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Albanian Identities: Myth and History
". . . a pioneering effort in English-language studies on Albania." ―Nicholas C. Pano Albanian history is permeated by myths and mythical narratives that often serve political purposes, from the depiction of the legendary "founder of the nation," Skanderbeg, to the exploits of the KLA in the recent Kosovo War. The essays in Albanian Identities, by a multinational, multidisciplinary team of scholars and non-academic specialists, deconstruct prevalent political or historiographical myths about Albania's past and present, bringing to light the ways in which Albanian myths have served to justify and direct violence, buttress political power, and foster internal cohesion. Albanian Identities demonstrates the power of myths to this day, as they underpin political and social processes in crisis-ridden, post-totalitarian Albania.
- GenresHistory
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2002
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August 10, 2013
This book written and collected by professors of Slavonic studies Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers tries to ridicule the Albanian identity, one of the oldest ones in Europe. While it is true that today's Albania due to ottoman, slavic, roman, greek invasions is a remote image of what it used to be, it is still remarkable of how hard these authors along with some pseudo-Albanian critics enlisted in the same universities try to make the history of this country look almost "grotesque".
This is of course the result of the fact that in no school currently there is a Department of Albanian studies and most of such studies gets produced by Slavic or Greek departments and thus are extremely biased towards one or the other. The only ones who have managed at times some impartiality are the Italians, but overall the brave ones that ventured into the history of Albania, as Milan Shuflaj(killed by Serbs),George von Hahn, Fallmerayer etc etc are now gone and their huge amt of information and historical documents collected is sitting somewhere waiting to be picked up when a real department of Albanian-Illyrian studies will be established again.
History is of course written by the winners, but for those studying Albania this book is far from a guide to it's rich culture and unfortunately unless someone knows German, Italian or Croatian is extremely hard for the English-speaking world, which currently dominates in the field of education to get a glimpse of the beautiful history of this country. I guess my best bet would be to go and visit the place and it's people instead of reading slavic propaganda from Oxford's, Columbia's, Indiana's and other Slavo-Greek departments of propaganda, that would make the Propaganda Fide look like a first grade student of such school.
This is of course the result of the fact that in no school currently there is a Department of Albanian studies and most of such studies gets produced by Slavic or Greek departments and thus are extremely biased towards one or the other. The only ones who have managed at times some impartiality are the Italians, but overall the brave ones that ventured into the history of Albania, as Milan Shuflaj(killed by Serbs),George von Hahn, Fallmerayer etc etc are now gone and their huge amt of information and historical documents collected is sitting somewhere waiting to be picked up when a real department of Albanian-Illyrian studies will be established again.
History is of course written by the winners, but for those studying Albania this book is far from a guide to it's rich culture and unfortunately unless someone knows German, Italian or Croatian is extremely hard for the English-speaking world, which currently dominates in the field of education to get a glimpse of the beautiful history of this country. I guess my best bet would be to go and visit the place and it's people instead of reading slavic propaganda from Oxford's, Columbia's, Indiana's and other Slavo-Greek departments of propaganda, that would make the Propaganda Fide look like a first grade student of such school.
March 25, 2017
Albanian Identities is a selection of papers written by a multinational, multidisciplinary team of scholars who specialize in Albanian Studies. Their scope is to deconstruct prevalent historical myths about Albania during the 19th and 20th century, to understand how and why factual narratives have been transformed to create these myths, the role they have played in the country’s development, politics, and the artful construction of the Albanian people’s national and local identity. Each essay is highly interesting, well researched, and presented in a conscientious way—so as not to offend those readers who may identify with the myths. I especially enjoyed “Myths of Albanian national identity: Some key elements, as expressed in the works of Albanian writers in America in the early twentieth century” by Noel Malcolm, ”Between the glory of a virtual world and the misery of a real world” by Fatos Lubonja, “Ismail Kadare’s The H-File and the making of the Homeric verse: Variations on the works and lives of Milman Perry and Albert Lord” by Galia Valtchinova, “Enver Hoxha’s role in the development of socialist Albanian myths” by M. J. Alex Standish, “North American Albanian immigration: Narratives of political myths” by Annie Lafontaine, and “Conspiracy theories in Albanian politics and media” by Fabian Schmidt.
