Tag: Albania

“Professionalism” in academia.

Hi, it’s been a while.

I have been on a bit of a social media hiatus – nothing super drastic of course… I  still need a dose of memes every now and then.

But for the sake of my mental health, I have decided to unplug a little. It’s been really good for me actually.

However, something was brought to my attention that I couldn’t let be, especially given where I am personally on my journey to cultivating a better mental health space for myself.

A Twitter acquaintance (@timgill – who if you don’t follow on Twitter already.. you really should.. enough said) tagged me and a few other Albanian academics in an article by Balkan Insight relating to a new viral TicTok challenge called the #ProfaChallenge. The trend is in response to the unwarranted negative feedback that teacher, Lulzim Paci, from the town of Vushtrri, received on social media after he posted several videos of himself dancing valle (a traditional Albanian folk dance).

The criticism ranged from family members to politicians, who called the clips “improper and degenerate acts.”

The criticism sparked Valon Canhasi, the founder of a social media agency based in Prishtina, to make a video reply, where he posted a clip of himself dancing valle. Since the first post by Valon, several Albanians have participated in the challenge, from teachers to politicians to famous actresses and singers.

I am not famous nor am I officially a “professor/teacher.” I am just your regular, friendly, neighborhood Albanian archaeologist. But this story broke my heart a little, maybe because it hit so close to home for issues that I have been trying to deal with myself.

I don’t want this to be a sob story about myself…I am working on my issues; seeing a therapist and taking my meds. Something I highly recommend to everyone but especially my fellow Albanians who are struggling with mental health issues. Taboo as the subject is for us.

My mental health has degraded because of the perceived notions of what is considered “professional” and “successful” in academia. During my first years in school, way back in the days of undergrad, I worked non-stop, barely had a social life, sacrificed my mental, physical and emotional health, sacrificed relationships with those who were close to me, all for the glory of being a successful and “professional” academic. Was it worth it…Um, NO. My anxiety got so bad while trying to finish my master’s at Mississippi State that I started becoming physically ill – I lost 20 pounds in a month.

Still, I never blamed the system or my perceived notion of what it meant to be a successful, professional academic, but myself. I was not working hard enough, I was not smart, well-spoken, dedicated enough. And if I wanted to succeed, I had to cut out all unnecessary silly distractions, like hobbies and naps. Terrible, right? I know better now. Naps are supreme, and I won’t listen to anyone that says otherwise.

What do you think of when you see these two words; Professional academic?

An old British guy with white hair, wearing a tweed suit and thick tortoiseshell glasses? Maybe he has a large mahogany bookcase behind him?

Maybe you see a serious-looking middle-aged white woman, with medium-length straight hair, speckled with some grey. She’s got glasses, of course, maybe cat-eyed, for a little pizazz. She’s wearing a well-ironed button-down shirt with tailored trousers. Deff not wearing heels, though. High heels are not professional, they are for the club. Red lipstick? Also no.

That’s what I imagined when I was younger. These seemingly benign words, “professional academic” are anything but. The images they conjure are the product of very deep, systemic and insidious social phenomena. They are the product of all the “isms” and “ias:” racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, classism, homophobia etc.

I won’t get too deeply into this because there are many more educated and informed people who have explored these phenomena their whole lives. But I will pose a question to you. Ask yourself this, why is the accepted range of behavior for a professional academic (or professional anything, say, a teacher for example) mirror so closely straight, heteronormative, white, male characteristics (largely)?

Why are academics stripped of their humanity? They are serious, they are older, they are aloof, they work hard and are smarter than everyone else. They are diligent, regimented, able-bodied, clear-minded, and sometimes mean, but they are so smart and so much better than the rest of us, so they can be mean. They do not spend time with their families (they don’t have time), have interests outside of academia (as if they would waste their precious time on something as pointless as painting),  be silly or goofy, dress “sexy” (gasp), post bikini pictures (unprofessional), or god forbid, stray away from heteronormative monogamous relationships (double, triple gasp, quelle horror).

I am exaggerating here and being sarcastic (just to be clear). But I hope it gets my point across.

What people do with their time outside of their job is not a reflection of how good or bad they are in their career (obviously, there are exceptions like, for example, running an underground meth lab a la Breaking Bad…We can all agree, this is a no-no). But hobbies, free time, personal lives? Nobody’s business but yours.

As always, you do not have to agree with me. But I hope I made you question some of your assumptions about what it means to be a “professional” anything. So here are some closing thoughts: humans are complex, multi-dimensional creatures. We carry multiple intersecting, identities, which layer and overlap and make each one of us uniquely us. One identity does not cancel out the others we carry. And for the love of god, a profession is not an identity. Or if it is important for you, please know that you are more than your job!

