Noi culturi, noi antropologii - Humanitas

estrictions on waste transport, but said that a feasibility
study could be conducted to explore other options. In both
cases, the students seemed discouraged, yet still hopeful
that they could overcome these obstacles on their own.
Discussion and Conclusions
In addition to helping me to recognize the existence of several
distinct parts of the environmental community in Moldova,
a decentered ethnographic approach allowed me to
recognize parallels between this community and the larger
Moldovan society. For example, the split between Russianspeaking
and Romanian-speaking NGOs is not surprising,
given the geopolitical tension between Russia and „the West“
in Moldova. Russia on the one hand, and the European Union
and the United States on the other, both seek to hold
sway in the country, leaving Moldovan politicians constantly
seeking to find a balance in their relationships with both
sides. While some Moldovans seem to identify strongly either
with Russia or with Romania, many have relatives from
both countries, or from Ukraine, Georgia, or other places,
and thus have more complex identities. Nevertheless, most
do consider themselves either native Romanian or native
Russian speakers.
Especially among young people, language seems to be
less of an issue, as most are at least bilingual and are willing
to switch between Romanian and Russian. Nevertheless,
during Ecoweek, which was held mostly in English, the two
primarily Russian-speaking participants expressed the desire
to speak in Russian or English rather than Romanian
during group work, due to their self-perceived lack of proficiency
in Romanian. This may be related to the perception
among many Russian-speaking Moldovans that English and
Russian are more useful languages than Romanian, as they
are more widespread 378 . When I asked Violeta why she de-
378. Ciscel, op. cit.
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