Graduate Student Profile: Stefania Cotei
Stefania Cotei is a third-year History of Consciousness PhD Student. Her dissertation titled, “Realizing the Archive: Conjunctural Theories of Eutopic Resistance,” engages with the role archives play in understanding systems of oppression. Over the summer, we spoke to Cotei about her time as a THI 2024 Summer Research Fellow and her experience as a 2023-2024 National Humanities Center Podcasting Fellow.
Hi Stefania! Thanks for chatting with us about your ongoing research. To begin, could you give us a general synopsis of your research project?
My summer research project is rooted in one of the main arguments of my dissertation, which underscores the importance of thinking about both the visible and non-visible structures of the archive and how they are part of bigger phenomena, which also include capitalist, colonialist, and imperialist practices. One of my research questions is, how are these systems of oppression embodied in the archival structure?
Integrating archival research with ethnographic fieldwork, my project seeks to trace how archival silences shape collective memory and historical consciousness. By drawing on Karen Barad’s theory of agential realism and Stuart Hall’s conjunctural analysis, I view archives not just as passive repositories but as active sites where history is produced and influenced by power relations. This framework challenges traditional ideas of objectivity, arguing that knowledge production is inextricably tied to material and discursive forces.
My work also troubles conceptions of time by rooting itself in the spatiotemporal alterity of the postsocialist Balkans. I challenge linear and homogeneous notions of time by drawing on Massimiliano Tomba’s work. Tomba critiques the capitalist imposition of standardized time and emphasizes how insurgent temporalities emerge from marginalized social groups and resist the dominant narrative of progress.
I view archives not just as passive repositories, but as active sites where history is produced and influenced by power relations.
My work seeks to make visible forgotten and marginalized histories in Eastern Europe by tracing subversive and transgressive practices that destabilize hegemonic, hierarchical frameworks. Most significantly, my work tries to understand how one can read the silences of the archive and aims to make this practice a political project that can help us overcome our unjust contemporary predicaments.
Your project is particularly interested in memory and racism in the Balkans, can you talk about some specific knowledge or perspectives that you gained through your travels as a THI Summer Research Fellow?
My work examines the entanglement of memory and racism in the Balkans by investigating how historical narratives, especially those related to Romani slavery, have been selectively silenced or distorted to reinforce ethno-racial hierarchies and nationalist ideologies. Drawing on scholars like Maria Todorova, who critiques the construction of the Balkans as Europe’s “Other,” I explore how memory in the region is often manipulated to exclude or marginalize racial and ethnic minorities, particularly the Roma. In this context, memory becomes a political tool that reinforces racial exclusion, as contemporary racism against the Roma is legitimized by historical omissions and distortions. This summer, I spent time researching in the Romanian National Archives in Bucharest.
My initial goal was to learn what Romani slavery and broader socio-economic relations looked like in the Phanariot period (eighteenth century) when two Romanian principates were vassal states of the Ottoman Empire. Instead, I got a much more nuanced understanding of how multiple imperial influences of the Hapsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Empires have intersected in Eastern Europe to produce unique social formations, identities, and power relations. I saw how Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldova, the three principalities which make up modern Romania, have long been at the intersection of various empires. Most poignantly, I noticed how imperial legacies have been selectively remembered or forgotten in contemporary Romanian culture and politics and how these historical narratives continue to shape the current predicament of the Romani community. These insights have now become important tenets of my dissertation, and I am very grateful for the THI Summer Research Grant I received to make the continuation of my learning and research possible.
In your application, you described some personal experiences that motivated your research. Could you elaborate, in any depth you are comfortable with, on the struggles and benefits of doing research that has personal meaning to you?
Thank you for this question. I believe it is important to always reflect on our subjectivities as scholars and to avoid presenting our work as entirely neutral, which can create the illusion of objectivity in scientific research. My journey into this field is deeply personal. I came to the United States when I was thirteen years old, moving with my family from a coal-mining town in southwestern Romania. Neither of my parents had the opportunity to attend college, but they worked tirelessly to provide the best educational conditions for my brother and me. Returning to Romania as a Fulbright fellow after leaving at such a young age was a profoundly disorienting experience. The reverse culture shock was immense, and I found myself confronting aspects of Romanian history and identity that I had never been exposed to.