So for my Albanian community, our Albanian identity does not preclude us from carrying others. You can be Albanian… and gay (gasp gasp)!! For my academic friends, being an academic does not mean you cannot be human. You can be a “respectable academic” and have a life outside of academia that is diverse and fulfilling to you. Where you pursue passions, hobbies (such as folk dance) and meaningful, enriching relationships with loved ones.

Lulzim, if you ever come across my strange little blog, keep on dancing. And to everyone who is reading this; be silly, have fun, spend time with your friends and family, doing things you love, read a book, hidhe vallen (dance). Be yourself. You’re allowed.

Although, you don’t need me to tell you so.

Peace, love and valle popullore.

You can read the Balkan insight article here: https://balkaninsight.com/2022/02/01/kosovo-albanians-join-video-campaign-to-support-folk-dancing-teacher/

Yes, I know there are typos.

Living in perpetual liminality – LGBTQ+ Rights in today’s Albania.

Liminality is a concept that intrigues the anthropologist.

It has been the topic of much anthropological and social research in the last 100 or so years. It was first explored extensively by the European ethnographer Arnold van Gennep when he proposed the three stages of the rite of passage; separation, marginalization, and aggregation (van Gennep 1960, Turner 1979). However, his work was unknown to many British and American scholars until after the 60’s when his pivotal book The Rites of Passage, was translated into English. It is after this that American Anthropologist Victor Turner stumbled upon the book, fortuitously some may say, and the rest, well that is history…or anthropology (Vizedom 1976). 

So what is liminality? The literal definition means “threshold.” According to van Gennep (1960) and Turner (1967, 1979), in a period of liminality, one is at the threshold between two social identities, being neither one or the other wholly. The period of liminality is often marked by a feeling of disassociation while the individual is “betwixt and between” (Turner 1967). The end of the transition or the end of the phase of liminality is marked by the end of the rite of passage, and a re-entering into society with a new status. Coming of age ceremonies are an example of a rite of passage, which are present in multiple societies around the world. 

Many scholars, (Barry and Yilmaz 2019, Howard-Grenville et al. 2011, Thomassen, Underwood and Rhodes 2018, Wimark 2019, Ybema et al. 2011) are now using the concept to refer to multiple aspects of everyday life, not just the passing of important milestones. Broadening our understanding of the concept to include processes like immigration, migration, and personal identity. It has been incorporated into the teaching philosophies, theoretical critiques (of anthropology in particular), and even in the medical field when it comes to things like patient care and visitor experience (Underwood and Rhodes 20118).

Ok, so how does this relate to the queer community in Albania. In all the ways. And I am not the first to make this argument, many other’s like Wimark (2019) have specifically tied the concept of liminality and queer individuals. However, in his article, he refers to refugees and asylum seekers specifically. However, in general, scholars who use liminality as a concept outline two important points, first that the concept of liminality does not apply to just the in-between phase of a rite of passage. And second, more critically, that an important part of the liminal theory as argued by Turner, is the end of the transition. Theoretically, there is a point where the transition is complete, and you re-enter society. 

But what if you never reach that point? What if you live your life in perpetual liminality (Thomassen 2012, Ybemer et al . 2014). If the process of liminality is meant to be a short one when the actor remains “betwixt and between” two existential phases of social life, then what happens when they never make that transition? How does this affect an individual’s sense of identity? (Thomassen, Ybemer et al. 2014, Wels et al. 2011) How do they navigate their society? Because for whatever reason, there is no “category” for them on the other side. I know I am using terms like “they,” which implies some sort of shared, universal experience. And I want to state that I acknowledge that this is not the case. There is no overarching shared identity of what it means to be both part of the LGBTQ+ community and Albanian. But the reality stands that there is some overlap in experience and that for many, this clash of identities leads to marginalization (prejudice, bullying, abuse, stigma, etc.). This can manifest in several ways, from the scale of the individual to their family to their community (Telliti 2015). This is the reality for many members of the LGBTQ+ community who live in countries where it is illegal to be gay, or if it is not illegal on paper it is not socially accepted. Where being yourself means losing your family, or the very right to make a living. The right to safety, work, shelter, and dignity.

If you have read my previous posts or know anything about Albanian culture, you will know that as a people we are traditionally…well traditional. This is the first point made by all the authors of the suite of articles discussing LGBTQ+ rights in Albania (Çuri 2018, Kadi 2014, Hazizaj 2013, Telliti 2015, Shtylla 2013, Peshkopia et al. 2018, Rexhepi 2016). This adherence to a traditional way of life leaves no place for many “new” things like homosexuality or women’s rights. As mentioned in previous posts, it is as if being Albanian excludes certain other identities and beliefs; you cannot be both because they fundamentally oppose each other.