In “Myths of Albanian identity”, Noel Malcom illustrates how some highly influential Albanian intellectuals, namely Fan Noli, Faik Konica, Kostandin Cekrezi and Kristo Dako, depicted Albania in their works. As he studied their writings and other articles contained in the journals they edited, he found that they “do not form an utterly homogeneous body of materials; even in the early years there were differences in emphasis and approach, and during the interwar period some strong political divisions would open up between them". He believes that their works played a significant role in creating Albanian myths. To avoid confusion, he is careful to point out that “[he does] not use the terms ‘myth’ and ‘mythic’ to imply that everything so labelled is false or absurd”, and that “some of these myths rested on serious historical arguments, elements of which are still accepted by modern scholars. Rather, the term ‘myth’ is used to suggest the symbolic, emotional and talismanic way in which such ideas have functioned, both as components of identity and as a weapon in a war of conflicting political and historical claims”. ( The other authors use the word myth in this sense as well.) As the title of his essay suggests, Malcolm deals specifically with myths of identity, and he divides these in four major categories: the myth of origins and priority; the myth of ethnic homogeneity and cultural purity; the myth of permanent national struggle; and the myth of indifference to religion. He later elaborates on each of these myths, and his analysis is excellent, which is what made this essay one of my favorites. Here is an excerpt from ‘the myth of origins and priority’, just to give you a taste:
"The primary function of this Pelasgian theory was, of course, to establish a claim of priority. In Kristo Dako’s words, the Albanians were ‘the autochthonous inhabitant of the Balkan Peninsula, which have ruled for thousands of years before the Barbarians ever crossed the Danube’. By identifying with Pelasgians, Albanians could claim they were present in their Balkan homeland not only before the ‘barbarian’ invaders of late Roman times (such as the Slavs), not only before the Romans themselves, but also, even more importantly, before the Greeks.
[…] However, the implications of a Plasgian theory went further than mere claims of ‘historic right’ to territory. It also enabled its proponents to claim that some of the most famous elements of ancient Greek culture and history had a Pelasgian, and therefore an ‘Albanian’, origin.
[…] Such derivations, almost all of which would be rejected by modern scholars, exhibit some of the classic features of a mythic style of thinking. They elide the difference between the ancestral past and the present, identifying the ancient Pelasgians as’Albanian’ […] and assuming that they spoke a version of the modern Albanian language. Etymology, instead of illuminating the nature of long processes of change over time, is thus used to imply an eternal present. What is more, a kind of intentionality is built into the past: classical names are treated not as products of chance and change, but as riddles and rebuses, cleverly devised by an Albanian-speaking, Albanian-thinking mind."
Similarly, Fatos Lubonja says that,“[t]he main myths created by those who were the so called ‘men of Albanian renaissance (rilindja), who nourished Albanian national romanticism, are typical myths of European romanticism of the 19th century, creating the pride in Albanians of being a unique people. Among the myths are those exalting the antiquity of the Albanian people and Albanian as one of the oldest languages. Since it was necessary to distinguish the Albanians from the Greeks and the Slavs—even to stress their superiority—the origin of the Albanian people was found to be in the Pelasgian people, which, according to mythology, were the inhabitants of the Balkans before the Greeks (later the Plasgians were replaced by Ilirians)”. He then touches on the myth of the national hero, Skanderbeg (or Gjergj Kastrioti, his Turkish name), and how his image was enhanced by popular Albanian writers 500 years later, namely Vashko Pasa and Naim Frasheri, to such magnitudes that he almost seems to posses supernatural powers, fighting the Turks with his 'majestic' sword on his unnaturally fierce horse. Later, Lubonja elaborates on the political and social implications of these nationalist myths taught in schools, spread by propaganda, and literature. He analyzes their evolution during three distinct time periods in Albanian history: rilindja (Albanian ‘renaissance’); the communist period; and the post-communist period. There is also a section on Ismail Kadare (well-known Albanian author) titled National-communist syncretism in the works of Ismail Kadare. I found this to be most intriguing, especially because I grew up reading Kadare’s books and admire his work. If you are a Kadare fan…brace yourself shqipe. (Just kidding. It’s actually not that bad, considering his circumstances, and his motives seem somewhat patriotic.) The Kadare analysis continues in Galia Valtchinova’s essay on The H-File and the Homeric verse, which is equally intriguing. Both papers illustrate, quite clearly, how Kadare helped perpetuate nationalist myths through his fiction.
And now. . . the paper on Enver Hoxha. Though I did not learn anything new here per se, I favorited it because I found M. J. Alex Standish’s sarcastic take most amusing. Also, I appreciate the irony of him applying a theologian’s methodology when studying Jesus, to analyze and demythologize Enver Hoxha, which, aside from ironic, Albania being a militant atheist country, proved quite useful, in my opinion.
