takes into consideration the equity and wellbeing of individuals and communities, but also the equilibrium between nature and human development. Conclusively, if managed wisely, the new integrative approach could mark a paradigm shift that might push forward new ways of planning and governing sustainable, safe and liveable territories.

The main goal of this paper is to adequately understand the shifts produced after 1945 in Folklore Studies (Ethnology) in terms of research topics, methodologies, approaches, and scientific policies, in connection with the new political and ideological context. In particular it aims at discussing how, why and to what extent the Cluj Folklore Archive could be defined as a cultural institution playing an important role at the regional level whilst contributing to a correct socio-cultural understanding of Transylvania in relation to the other Romanian provinces. Content analysis will be the main methodology used, whereas the intricate connections and relationships among archives, memory, and territorial and cultural identities shown in the sources will support the process of understanding, deepening, and widening the researched topic.

Visual representations are a key tool for tourism marketing, incorporating the possibility of transmitting the associated historical and cultural symbols, as well as the messages associated with the official discourse at the same time. This article aims to analyse the evolution of urban and tourist planning since 1900 until now, in the area of Cetăţuia urban ensemble in Cluj-Napoca, by using postcards. The methodology consisted of interpreting the visual representations of the studied area from a critical perspective of the official discourse based on the selection of postcards published in different historical periods. The results of the study highlight the changes registered by Cetăţuia urban ensemble based on the evolution of the tourist planning, on the one hand, as well as on the narrative associated with the visual representations strongly influenced by the political ideology, on the other hand. This study reflects the role of postcards as a research tool in studies focused on analysing the visual representations of cultural heritage elements as promotion tools, but also a means of understanding cultural buildings and sites. At the same time, the visual representations of Cetăţuia and its location encompass coded messages of the official discourse meant to promote their image as a recreational space as part of the modernisation process of Cluj-Napoca during Socialism.

A product of popular culture, comics are in tune with the societal context that created them. This article aims to present the hegemonic narrative, reading and messages of comics for communist pioneers in Cutezătorii [The Daring Ones] Magazine. To do so, the research material considered is made up of two comics focused on Otherness and Romanians’ relationships with state institutions close to the political factor. Qualitative content analysis was performed on both text and images. Findings uncovered a partial view of communist Romania and of the workings of propaganda, because, beside their entertainment value, these comics can be read as political texts or statements. These comics show how the political elite perceived those who wanted to leave Romania (illegally) and those who, of foreign origin, visited this country. Both comics series glorify the collaboration with the Militia, the State Security, and their surveillance methods (through technology and responsible employees and citizens). Communist pioneers are plain clothes detectives who help these institutions to gather their information, catch criminals, and keep the society under control. Because cultural representations impacted the Romanian society in multiple ways during the totalitarian communist rule, a critical reconsidering of cultural products of the past is necessary in order to better understand the present.