Having written essays for the last decade of my life, I can’t help but feel the need to structure my posts similarly. So having introduced the concept of liminality and making an argument of why it is an important one to consider when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community in Albania (and any country where LGBTQ+ individuals are marginalized, really) I will provide a brief overview of LGBTQ+ legislation in Albania and conclude why liminality is an important (yet, one of many) lens (es) to view the situation.

The Past:

When looking at changes in the Albanian legislature regarding LGBTQ+ rights the year 1995 is one of the first landmarks so to say, as this is the year that homosexuality was decriminalized. Until then, specifically under Hoxha’s regime, homosexuality was punishable by law and convicted individuals were sentenced to lengthy prison sentences. However, decriminalization does not ensure equality, something that many scholars have touched upon. Changing the law is one thing, changing public opinion is another. This is something that I will comeback to later. It is interesting however to note that homosexuality was decriminalized once before under the Ottoman regime, while the practice itself remained unpopular in public opinion (Çuri 2018, Kadi 2014).

The next big year that stands out is 2010. It is then that the constitution was amended to state that discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation is prohibited. This amendment extends to workplace discrimination. But again, this does not mean that these laws are enforced. It is very commonplace from someone who is LGBTQ+ to be refused a job, a house, or even help from the police when reporting abuse. Of course, this is changing, but there have been cases where individuals have gone to the police to report abuse and were not only ridiculed by the police but abused by them as well (Çuri 2018)

And even to this day, with a much altered and amended constitution, LGBTQ+ individuals fall through the cracks when it comes to ensuring basic human rights because of terminology or loopholes in the constitution. Gay marriage is still illegal and not recognized before the state for example, even though the previous Prime Minister Berisha stated in 2009 that it would be made legal. The clause was dropped from the 2016 amendments under Rama a few years later (Peshkopia et al.2018). In the same vein, LGBTQ+ individuals also do not have legal rights to form a family (Çuri 2014, Peshkopia et al. 2018)

2012 is the next stop in our tour so to say. This year marks Albania’s first Pride Parade, which despite being approved by then Prime minister Berisha, was met with heavy backlash by the general public, with protesters hurling objects at the organizers (Koleka 2012). The organization of the parade in 2012 and subsequent years, despite the backlash, is important for several reasons. As Rexhepi (2020) states, the parade itself is not just an event, but a form of resistance. You can read his recent article on PRIDE in the Balkans and what it means for LGBTQ+ activism in the region here.

While legislative changes in regards to LGBTQ+ rights seem to be moving at a snail’s pace, this does not mean that nothing is happening. This is quite the opposite, a lot is happening, thanks to the multiple NGO’s that have been created over the years to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and provide support, shelter, and information to members of the community and its allies. Examples of these organizations include STREHA, Historia Ime, and AleancaLGBT. While sharing a common cause, these organizations address different needs within the community.

The Present:

Where the government fails, the community does not. Over the past month, I have had the opportunity to observe as multiple organizations and activists as they prepared for Tirana Pride, which was held on May 15th, online (again, you can read more about the parade in Rexhepi’s article, linked above). Despite doing many things wrong, Albania did one thing right thanks to the hard work of these individuals, being one of the few countries in the world to hold a virtual pride. I have had the opportunity to listen to multiple LGBTQ+ and Feminist activists from Albania and it has been truly a humbling and inspiring experience. Seeing the hard work that these brilliant and resilaint individuals have poured into this cause truly makes my heart soar as an Albanian – there is hope after all.

Despite all odds, they are raising the banner for LGBTQ+ rights, and have been doing so for over a decade. They are creating a platform for people to share their stories, they are creating safe spaces for people to discuss and learn about human rights, LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights. They are starting a dialogue.

It is their work, specifically a project run by Historia Ime [My Story], called Queerantine Storytelling that inspired this post. The purpose of the project is to document how Albanian LGBTQ+ individuals are experiencing quarantine due to the COVID-19 outbreak. By doing so, you have before you the analogy of social isolation which applies to everyday life for members of the queer community who can never really be a part of society as they are. Many individuals worldwide have experienced feelings of isolation, depression, desolation due to the quarantine. Isolation is a difficult thing for many people. While some of us happily identify as introverts, many of us are not all too happy to have our choice to isolate ourselves taken away from us. We like to cancel plans on our own volition. So, imagine a life where you are always isolated. Where the choice is not yours to make. Where you have to keep on a mask all the time because who you are is not accepted. Where your parents would kick you out of the house, they might even beat you, they might even kill you. That is an extreme of course, but not unheard of.

When you live in a society where being LGBTQ+ is not accepted, you live a life of isolation. While some may be lucky enough to have understanding and supportive parents, many don’t. Coming out is not an option. So they are resigned to a life of pretend; their mask never comes off. They live in perpetual liminality.

