Abstract:

The border triangle between Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania, long marked by economic stagnation, has gained strategic importance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With the urgency of new export routes for Ukrainian grain and oil, the European Union has pledged €1 billion to modernize transport networks, customs, storage, and transit infrastructures as part of its Solidarity Lane initiative. This influx of resources has revived neglected and decaying infrastructures, sparking diverse, often competing visions for their redevelopment. Focusing on Moldova—a country positioned between Ukraine and Romania and often framed as ‘in-between’ Eastern and Western influences—this article draws on ethnographic research conducted in 2022-23 to examine local perspectives on infrastructure development. By engaging with the narratives of stakeholders directly involved, this study reveals the underlying logics shaping both tangible and imagined infrastructure projects. The case studies of two key rail and river infrastructure projects demonstrate Moldova’s integration into a broader historical and emerging network of cross-border connections. Our inquiry shows that narratives about infrastructures are deeply entwined with each actor’s geopolitical leanings. Moreover, we argue that the metaphor of the palimpsest better captures the layered, evolving, and sometimes unexpected trajectories of infrastructure development in Moldova’s contested borderlands than a linear path-dependency model.

Short Bio:

Claudia Eggart is a social anthropologist with a Ph.D from the University of Manchester. Her recently defended dissertation studied “Lived Geopolitics. Re-scaling Market Infrastructures at retail hubs in Odesa and Bishkek”. From 2021-2024 she also worked as a researcher at Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), as part of the project LimSpaces – Living with Uncertainty. Strategies of Adaptation and Horizons of Expectations in Ukraine and Moldova. At ZOiS, her research focuses on customs and border logistics at the border triangle between Ukraine, Moldova and Romania. In particular, she investigates how the geopolitical tensions in the region affect the lived experiences of logistics workers and the production of infrastructures, both, imagined and materialised. Her work was published in journals like Euro-Asian Studies Journal, Third World Quarterly, and Geopolitics. The article that she presents here today is currently under review in City&Society and was co-authored with Sandra Parvu, a member of the LimSpaces project and Paris-based landscape architect.

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This event is organized within The Group for Anthropological Research and Debates (GARD) hosted by New Europe College.