Nation-Building and Contested Identities - MEK

“The California of the Romanians”the values of the new political order and to induce loyalty to the Romanianstate, renamed Dobrogea’s localities, and built numerous Romanian historicalmonuments, as landmarks of the new political order.In Dobrogea, the national awakening of the Romanians, Greeks andBulgarians was linked to a struggle for control over the power and wealthof the Orthodox Church. During the 1870s, the newly established BulgarianExarchate challenged the authority of the Greek Ecumenic Patriarchyin Dobrogea, mostly by attempting to attract under its jurisdiction theRomanian Orthodox population. 63 After 1878, Romanian political elitesacknowledged the important role played by the Church in the process ofnational awakening in Dobrogea. In spite of strong opposition from Bulgarianclerics, the 1880 law on Dobrogea’s organization subjected Orthodoxchurches in the province to the jurisdiction of the Romanian OrthodoxChurch (which became autocephalous in 1885), and integrated them intothe Diocese of the Lower Danube.Another central pillar of the Romanian administration in Dobrogeawas the educational system. The school was regarded as the main institutionfor fostering cultural homogenization, and for overcoming the localparochialism and segregation that characterized the life of ethnic communitiesin the province. Until 1878, Dobrogea possessed a network ofRomanian, Bulgarian, Greek, and Russian confessional schools supportedby local communes. Under Romanian rule, the 1880 law provided forstate-sponsored primary education. It also allowed the functioning of localschools in minority languages, provided that they teach courses in Romanian,too. Supported by the central administration, the network of Romanianstate schools in Dobrogea increased, while that of confessionalschools gradually decreased. In spite of its strong national connotations,the educational offensive of the Romanian state was nevertheless largelyinconsistent, progressing in waves marked by either material difficulties orpersonal initiatives of the Dobrogean prefects. While the network of primaryschools considerably expanded, there were still no institutions forsecondary or higher education. Established in 1883, the Romanian Gymnasiumin Tulcea encountered such financial problems that in 1891-1892the director had to despondently report that Romanian parents redirectedtheir children toward the Bulgarian Gymnasium in Tulcea and theRussian Gymnasium in Ismail. 64A major boost in Dobrogea’s educational system was due to the activityof Spiru Haret, the Romanian Ministry of Education in 1897-1899, 1901-1904, and 1907-1910. As part of the industrialization policy of the NationalLiberal Party, Spiru Haret conducted a sustained cultural campaign foremancipating the impoverished sharecropper peasantry and transformingthem into independent farmers. 65 His strategy, contained in his Education-137