The Future:

I’m sorry if my last sentence was a bit grim, but I don’t see why I should sugarcoat the issue. As I have said before, I love my country and I love our culture. But the argument that we need to preserve our traditional ways at all expense is ridiculous… If you really think homosexuality is a phenomenon of the 21st century, I hate to break it to you, but for as long as people have existed, homosexuality has been a part of the human condition. If we are going to move forward as a country, into the EU or not, we need to make real tangible steps towards securing equality for all members of the Albanian community. Regardless of gender, sexual orientation, and social class (another topic for another time).

So where does this leave us in regards to the future? Continuing with the analogy of liminality, in order to move forward, we need to create a mechanism bring an end to this phase which is meant to be temporary. We can do this by legislative changes, to extends the same basic rights awarded to Albanian citizens to LGBTQ+ individuals. But more importantly, we need to work to change public opinion. As mentioned above, legislation is one thing, and practice is another. How can we change public opinion? Education. I’m starting to feel like I end all my posts with: education is the answer. But honestly, it is. We need to have open and frank discussions and engage with the general public. This where things like Pride and the internet come in. Again, where legislation fails, the community has stepped forward, organizing everything from public outreach, to talks about sexual health (Tabu.al), to events that increase visibility, to feminist theory reading groups. I understand not everyone can cry for equality from the rooftops so to say, but we can all do out part to help bring this cause forward. Even if it starts with educating yourself. 

Whether you are part of the community or not, LGBTQ+ rights matter. If you believe in democracy, then you will understand that securing basic human rights for minority or marginalized groups is a basic fundamental building block of democracy. And more importantly, just because something may not affect you directly, it does not mean that the cause is not worth your while. Quite the opposite, if you have the privilege not to be affected by oppressive legislation, it is your duty to acknowledge that privilege and use it lobby equal treatment for others. 

And I will leave it there for now. There were so many other things I wanted to talk about (EU incorporation and the politics of equality for one..), but for the sake of time, and a shorter article, I left it out.

If you are interested in the concept of liminality, the articles I references are found below, and many of the pivotal books can be found online. 

If you would like to know more about LGBTQ+ rights in Albania, many of these articles are found online, as well as multiple other resources. Wikipedia has a surprisingly well-written page that provides a run-through of legislation regarding LGBTQ+ rights. 

If you would like to know more about the NGO’s mentioned, the links to the websites are embedded in the post. A lot of them also have Facebook pages and Instagram’s.

And if you would like to discuss any of the things mentioned, I am always open to discourse. This post is not meant to be all-encompassing, it is just the tip of the iceberg. My goal, as always, is to entice a conversation. 

Peace, love, and equality.

Works cited

Barry, James and Ihsan Yilma 2019 Liminality and racial hazing of Muslim migrants: media framing of Albanians in Shepparton, Australia, 1930–1955, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42:7, 1168-1185.

Çuri, Urjana 2018 Legal Provisions, Discrimination and Uncertainty on LGBT community in Albania.” Academicus International Scientific Journal 17:111 121.                                                                                                                

Hazizaj, Altin 2013 Legal Framework for the Protection of LGBT Adolescents from Violence a ndDiscrimination in the Pre-University Education System in Albania. Balkan Social Science Review 2:151-167.

Gennep, A. van. 1960 The rites of passage. [Chicago]: University of Chicago Press.

Kadi, Xhensila 2014 The approach towards gay marriage in the Albanian legislation and society.

Koleka, Benet 2012. Albania gay activists cycle to call for rights. Reuters.

Howard-Grenville, Jennifer Karen Golden-Biddle, Jennifer Irwin and Jina Mao 2011 Liminality as Cultural Process for Cultural Change. Organization Science, Vol. 22, No. 2, Cultural Construction of Organizational Life pp. 522-539.

Ridvan Peshkopia, Drin Konjufca, Erblin Salihu & Jonida Lika 2018 EU membership conditionality in promoting acceptance of peremptory human rights norms: a case study in Albania considering public opinion, The International Journal of Human Rights, 22:10,1355-1376.

Rexhepi, Piro 2016 From Orientalism to Homonationalism: Queer Politics, Islamophobia, and Europeanisation in Kosovo in Bojan Bilic (ed.), LGBT Activism and Europeanisation in the Post-Yugoslav Space. Palgrave, Macmillion.

Rexhepi, Agron 2020 Vendet e Ballkanit me Parada Alternative te krenarise. Kosovotwopointzero. 05/27/2020

Shtylla, Albana 2013 Sexual orientation, gender identity and non-discrimination. The Albanian labor legislation and its effects on employment and vocational training potentials. Member of Central Electoral Commission of Albania.

Telliti, Adisa 2015 Sexual Prejudice and Stigma of LGBT People. European Scientific Journal 11: 1857 – 7881.

Thomassen, Bjørn 2012 Anthropology and its many modernities: when concepts matter. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute,18(1) 160-178.