Annie Lafontaine’s essay is particularly interesting to me, as an Albanian immigrant, but, in and of itself is limited, as it is based on the views of only two people. Her scope is to analyze “the interpretation of mythical images of an Albanian socio-political ideology with metaphors of a North American nationalism, as well as the relations maintained by Albanians living in North America towards the transition process as it pertains to the transformation of their individual identity”. First, she presents the narratives of two Albanians, Petrit and Olsi (names used are fictitious), who have migrated to North America in the 1990’s, and now live in Bronx, New York and Montreal, Canada respectively. They are interesting because of their role in the Albanian community and particular circumstances in their life, and their (opposing) narratives are more or less in line with what I have observed in the community myself. She then, gives an interpretation of their views, recognizing that “it would be unrealistic to assert that these views are fixed categories into which the migrants fall”, but that they are, nonetheless, valuable in that they “can represent the complexity and diversity of the experience of migration”, and I agree.
And, last but not least, conspiracy theories in Fabian Schmidt’s essay. Also a favorite, because they are still prevalent today, and I have witnessed the work of some of these myself (the sheer level of irrationality and deceit employed in them, and the power they wield in twisting Albanian’s perceptions, makes my blood boil). He goes through a few different theories, and illustrates their prevalence “in politics and media as a zero-sum game in which there exists only total social inclusion or exclusion, friend or foe, the loyal or the treacherous, hiding under superficial labels of democracy, freedom of opinion, or pluralism”.
This is but a small selection of what I found interesting, just to give you an idea of the book. I would recommend this to every Albanian who would like to have a more diversified view on things, and to any non-Albanian reader who is curious to learn more about the country and its people. The purpose of these essays in not that of an attack on Albania, but rather to provoke debate and academic controversy with the hope that “those readers who disagree with ‘dissident’ ideas on Albanian national myths presented here would take up the challenge to reshape their arguments along the lines of empirical research, theoretical awareness, dispassionate methodology and intellectual rigour which underpin in these contributions to Albanian Studies".
*Per versionin ne shqip mund te shkoni ketu Roli i miteve në historinë e Shqipërisë
In “Myths of Albanian identity”, Noel Malcom illustrates how some highly influential Albanian intellectuals, namely Fan Noli, Faik Konica, Kostandin Cekrezi and Kristo Dako, depicted Albania in their works. As he studied their writings and other articles contained in the journals they edited, he found that they “do not form an utterly homogeneous body of materials; even in the early years there were differences in emphasis and approach, and during the interwar period some strong political divisions would open up between them". He believes that their works played a significant role in creating Albanian myths. To avoid confusion, he is careful to point out that “[he does] not use the terms ‘myth’ and ‘mythic’ to imply that everything so labelled is false or absurd”, and that “some of these myths rested on serious historical arguments, elements of which are still accepted by modern scholars. Rather, the term ‘myth’ is used to suggest the symbolic, emotional and talismanic way in which such ideas have functioned, both as components of identity and as a weapon in a war of conflicting political and historical claims”. ( The other authors use the word myth in this sense as well.) As the title of his essay suggests, Malcolm deals specifically with myths of identity, and he divides these in four major categories: the myth of origins and priority; the myth of ethnic homogeneity and cultural purity; the myth of permanent national struggle; and the myth of indifference to religion. He later elaborates on each of these myths, and his analysis is excellent, which is what made this essay one of my favorites. Here is an excerpt from ‘the myth of origins and priority’, just to give you a taste:
"The primary function of this Pelasgian theory was, of course, to establish a claim of priority. In Kristo Dako’s words, the Albanians were ‘the autochthonous inhabitant of the Balkan Peninsula, which have ruled for thousands of years before the Barbarians ever crossed the Danube’. By identifying with Pelasgians, Albanians could claim they were present in their Balkan homeland not only before the ‘barbarian’ invaders of late Roman times (such as the Slavs), not only before the Romans themselves, but also, even more importantly, before the Greeks.
[…] However, the implications of a Plasgian theory went further than mere claims of ‘historic right’ to territory. It also enabled its proponents to claim that some of the most famous elements of ancient Greek culture and history had a Pelasgian, and therefore an ‘Albanian’, origin.
[…] Such derivations, almost all of which would be rejected by modern scholars, exhibit some of the classic features of a mythic style of thinking. They elide the difference between the ancestral past and the present, identifying the ancient Pelasgians as’Albanian’ […] and assuming that they spoke a version of the modern Albanian language. Etymology, instead of illuminating the nature of long processes of change over time, is thus used to imply an eternal present. What is more, a kind of intentionality is built into the past: classical names are treated not as products of chance and change, but as riddles and rebuses, cleverly devised by an Albanian-speaking, Albanian-thinking mind."
