Challenges and Projects in the American Ethnic Culture: An Interview with Dr. Otilia Baraboi
Otilia Vieru Baraboi was born in 1976 in the city of Iaşi, Romania. She is a graduate of the universities of Iaşi, Romania (Faculty of Letters, BA, 2000), Geneva, Switzerland (Faculty of Letters, MA, 2004) and University of Washington in Seattle (MA, 2003; PhD, 2010).
Otilia Baraboi’s areas of expertise are French literature in Romania, linguistic ideology, bilingualism and diaspora studies. She is a co-founder and the Executive Director of the American-Romanian Cultural Society (ARCS) (2013).
Otilia Baraboi has been living and working as an Associate Lecturer at the University of Washington in Seattle.
I met Mrs. Otilia Baraboi on November 16, 2018 at the Romanian Embassy in Washington, DC, during a gala-symposium on issues of politics, security, management and culture, an event sponsored by the ALIANȚA (The Alliance — The Friends of the Romanian-American Alliance) Foundation.
During the event, Mrs. Otilia Baraboi was kind enough to give me a brief interview.
1. Mrs. Otilia Baraboi, you are the President of the American-Romanian Cultural Association (ARCS). Briefly present to readers how this association was born and what its goals are.
Our association was established in 2013 with the aim of promoting the Romanian culture, not only for the Romanian community, but also for the Americans who are interested in Romania.
2. What challenges has the association been facing and how do you try to overcome them?
First, we are an association based on voluntary work. It is very difficult to motivate the team to come to events, to be present at all our events throughout the year, because we have events in several sectors, we organize events in music, education and film festivals, which you have probably heard about. On average, we need at least twenty volunteers. And these people are busy, they have families, they have their own jobs. It is very difficult to motivate them to come and volunteer for the ARCS during their spare time. But I think that, because our mission is coherence, it is a well-articulated mission and it resonates deeply with the community of Romanians and Americans, in fact, I think that this has brought us together and will take us far together in the future years, too.
3. The last question. The association has been very active in promoting Romanian films in the United States. What other future projects does the association have?
Our association wants to adapt the educational programs to the new technologies. For this reason, we will create educational programs that integrate visual arts and film, as was the first ARCS summer camp this year at the University of Washington, in collaboration with the Control N Association and having as instructors the film director Iulia Rugină and actress Ioana Flora. We also want to create a method for teaching Romanian language for children of Romanian origin, an interactive and integrative method to be placed on projects, on film projects, on audio projects to create an anchorage in the current interests of the generation of Romanian-Americans.
4. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
NOTE — Versions of the article were published in:
AMERICAN THINKER (El Cerrito/San Francisco, California) [+ comments]
***
and
CARIBBEAN NEWS GLOBAL (Brooklyn/New York City, New York) [ comments]
***
and
CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW! (Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas) [ comments]
***
and
CONSERVATIVE READ (Scottsdale/Phoenix, Arizona) [ comments]
***
and
INTELLECTUAL CONSERVATIVE (Phoenix, Arizona) [4 comments]
and
MARIANAS VARIETY (Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands) [4 comments]
and
MEDIUM (San Francisco, California) [100+ views; 4 comments; 50+ likes]
and
SAIPAN TRIBUNE (Garapan/Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands) [ comments]
***
and featured in:
320ro.com (Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom) [ comments]
***
and
ACCENT (Toronto, Canada) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
ACTIVE BOARD
***
and
AFRO-CONSCIOUS MEDIA (Canada; Long Beach, California) [ comments]
***
and
ALTERNATIVA/THE ALTERNATIVE (Toronto, Canada) (_________ 2018) [in Romanian] [NOTE = scroll down on the journal’s home page to get the article and then press OPEN on the article]
***
and
ARMONIA/THE HARMONY (Hickory/Charlotte, North Carolina) [in Romanian] [ comments]
and also
ARMONIA MAGAZINE/THE HARMONY MAGAZINE (Hickory/Charlotte, North Carolina) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
BLUNT FORCE TRUTH (Detroit, Michigan) [ comments]
***
and
BURNING PLATFORM [ comments]
***
and
CARIBBEAN POST (Santiago, Dominican Republic) [ comments]
***
and
CLICK ROMANIA (London, United Kingdom) [in Romanian] [4 comments]
and
CURENTUL INTERNAŢIONAL/INTERNATIONAL CURRENT (Sterling Heights/Detroit, Michigan) [in Romanian] [4 comments]
and
FIWEH (Okinawa, Japan) [ comments]
***
and
FREE REPUBLIC (Fresno, California) [ comments]
***
and
GÂNDACUL DE COLORADO/THE COLORADO BEETLE (Estes Park/Denver, Colorado) [in Romanian] [100+ views; 4 comments]
and
GOP BRIEFING ROOM [ + views; comments]
***
and
LUCIANNE.COM (Cliffside Park, New Jersey) [ + comments]
***
and
LUMEA ROMÂNEASCĂ/THE ROMANIAN WORLD (Grand Rapids, Michigan) [in Romanian]
***
and
MENAFN (Amman, Jordan)
***
and
MERIDIANUL ROMÂNESC/THE ROMANIAN MERIDIAN (Santa Clarita/Los Angeles, California) [in Romanian]
***
and
MEXICAN OCCUPATION
***
and
MIORIŢA USA (Sacramento, California) [in Romanian]
***
and
MORNING IN ARIZONA [ comments]
***
and
NAŢIUNEA/THE NATION (Bucharest, Romania) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
NEW YORK MAGAZIN/NEW YORK MAGAZINE (New York City, New York) [in Romanian] [ comments]
and
OBSERVATORUL/THE OBSERVER (Toronto, Canada) [in Romanian]
***
and
OCCIDENTUL ROMÂNESC/ROMANIAN WEST (Madrid, Spain)
***
and
PARADIGMS AND DEMOGRAPHICS (Cleveland, Ohio) [ comments]
***
and
PROTECTORS OF LIBERTY (Mount Pleasant, Michigan) [ comments]
***
and
QOSHE (Netherlands & Turkey)
***
and
QWIKET (Kingston, New York) [ comments]
***
and
ROMANIAN TIMES (Portland, Oregon) [in Romanian]
and also
ROMANIAN TIMES (Portland, Oregon) (print edition, pp. and ) [in Romanian]
***
and
SAVE AMERICA FOUNDATION (Clearwater, Florida)
***
and
TIMP ROMÂNESC/ROMANIAN TIME (Bucharest, Romania) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
TRIBUNA ROMÂNEASCĂ/ROMANIAN TRIBUNE (Chicago, Illinois) [in Romanian] [ comments]
***
and
TRULY TIMES [ + views, comments]
***
and
TRUMP’S MINUTEMEN (Fort Worth, Texas)
***
and
US POLITICS 10z [ comments]
***
and referenced in:
CENTRUL DE PRESĂ — PRESSPEDIA/THE PRESS CENTER — PRESSPEDIA (Bucharest, Romania) [in Romanian] [+ views]
***
and
CURENTUL INTERNAŢIONAL/INTERNATIONAL CURRENT — FACEBOOK (Sterling Heights/Detroit, Michigan) [in Romanian]
and
LIBERAL FORUM
***
and
MUCK RACK (New York, New York)
***
and
OBAMA LIES
***
and
PRESS RUSH (Turku, Finland)
***
and
ZENITH NEWS (Duluth, Minnesota)
***
NUMBER OF PUBLICATIONS = 10
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