New Books Network Cristina Plamadeala, "Dossierveillance, Collaboration, and Fear in Society: The Saga of a Journey Through the Securitate Archives and Beyond" (Routledge, 2025)
Oct 22, 2025
Cristina Plamadeala, an academic specializing in victim and perpetrator studies, delves into Romania's Securitate archives and the cultural history of surveillance. She introduces the concept of 'dossierveillance,' illustrating how the ever-present fear of surveillance shaped daily Romanian life under communism. Cristina explores psychography, revealing how personal vulnerabilities fueled informant recruitment. Discussing the complexities of collaboration, she highlights the normalcy of complying with oppressive regimes, urging a nuanced understanding of historical context in today’s judgments.
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Family Tie Sparked The Research
- Cristina Plamadeala began the project after family ties to a man accused of collaborating with the Securitate sparked deep personal questions.
- She used that genealogical connection and a novelist's work to motivate a decade-long archival investigation into collaboration.
Dossierveillance Explains Atmosphere Of Fear
- Dossierveillance describes living under the constant possibility that any act or person could generate a surveillance file.
- That atmospheric suspicion changed how people spoke, acted, and related to others in daily life.
Data Valence: Records Become Power
- Data valence is about how information gains power when constructed and used to harm or control.
- People alter behaviour when they fear records can be weaponized, producing modern parallels to state surveillance.
