The Review of Democracy and CEU Review of Books organized this roundtable to present the book “Flowing Progress, Transforming the Danube through Infrastructure,” edited by Ștefan Dorondel and Luminița Gatejel, published at Purdue University Press this year.
The volume explores the intricate entanglements between the environment, political regimes and technology in the process of “modernization.” By using the case of the Danube river, Flowing Progress provides fresh perspectives on the interaction between humans, who often attempted to control the Danube, and the agency of the river.
By using the concept of disturbance, the editors emphasize “a circular relation between the river and its natural pulses, the humans that populate its floodplains, and the state bureaucratic apparatus with its infrastructure-building programs.” The scholarship on the Danube is still emerging, either confined within the national narratives, or with the specific focus on either the Upper, Middle and Lower Danube. Thus, this book’s longue durée approach, starting from the sixteenth century until today, fills a crucial gap.
Participants:
Editors:
Stefan Dorondel, Francisc I. Rainer Institute of Anthropology, The Romanian Academy
Luminita Gatejel, University of Regensburg
Respondents:
Ger Duijzings, University of Regensburg
Cosmin Koszor-Codrea, New Europe College, Bucharest
Moderator:
Adrian Matus, Review of Democracy
