[Discussion] Historical-anthropological Studies on Albania

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

Historical-anthropological Studies on Albania
Aspects of Albanian society in the 20th Century

The proposed volume is an eclectic collection of papers on a country
which remains, despite the occasional - and almost exclusively
negatively inclined - reportage in the media, without any contours. The
aim of the collection is twofold - firstly to bring together Albanian
and foreign scholars working on various aspects of the history and
anthropology of Albania; and secondly to make available to the
interested public an overview of the multifaceted nature of
albanological research beyond the shallow limits of what is presented in
the media.

Considering this introductory statement, the question may be asked, why
the focus is explicitly historical-anthropological and ethnological,
beyond the obvious institutional stipulations. The answer is twofold: A
great deal of research done on Albania is de facto
historical-anthropological in nature as the interests of the authors
asked to contribute to this volume testify, and even for those
specialists who are neither explicitly historian or anthropologists, it
is not possible to get around these methodological approaches if one is
seriously interested in finding answers to what is going on in Albania
today, irrespective of the appellation one chooses for one's own form of
science.

The proposed volume intends to analyse several main features of Albanian
society throughout the 20th century. An attempt will be made to provide
a picture of the Albanian society under several political regimes that
existed in Albania, focusing especially on the interwar period, the
communist regime and the first decade after the fall of the communist
regime.

Papers dealing with the following aspects are especially welcome:

   1. Family and Household, Marriage, Gender issues
   2. Migration, effects of migration on family, Integration of emigrants
   3. Tradition and Modernisation
   4. Urban-Rural contrasts and everyday life

Deadline for paper proposals (ca. 500 words) and a short CV: *February
1st, 2005*

Contact Persons:

	Andreas Hemming: hemming@eth.mpg.de

Gentiana Kera: gentiana.kera@uni-graz.at

Enriketa Papa:
Email: enriketa.papa@uni-graz.at <mailto:enriketa.papa@uni-graz.at>