Bjørn Thomassen 2014. Liminality and the Modern: Living Through the In-Between. Taylor & Francis Group.

Turner, Victor 1967 The Forest of Symbols: Aspects of Ndembu Ritual. Cornell University Press.

Turner, Victor 1979 Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage. Reader in Comparative Religion 4:234-243

Underwood, Janet, and Rhodes, Christine 2018 A Qualitative Investigation of Hospital Visitors’ Experiences Using the Analytic Lens of Liminality: Informing Nursing Practice and Policy.” Nursing Inquiry, vol. 25, no. 3

Vizedom, Monika, 1976 Rites and relationships: rites of passage and contemporary anthropology. Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications.

Wels, Harry Kees van der Waal, Andrew Spiegel & Frans Kamsteeg 2011Victor Turner and liminality: An introduction, Anthropology Southern Africa, 34:1-2, 1-4

Wimark, Thomas 2019 Homemaking and perpetual liminality among queer refugees, Social & Cultural Geography, DOI: 10.1080/14649365.2019.1619818

1939 – Why the destruction of Albania’s National Theater is more than just the loss of another building.

Today is a dark day in Albanian history.

For over a two years now a war has been waging in regards to the National Theater of Albania, located in the heart of Tirana. Today at 4 am in the morning, it was torn down. In the cloak of darkness – maybe in a bid to hide the insidious nature of this act. The reasoning for doing this are numerous. The destruction of the theater is in some ways illegal. But in other ways, it sends a clear message to the Albanian people. That their voices do not matter, and that our democracy is a sham.

As an archaeologist, me pikon zemra [my heart aches] when I hear that cultural monuments are torn down anywhere, but especially in my country. Cultural heritage is a rich part of any culture. This is one of the reasons why I love archaeology so much. Uncovering and preserving aspects of our past for our current and future generations to appreciate is a privilege. Cultural heritage has a way of bringing people together in way. In the case of Albania, our rich cultural heritage is being encroached upon at an alarming rate as “development” increases. If you want to call the haphazard spread of improperly planned and illegally funded buildings development.

As an Albanian, this blatant disregard for the law and for the will of the people is terrifying. And that is why I am writing this. I have said this before, I am not a political science specialist. But the very least I can do is help bring even a little more awareness to what is going on in my country. And I would encourage anyone who reads this to do their own readings in addition to hearing what I have to say – because, at the end of the day, it is my opinion. And there are many articles out there written by people who know more then I do.

But for those of you that have never even heard of the theater and this struggle, the situation an be summarized in a few (very broad) points:

  1. The National theater was a historical monument, built-in 1939 in the “Italian style;” like many other government buildings in this part of Tirana. It has been the “home” of many famous writers, playwrights and actors; a hub for artistic expressions and thought.
  2. The building was considered to be a national monument once upon a time, which protected it from destruction. But at some point in the last year or so, it seems to have magically lost this categorization. And with it, its protection.
  3. For over a year, people have been protesting the destruction of the theater, claiming that it is an important architectural feature for the city of Tirana, which it is.
  4. Their voices, pleas, and arguments have been ignored. And peaceful protestors have been fined and removed – sometimes by force.
  5. At last, the building was destroyed in the early morning of May 17th.

Ok so you may be thinking, yes this is very sad that a cultural monument was destroyed. But so what? There are bigger things to worry about. And you would not be wrong. But the fact of the matter is that the destruction of the theater is not just about losing a piece of our cultural heritage. It is about the message it sends – and this message is a terrifying one. It says loud and clear that our government will do as it pleases and ignore the voice of the people.

Destroying a building is one thing, destroying a cultural monument, one that is specifically linked to freedom of expression and thought. That is another. In times of war, it is actually against international law to target and destroy places of cultural or religious importance. And yet it is happening at the will of our own government.

The arguments for the destruction of the theater are mediocre.

“The building was beyond repair.”

Bullshit. Let me tell you, no building is really beyond repair. If we can repair the foundations of castles and citadels from the 6th century BC (and we often do) then a building built less then 100 years ago should have been salvageable.

“The new building will bring much tourism to Tirana.”

Are you kidding me?! In my humble opinion as someone who literally works with cultural heritage, I regret to inform you that people do not come to Albania to look at shiny high-rises. People come to Albania for the rich natural and cultural resources it has to offer. Our parks, beaches, forests, archaeology, our cultural monuments. If it is highrise you want, may I suggest Toronto or perhaps New York?

And this my friends is why the destruction of a cultural monument in Tirana Albania, today, May 17th, really is foreboding. This isn’t about buildings anymore. Or let’s be honest, likely it never was. It’s about democracy. Or in our case, the lack of it. And that is terrifying.

A brief history of Albania, Kosova, the geopolitics that created them, and why this matters today.

