Abstract This essay explores possibilities for theorizing blackness in relation to modern art and performance in Romania by tracing the trajectories of two African American men who spent significant time in the country. Dancer Bob Hopkins performed with Romanian entertainment troupes for a decade before being deported, while entertainer and cabaret manager Peter Johnson settled in Romania and continued to perform for factory workers under state socialism. Drawing on Paul Gilroy’s concept of the Black Atlantic (1993), the essay centers the experiences of Hopkins and Johnson, providing new perspectives on transatlantic cultural exchanges. It further examines the participation of Romania, and eastern Europe more broadly, within global racial hierarchies and formations, drawing on recent scholarship. It concludes by considering the challenges of such research and interrogating the (im)possibility of recovering traces of the Black experience in Romania, while nonetheless advocating for a reckoning with the specters of past histories.
Alexandra Chiriac (Wed,) studied this question.