Henri H. Stahl

Henri H. Stahl(also known asHenry H. StahlorH. H. Stahl;1901 – 9 September 1991) was aRomanianMarxistcultural anthropologist,ethnographer,sociologist,andsocial historian.

Biography

Born inBucharestto a family ofAlsatianandFrench-Swissancestry, he was the son ofHenri Stahl(a promoter ofstenography), as well as the younger brother of the sociologist andSocial Democratic PartyactivistȘerban Voinea,and of the novelistHenriette Yvonne Stahl.He was married toMargareta,a known painter.

After attending a localhigh school,he completed law studies and was awarded adoctorate.Stahl became interested in the work ofDimitrie Gusti,and was consequently one of his most prominent collaborators. Joining the staff of the Department of Sociology, Ethics, Politics, and Aesthetics at theUniversity of Bucharest's Faculty of Letters and Philosophy (where he later became a professoremeritus), Stahl first assisted Gusti andGheorghe Vlădescu-Răcoasain the vast interdisciplinary enterprise of creating monographs dedicated to Romanian villages. In 1936, Gusti and Stahl, together withVictor Ion Popa,established the BucharestVillage Museum.

A member of theCriterionsociety, he made himself known for supportingAustromarxistpositions, and, around 1932, was involved in a polemic with theLeninistLucrețiu Pătrășcanu.In 1934, alongsideAlexandru Cristian Tell,Mircea Eliade,Mircea Vulcănescu,andPetru Comarnescu,he sat on the board ofCriterionmagazine (which claimed not to be linked with the former society).He contributed toDreapta,anationalistmagazine, but left it after the latter attackedNicolae Iorga,and cited a conflict in political opinions.By 1938, contrary to the prevalent choices of his generation, Stahl declared himself ananti-fascist.

AfterWorld War IIand the onset of thecommunist regime,Stahl was involved in projects to revive the sociology field; he was successful only after 1960, when he began working onMiron Constantinescu's staff at theRomanian Academy'sBibliotheca Historica Romaniae.

In 1990, he was elected a member of the Romanian Academy.

Works

• Tehnica monografiei sociologice(1934)
• Nerej, un village d'une région archaïque,3 vols. (1939)
• Sociologia satului devălmaș românesc(1946)
• Contribuţii la studiul satelor devălmașe românești,3 vols. (1950-1965)
• Les anciennes communautés villageoises roumaines; asservissement et pénétration capitaliste(1966)
• Sociologia "concretă" și istorie,inTeorie şi metodă în științele sociale, Vol. VII: Filozofia istoriei. Studii,Editura Politică, Bucarest (1969)
• Teoria și practica investigărilor sociale,2 vols. (1975)
• Traditional Romanian Village Communities: The Transition from the Communal to the Capitalist Mode of Production in the Danube Region,Cambridge University Press,1979
• Teorii și ipoteze privind sociologia orânduirii tributale,1980
• Amintiri şi gânduri din vechea şcoală a monografiilor sociologice,1981
• Eseuri critice. Despre cultura populară românească,1983
• Dimitrie Gusti. Studii critice,1986
• Probleme confuze în istoria socială a României,1992
• Zoltán Rostás,Monografia ca utopie. Interviuri cu Henri H. Stahl(interviews), 2000

References

• Mircea Ioanid, "Oameni care mi-au fost dragi. H. H. Stahl", inMagazin Istoric,November 1995
• Marta Petreu,"Generația '27 între Holocaust și Gulag" (I),inRevista 22,February 2003
• Z. Ornea,Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească,Ed. Fundației Culturale Române, Bucharest, 1995

External links

• (in Romanian)Henri H. Stahl,Gânditori și curente de istorie socială românească