A lot of people are fascinated with Albania and Kosova. This is good for me because when I write grant applications to fund my research there, my proposal instantly becomes “mysterious” and “intriguing.” Yep, there’s nothing more appealing to a grant committee than these small, predominantly Muslim countries in the Balkan peninsula, with their long history of communism and turbulent democracy. What is interesting about most people’s intrigue in these countries is that many don’t really know anything about them at all. Or what they do know is colored by Hollywood, which tends to portray Albanians as thieves, drug dealers and human traffickers (Aka. Taken).

So why am I talking about the creation of these two states now? Well a lot of reasons, but mainly, the idea was sparked by the news that Albin Kurti’s (the current Prime Minister of Kosova) 50 day old Government has been toppled in a vote of no-confidence this week. The news articles have been filing in since…

I know what you’re thinking. We are in a global pandemic.. and you’re not a political science specialist, so what have you to say? That’s true – but as always, I find myself having an opinion. In terms of the pandemic, I am doing my part by staying home. I am not a health professional to be able to offer some new and groundbreaking insight on how to kick the virus to the curb. And you really don’t need me to tell you to wash your hands and to stay the fuck home. But seriously.. stay home. In regards to the latter, while I may not have a degree in poli-sci, I do have on my side is an understanding of the history of the area (both in the deep past and in the more recent one) and an anthropological bent. But in the spirit of transparency,  I should mention that I also have a vested interest in the politics of these countries, being Albanian myself.

Following the news coverage of the “toppling of the Kosovar government,” I’ve gotten messages from my non-Albanian friends asking me what is going on. And I’ve been talking to my friends overseas about the situation as it unravels. Many of us are frustrated. If not outright angry…all of us are worried. And then something struck me. I’ve had to explain the situation so many times these past few days to so many colleagues (happily of course, if you know me, you know there is nothing I love more). But it got me thinking about what the rest of the world must think. How they are interpreting this? And then I thought about how the articles regarding Kosova, its government and the Mini-Schengen deal (which I assure you is at the root of this whole debacle) have been published of late. And the recent tweets from Donald Trump Jr. (link here)  and Ambassador Kosnett’s (link here) comments on the matter of US and NATO Involvement in Kosova. If most of the world has no idea that Kosova exists, then even less are familiar with its history.  And if the only exposure to Kosova many are getting are these heavily biased and skewed articles which use thinly veiled rhetoric with an overt political agenda.. then we have a problem. So I thought the best that I could do is help provide some context.

Of course, I cannot go into all the details of the formation of the Balkan states, but I can provide a generalized timeline specifically in terms of the creation of Albania and Kosova and anyone who wants to know more can read up on their own to fill the gaps (in fact, please do go and read on your own – this is not going to be all-encompassing). My goal here, I guess it to provide a very watered down, but comprehensive enough timeline of the creation of Albania and Kosova, since understanding this will help people contextualize what is going on in the Balkans now, specifically in regards to Kosova, and hopefully bring some more attention to this very worrying situation. Having done that, then you, my friends, can make up your own mind on how you feel about the situation. I also want to make a disclaimer that I am not trying to convince people to favor one party over the other. I know just how messy Balkan politics are and know as well as the next person that no political leader is perfect.

So shall we begin ( a very short history of the Albanian people, with E. Baci)

Once upon a time… Kidding…

There exists in the Balkans an ethnic group of people called the Albanians. Depending on who you ask, they have been there for hundreds of years or thousands of years… I’m not even going to go there. Pause number one, what is an ethnic group? Good question mon amie. Very simply, an ethnic group is a community who see themselves as having a shared culture and descent. Often times, ethnicity is dictated by what people are not, you know, good old fashion binary opposition.

Some of the earliest references to the Albanians as a cultural or ethnic group date to the early Middle Ages, in the 12th century. Their origin and ethnogenesis, however, is very highly contested by scholars… The reasons which I think are also very much rooted in geopolitics. Despite sharing a common language, the Albanians were never politically unified but instead, their socio-political organization was more similar to that of a tribal society, based on landowning kinship units- known as fis, led by men of the family. This form of sociopolitical organization was especially dominant in the north, where it survived until the 20th Century.

Historically, the first time the Albanians united as one was in the year 1444, under the leadership of Gjergj Kastriot (aka Skënderbeg) in order to fight off the Ottoman Empire in a military alliance known as the League of Lezhë. Despite holding off the Ottoman for multiple decades, the Albanians were conquered and incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, like the rest of the Balkans. They remained under Ottoman occupation until the year 1912, where I suppose our story really begins.

Some themes are going to intertwine through the rest of this narrative: they are nationalism, romanticism, and foreign diplomacy and geopolitics.

