Katie Paysinger

News editor

To raise funds to help expand an English-language learning center in Romania, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology Joel Marrant donated books that are being sold in the Sociology and Anthropology Department in Walker Hall.

Marrant began teaching in the SOAN department in 1978 and retired in 2007. He first discovered the village of Poienile Izei in Romania in 1973 when he conducted his doctoral research there. He and his wife, Susan, have called the location in Romania their second home for almost 35 years.

“Things were really tough and harsh there, and the people were really struggling,” he said. “It was just a subject of study, but it didn’t take long for it to become a community we would advocate for our whole lives.”

Improving the village is a family effort, as the Marrant’s two children frequently visit and help as well.

A problem in Romania, as well as all over the globe, is that local young people are migrating out of the country and finding work elsewhere. This is especially prevalent in Romania now that the country is no longer under communist rule and is a member of the European Union, which makes traveling between countries easier. This leaves only the older generations to do the work, which is often left undone.

The Marrants have been working for some time to find a way to help the village.

“It’s been really hard to come up with anything that will really work,” he said. “We know the area well, so it is easy to know what will fly.”

They decided they wanted to find ways to help the population gain skills they can use locally, rather than going abroad with skills that can be exploited, Marrant said.

“The only thing that one gains from seasonal labor is money,” he said. “There is no other benefit. One skill that would benefit the village locally is the use of the English language.”

Marrant said it took him and his wife a while to be comfortable with that concept because it is not their native language. They said it might be considered manipulating the locals.

“They asked for it repeatedly: ‘Help us learn English,'” Marrant said.

Two years ago Marrant was able to find a couple of Linfield students who were willing to go to the village and teach English. The Peace Corps has also sent an English-language instructor there, whom the Marrants have been working with on several projects to improve the area.

“The book sale is a way to pay the postage to send a collection of books to the village for the language learning center,” Marrant said.

Whatever amount is raised will be matched by a grant from former Linfield student Jennifer Carloye and her husband, as well as by the Marrants.

Senior Justine Triest has been assiting Marrant with the project by advertisingthe event.

“I think a lot of people really like Professor Marrant, so they are coming to support him through this,” she said. “We are asking for a donation of at least a dollar per book, but of course people can donate more.”

Triest hopes to become a librarian in the future and sees this as a great opportunity to work with books and support a great cause.

“It’s really great because there are new books being brought in all the time,” she said. “There are a lot books focused on Latin America, as well as ethnographies, some textbooks and works of fiction. [They are] more classic texts.”

So far, the fundraiser has generated about $200 through books purchased in the SOAN department, as well as through Amazon.com, where Marrant is also selling books donated from his personal collection.

“Life pulls us places where we have more influence than we think we should,” Marrant said. “This is one of those opportunities to seize upon and make an impact. I can have more impact there in Romania than I can, say, in McMinnville.”

The sale will continue until the end of October.  The department is typically open from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.