One of the most striking revelations during my Fulbright experience was discovering Romani slavery—a history that had been entirely absent from my education in Romania. In fact, I only learned about it through a book recommended by an American friend. I realized that not only I, but also my family and peers had never been taught about this crucial part of Romanian history. This personal discovery became a pivotal moment in my research, motivating me to explore why such significant histories remain silenced. Doing research with such personal stakes is both a privilege and a challenge. It imbues the work with urgency and emotional depth but also requires constant self-reflection. Navigating the tension between personal involvement and scholarly rigor is crucial, but this engagement makes the work all the more meaningful.
As part of your research work as a THI Summer Research Fellow, you conducted archival research in Bucharest. I imagine this was a fascinating process. I’m always curious about archival research, and I’m wondering if there was a specific text or specific moment from your research that stands out to you–a moment of surprise, shock, awe, or understanding you’d like to share with us?
I wish this question could have been the entire interview! There were so many notable moments during the time I spent in the archives in Bucharest. Some of the most shocking ones were entering the space and encountering the documents I had requested for study. The original place which housed the archives, an imposing building with marble steps and columns greeting you at the entrance in the most central spot in Bucharest, had been under renovation for the past five years. This meant that most of the archival storage spaces and the study room had been moved to another location on the outskirts of the city. Walking up to it after a long metro ride and walk was pretty surreal, as it was surrounded by barbed wire and a three-meter-tall cement fence! The building itself was also very poorly kept: there was no air conditioning, only one bathroom, the archivists’ offices, and the study room were the same room, and everyone studying had to share one big table, which took up most of the space. It was rarely quiet, dusty documents were sitting on top of each other in piles all over the place, a lot of the inventories were not digital, some of the documents I had requested were even missing!
Anyway, the most wonderful moment of my time there was when I became friends with one of the archivists. During a water break, I started chatting with her, and as soon as I told her about my research, she opened up to me. From someone who was very formal and intimidating, I must admit, to a curious and friendly person who passionately cared about her work. Our conversations completely changed the rest of my time there. She helped me find a lot of treasures by showing me where to look in the labyrinth of resources the archives housed. That’s when I deeply understood how significant conjunctures are and how much information and knowledge I would have missed if she had not illuminated how intricately entangled and complex the structures of the archives were, both as a physical space and as a political institution.
Your work also examines important questions like, “ …what constitutes an archive, how is it made, and how does it reflect power relations in society? “ For people who might not often consider the power behind archives, what would you share to help us think more critically about these institutions?
Archives are not neutral repositories of historical documents; they are actively constructed spaces that reflect and reinforce power relations in society. To think critically about archives, it’s crucial to understand that the decisions about what gets recorded, preserved, and classified are shaped by those in power. As scholars like Jacques Derrida argue in Archive Fever, the archive is not simply a place where history is stored but a site where history is produced. By controlling the narratives that are included or excluded, those in power shape collective memory and identity. In this way, archives become instruments of ideological control, where the act of remembering or forgetting is deeply political. By questioning how archives are made and whose voices they omit, we can better understand how historical knowledge is constructed to maintain specific social hierarchies and power structures.
By using Karen Barad’s concept of ontoepistemology, I argue that archives not only document what is considered “knowledge” but also actively participate in the creation of reality. By determining what is preserved, what is excluded, and how information is organized, archives shape both the being (ontology) and the knowing (epistemology) of historical and cultural narratives. In this sense, they are spaces where the boundaries between what exists and what is known are continuously negotiated and constructed. Archives, just like imperialism, colonialism, race, class, and gender, are phenomena. They produce events, they record them, but they are also imposed upon and changed by the relationship of power a scholar enters in when they engage with the archives. In my dissertation, I examine how archival remnants and traces not only take on their own life outside of the dominant discourse but also carry and multiply meaning.
