Forgotten Domestic Objects

Abstract

This article presents an experimental anthropological method for researching memories about the communist past in Bucharest, Romania. Focusing on collections of ordinary objects in individual households, it examines how domestic spaces function not solely as repositories for artifacts of remembrance, but as containers for things that have been forgotten. Viewing these items as triggers of Proustian/Benjaminian ‘involuntary’ or inadvertent memories, rather than intentionally commemorative souvenirs, I explore how these new encounters offer alternative insights into perceptions of Romania’s past, present, and future. Such an approach reveals forms and contents of remembrance work that counter dominant academic and popular discourses about how Romanians are currently reflecting upon their communist past.