Pause number two, you’re probably wondering what romanticism has anything to do with geopolitics.. a lot my friend.. a lot. A good example of this is the declaration of Independence of Greece. Greece was the first nation to break out of the Ottoman Empire, back in the early 1800s. However, despite being “woke” the Greeks would not have been able to throw the yoke of Ottoman domination without foreign help, specifically from the big European players like England and France. This creates the very unhealthy pattern of foreign intervention that we will over the next 200 years up until the present. You may be asking yourself,  why would these European giants have a vested interest in helping the Greeks? Surely it is out of the goodness of their hearts, no? Sorry to disappoint, but there is always a motive. The first of which was that many of the larger powers want to snuff out the Ottoman Empire because they saw it as a threat to their own power. What better way to weaken the Ottoman Empire other than breaking it up at the very junction where it connects to the European continent? But why help Greece specifically? Well because their ancestors created democracy. The Western world as we (they knew it) owed its existence to the Greeks… très romantic, no? The same argument has been made in regards to the incorporation of Greece into the EU, with many specialists arguing that Greece was not ready economically, politically, etc. etc. to become a part of the EU but obtained the vote because of the romanticization of its past. The romanticization of these heroic or golden days has proven over and over again to be disastrous, just look at Mussolini’s Italy… but I digress.

For the most part, however, the Ottomans were able to maintain their hold on the Balkans until the beginning of the 20th C when the empire began to weaken. In 1912 the Balkan Wars began; a violent war fought by the European powers over the spoils of the dying Ottoman Empire. Yep, others got involved to gain some territory, not to help those under Ottoman control to free themselves…how unromantic. One of the most contested territories was that of Albania – which declared independence at the end of the First Balkan War in 1912. This is what many people don’t know however and the root of a lot of the conflict we see in the Balkans today – in regards to Kosova. The Conference of London, a peace council consisting of the six great powers at the time  (the UK, Germany, France, Italy,  Austria-Hungary, and Russia) decided on the borders of Albania, all with their own interests in mind.

Remember the war was not fought for the liberation of the Albanians or other people, but over who could claim that territory. Here is where “smaller players” like Serbia factor in. Serbia claimed the area that is today Kosova, on the basis that key national and religious monuments, primarily churches are found there. Because we all know, if you build a structure on some land, it becomes yours.. neverminded what lies directly under it.. #logic, amiright? Serbia, being an Orthodox Christian nation had the backing of Russia (yet another case of foreign intervention and support).

Anywho, the border suggested by the Albanians, which would have consolidated the dispersal of ethnic Albanian in the Balkan peninsula under one nation was rejected, and the resulting borders left as many ethnic Albanians outside of the new country as it housed within – essentially creating multiple populations of Albanians as minorities in other nations – again this is really important when we think about the Kosovar War and Genocide which I well get to in a minute.

I am going to fast forward over 80 years in the Balkans fairly quickly. Albania was independent for a short time, then it became an Italian protectorate, and then a monarchy, and the communist state, and only “recently” a democratic republic, in the 1990s. And this is where our storyline comes full circle to the topic at hand. For all of this time, Kosova was a part of Yugoslavia. For those of you who don’t know anything about Kosova, it is Europe’s youngest state with a population of just under 2 million and, as is almost entirely ethnically Albanian. So, you may be wondering dear friend, why are there two countries in the Balkans that have an ethnically Albanian population – the geopolitics that created the Albanian borders mentioned only a paragraph before. Kosova became an independent state in the year 2008, however, it is one of the most contested counties in the world – with its sovereignty bringing challenged and unrecognized by multiple other nations. Spearheaded almost entirely by Serbia, which still refuses to acknowledge “its lost territory” as an independent and sovereign state.

The creation of an independent Kosova is a history that is rooted in violence and oppression. While many people may know of the Bosnian War, very few know the Kosovar War, which started in 1998 and lasted one year. Americans may recall that this is when Clinton sent over NATO forces in 1999. But many fail to understand why the situation called for NATO in the first place.

In the 1990s several Balkan states started to break free from Yugoslavia. You can think of Yugoslavia as a mosaic of “different” ethnicities who were all held together by the idea that they were Slavs (this is a very watered down explanation of a very nuanced situation, so please take it with a large grain of salt). You were not Bosnian, Slovenian, etc., you were a fellow Slav. Interestingly enough, the Kosovars were not Slavs, they were Albanians, and protests began demanding the autonomy of the province in the ’80s. While things may have been more bearable under Tito, who promoted an idea of unity and Slav-brotherhood. However, the Milosevic regime that followed differed as Serbian nationalism grew. It was clear that Milosevic’s regime had a clear bias for certain groups over others, and that resources were not really being equally distributed by going to Belgrade. This sparked national awakenings, with ethnic groups coming together and declaring independence, the first of which were the Croatians and Slovenians.