Moreover, my work also asks questions about what those archives that can challenge power structures are like. For example, I look at how oral histories play a crucial role in uncovering marginalized narratives that have been systematically excluded from official state and institutional archives. Traditional archives often privilege written documents, legal records, and state-sanctioned narratives, which reflect the perspectives of those in power. As a result, the lived experiences and voices of marginalized groups—such as the Romani communities in Romania—are frequently omitted or distorted. Oral histories, however, offer a vital alternative to this exclusion, allowing for the preservation of memories, traditions, and events that have been overlooked or silenced by official histories.
Another powerful quote from your work is that you “drill holes into silences.” Could you unpack that for people not in your field?
When I say I “drill holes into silences,” I’m referring to the process of uncovering hidden or suppressed histories, particularly those that have been deliberately omitted or distorted by dominant power structures. In my research, I focus on the erasure of marginalized voices, such as the five centuries-long enslavement of Romani people in Romania, from the archives and inherently public discourse and collective memory. This history is most often suppressed by state institutions such as the public education system, museums, or the media. I argue that these silences are not passive gaps in history but active constructions that serve the interests of those in power. By “drilling holes” into these silences, I aim to expose what has been systematically ignored, questioning the narratives that have been shaped to uphold certain ideologies. This process involves not just retrieving forgotten stories but also understanding why and how these stories were silenced in the first place, which is key to critiquing the structures of oppression that shape historical memory.
Changing gears a little, congratulations on being awarded to the NHC Podcast Institute for Graduate students, could you talk a little bit about your experience with podcasting and what you learned at the institute?
Thank you! The NHC Podcast Institute was an intensive and immersive experience of what it means to produce your own podcast. In just one week, we learned everything from how to use a microphone to how to write a storyboard and edit raw audio footage. Beyond teaching us these necessary technical skills, we also had a lot of meaningful conversations about what it means to bridge the humanities to the public. I already had a bit of experience in making my own podcast, but these sessions at the NHC Podcast Institute taught me how to better communicate my research and its significance to those outside of the academic field.
My first podcast, produced in Romanian, focused on raising awareness about legacies of oppression within Romanian society, drawing on my research and personal experiences.
It was such a wonderful and grounding experience because I became more and more aware of the impacts my work can have and how necessary it is to share it beyond the walls of the university, something that has always been of utmost importance to me.
Podcasting and the Humanities is an up-and-coming field, could you talk more about your own podcast and what the medium means for your work?
Podcasting and the Humanities is an emerging and dynamic field, and my own experience with podcasting has shown me how powerful this medium can be in making academic research accessible and engaging to a wider audience. My first podcast, produced in Romanian, focused on raising awareness about legacies of oppression within Romanian society, drawing on my research and personal experiences. Through interviews and conversations with artists, writers, and activists, I explored how power circulates, touching on issues like postsocialist experiences of neoliberalism, the racism Roma face, and the silenced history of slavery in Eastern Europe. Oral histories and storytelling were central to this work, and the podcast format has proven to be an excellent platform for capturing and disseminating these narratives, particularly those that have been omitted from official archives.
I want to continue sharing any oral histories and archives I engage with in my research through podcasts because the format podcasting offers is both accessible and deeply personal, allowing for a direct engagement with the listener. Podcasting enables these stories to reach a broader audience beyond academia and fosters a participatory form of knowledge-sharing that encourages dialogue and reflection. After I complete my qualifying exams, I plan to return to my podcast and develop a bilingual version, continuing to use this medium to bring my research to the public, where these forgotten histories can spark broader conversations about power, memory, and social justice.
Finally, what’s one place in Santa Cruz everyone should check out before they’re done being a student here?
I am irrevocably in love with all the hills, forests, and cliffs that we have just ten to fifteen minutes away from campus. Every time I walk in the forest in upper campus or Pogonip, or every time I go on the cliffs at Wilder, I feel more alive. We are so lucky to be living in such a rich and luscious environment here! I think if people spend more time in these places before they leave UCSC, they will be a healthier human being!