Why Bukovina Matters: Marginality and Modernity

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Cristina Florea about Bukovina. they provide an overview of Bukovina, ethnic makeup, Hapsburgs and Austrian-Hungarian Empire. They also talk about Moldova, the Orthodox Church, Jewish population, identity, Romania during World War II, Communism in Romania, Bukovina in present day, and many more topics.

Cristina Florea is a historian and assistant professor of history at Cornell University. Her work is on Central and Eastern Europe, with a focus on the interactions between German and Russian power (their competition for territory and influence) across this space, as well as the consequences these interactions have had for the people living in between. Her work explores questions such as the relationship between nationalism and empire, the importance of imperial legacies in modern European history, and the centrality of imperial competition to East European politics and societies. She is the author of the book, Bukovina: The Life and Death of an East European Borderland.