Similarly, Fatos Lubonja says that,“[t]he main myths created by those who were the so called ‘men of Albanian renaissance (rilindja), who nourished Albanian national romanticism, are typical myths of European romanticism of the 19th century, creating the pride in Albanians of being a unique people. Among the myths are those exalting the antiquity of the Albanian people and Albanian as one of the oldest languages. Since it was necessary to distinguish the Albanians from the Greeks and the Slavs—even to stress their superiority—the origin of the Albanian people was found to be in the Pelasgian people, which, according to mythology, were the inhabitants of the Balkans before the Greeks (later the Plasgians were replaced by Ilirians)”. He then touches on the myth of the national hero, Skanderbeg (or Gjergj Kastrioti, his Turkish name), and how his image was enhanced by popular Albanian writers 500 years later, namely Vashko Pasa and Naim Frasheri, to such magnitudes that he almost seems to posses supernatural powers, fighting the Turks with his 'majestic' sword on his unnaturally fierce horse. Later, Lubonja elaborates on the political and social implications of these nationalist myths taught in schools, spread by propaganda, and literature. He analyzes their evolution during three distinct time periods in Albanian history: rilindja (Albanian ‘renaissance’); the communist period; and the post-communist period. There is also a section on Ismail Kadare (well-known Albanian author) titled National-communist syncretism in the works of Ismail Kadare. I found this to be most intriguing, especially because I grew up reading Kadare’s books and admire his work. If you are a Kadare fan…brace yourself shqipe. (Just kidding. It’s actually not that bad, considering his circumstances, and his motives seem somewhat patriotic.) The Kadare analysis continues in Galia Valtchinova’s essay on The H-File and the Homeric verse, which is equally intriguing. Both papers illustrate, quite clearly, how Kadare helped perpetuate nationalist myths through his fiction.
And now. . . the paper on Enver Hoxha. Though I did not learn anything new here per se, I favorited it because I found M. J. Alex Standish’s sarcastic take most amusing. Also, I appreciate the irony of him applying a theologian’s methodology when studying Jesus, to analyze and demythologize Enver Hoxha, which, aside from ironic, Albania being a militant atheist country, proved quite useful, in my opinion.
Annie Lafontaine’s essay is particularly interesting to me, as an Albanian immigrant, but, in and of itself is limited, as it is based on the views of only two people. Her scope is to analyze “the interpretation of mythical images of an Albanian socio-political ideology with metaphors of a North American nationalism, as well as the relations maintained by Albanians living in North America towards the transition process as it pertains to the transformation of their individual identity”. First, she presents the narratives of two Albanians, Petrit and Olsi (names used are fictitious), who have migrated to North America in the 1990’s, and now live in Bronx, New York and Montreal, Canada respectively. They are interesting because of their role in the Albanian community and particular circumstances in their life, and their (opposing) narratives are more or less in line with what I have observed in the community myself. She then, gives an interpretation of their views, recognizing that “it would be unrealistic to assert that these views are fixed categories into which the migrants fall”, but that they are, nonetheless, valuable in that they “can represent the complexity and diversity of the experience of migration”, and I agree.
And, last but not least, conspiracy theories in Fabian Schmidt’s essay. Also a favorite, because they are still prevalent today, and I have witnessed the work of some of these myself (the sheer level of irrationality and deceit employed in them, and the power they wield in twisting Albanian’s perceptions, makes my blood boil). He goes through a few different theories, and illustrates their prevalence “in politics and media as a zero-sum game in which there exists only total social inclusion or exclusion, friend or foe, the loyal or the treacherous, hiding under superficial labels of democracy, freedom of opinion, or pluralism”.
This is but a small selection of what I found interesting, just to give you an idea of the book. I would recommend this to every Albanian who would like to have a more diversified view on things, and to any non-Albanian reader who is curious to learn more about the country and its people. The purpose of these essays in not that of an attack on Albania, but rather to provoke debate and academic controversy with the hope that “those readers who disagree with ‘dissident’ ideas on Albanian national myths presented here would take up the challenge to reshape their arguments along the lines of empirical research, theoretical awareness, dispassionate methodology and intellectual rigour which underpin in these contributions to Albanian Studies".
*Per versionin ne shqip mund te shkoni ketu Roli i miteve në historinë e Shqipërisë
February 14, 2012
I guess you'll run into this with any collection - especially one that looks at such a broad topic (my own interests surely influenced my reading) - but the quality here varied pretty widely. It's hard to avoid the sense, when reading a few of these pieces, that the authors aren't so much concerned with Albanian identity or Albanian myth as they are with extrapolating their own ideas to Albania. That said, the first section of this book in particular, "The History of Albanian Myth Production" provided some fantastic background and consideration of many of the most dominant myths in Albanian life today. Albanian Identities serves well as an early introductory text to Albanian identity, though it's best read by someone who already has some familiarity with Albanian history and contemporary life.
March 14, 2008
Contains several excellent articles and proofed to be quite useful.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews