Children of the decree: A psychosocial exploration of time, space and distance in the lives of Romanian migrants in Britain

Abstract

In October 1966, the Romanian communist regime under the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu’s leadership, expanded its spectre of tyranny imposing a restrictive policy of demographic control by introducing the Decree 770. Aiming to stimulate population growth, the regulation banned abortions in a society where pregnancy termination was used as the primary family planning method. The Decree was implemented between 1967 and 1989, with significant consequences on Romanian families, while the generation of children born during this period became known historically as Children of the Decree, or decreței (Georgescu, 2015; Dóczy, 2010; Leidig, 2005). This study identifies the spectrum of socio-cultural trauma and trauma transmission experienced by Children of the Decree during the Communist Era. The Romanian socio-political climate post-1989 has been marked by “refusal to extend any debate about the socialist past” (Duijzings, 2018:15), leaving unprocessed the haunting legacy from the Communist Era. This is the first psychosocial research investigating the personal narratives of social haunting experienced by Romanian Children of the Decree currently living in the United Kingdom. This study followed psychosocial and creative epistemological approaches, using an adapted version of the Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) method, introducing visual art in the interaction between the participants and the researcher. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, this research used reflexive interpretation, examining how haunting from the past shaped the Romanian diaspora’s experience of present social reality. Mapping the participants’ multidimensional life experiences, this research identified that past traumas affect Children of the Decree today, altering their conceptualisation of time and social space, and leading to fragmentation within the Romanian diaspora. This study recognises how Children of the Decree maintain distance from their past, from other members of the Romanian diaspora in Britain and also from Romanians living in Romania. The findings indicate that systemic ambivalence and ontological insecurity are central aspects of the life experiences of the Children of the Decree in Britain. Following observations, personal experiences, and existing psychoanalytical and sociological concepts and theories (Gordon, 2008; Volkan, 2002; Mills (1959); Freud (1964; 1957) this study uses abduction as a type of logical inference to propose symbolic orphanhood as a new psychosocial concept defining Children of the Decree’s unique characteristics emerging from prolonged experience of socio-cultural trauma