The conflict rose to the world scene with the Bosnian war in 1992, when the US sent in NATO troops after rumors spread of the mass killing of ethnic Bosnians and the use of rape as a weapon of war by the Serbian Militia.  You with me so far?

The mid-1990s finds the former Yugoslavia a “shadow” of its former “glory” with just Serbia and a few small provinces – one of which was Kosova. At this time, the conflict between Serbia and Kosova intensified as the ethnic Albanians demanded autonomy from Serbia who systematically mistreated them based on lines of ethnicity and race. This conflict came to a head with the Kosova War, which many people don’t even know took place. Like in the Bosnian War, the atrocities carried about by the Serbian military includes systematic genocide and rape as a weapon of war to “erase the Albanian race” from the territory of Kosova. It is estimated that 10 000 ethnic Albanians were killed during the war, and that 20 000 women were raped.

You may be wondering, why the interest in this tiny piece of land? Well, the argument is that there are Orthodox Churches there, as mentioned above. I find this to be weak, to say the least. But really, it’s about money and power. The territory Serbia really wants are the northern parts of Kosova, incidentally, the same territories that are richest in minerals and metals.. go figure. And this brings us to today, to the Mini-Schengen deal, and to the toppling of Albin Kurti’s government.

For the past 6 months or so the Albanian news outlets have been coving the proceedings of a new political alliance known as the Mini-Schengen deal, between the Balkan states. So far, the leaders of Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, and Macedonia have attended. If you are familiar with the geography of the area, you will notice two things, first, there is a major gap in this free trade zone, by the absence of Kosova. And second, one nation, in particular, towers over the rest, in terms of size and economic strength: Serbia. So you can ask yourself, who will profit the most from this deal? Actually, you don’t have to, Vučić himself will tell you as he told the Serbian people in an official address, Serbia.

While I love international negations that foster peace and comradery as much as the next person, this whole deal is shady to me. Honestly, it sort of reminds me of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). For those of you not familiar with NAFTA, it is a free trade agreement between Canada, the US and Mexico, intended to bolster their economies. However, this is not how things really played out and in fact, the interactions between the three were very asymmetrical, to the detriment of some. For example, the flooding of the Mexican market with US corn due to NAFTA had catastrophic side effects on smaller framers in Mexico. With this analogy in mind, you can think of everyone else in this Mini-Schengen deal as Mexico.

The whole situation is also infuriating for many other reasons. First, a lot of the blame on the stagnation of the deal is being placed on Kosova (the rhetoric I mentioned earlier) – Specifically on Albin Kurtu for his “malicious” tax policy on Serbian goods. And second, for refusing to sign into a deal with a country that refuses to acknowledge its sovereignty….. Yes, you read that right. Kosova is the one playing dirty because they don’t want to sign an international free trade and movement agreement with another nation that doesn’t even recognize it as sovereign. To make matters worse, through a series of tweets (like the ones linked above), because that how geopolitics work now, US officials (if you want to count Trump Jr as an official) are for lack of a better word bullying Kosova into playing along by threatening to pull out NATO forces.

Again, I am not a poli-sci specialist, but if you ask me, it is the “question” of Kosova’s sovereignty that Albin Kurti’s government was toppled, not because of a failure of his government to respond effectively to the COVID pandemic. The fact stands, that after breaking the pattern of a predominantly two-party system (with Vetëvendosje winning by a landslide a few months ago), Kosova finds itself “without a government.”

I am not naive and understand that no political party is perfect, and I am not writing this to suggest that Albin Kurti and Vetëvendosje are the holy grail of Kosova politics. But I can’t help but feel that geopolitics had a lot to do with the movement for the vote of no-confidence which toppled the Kosovar government, and maybe I am being pessimistic, but what will go down in the next few months could not only have catastrophic consequences for the Kosovars but all of us. Let’s not forget that it was nationalism that sparked WWI, beginning in the Balkans no less. And the disaster that followed when the world turned a blind eye to Hitler’s annexing of “small and insignificant” portions of Sudetenland. These small “microaggressions” in the field of geopolitics have disastrous consequences if left unchecked. That is why the world needs to care about this tiny country in the Balkans and its independence.

Despite being so well connected in our day and age because of the internet and social media, it is just as easy for people to disconnect as well. We can get so caught up in our own little world that we could not be bothered to care about the toppling of a government of a country with less than 2 million people. A country that is so far away. A country that has only been a country for just over a decade. But this mentality is dangerous.  History has shown us time and time again what happens when we don’t think the goings-on in a country far far away has no effect on us.

Stay safe and stay healthy dear friends. And as always, formulate your own opinions – all I really wanted to do was get my thoughts out there. And if at most, I anger people enough to go and do their own research, then I consider that a win. I acknowledge that I have my own biases. So if you don’t agree with what I had to say, by all means, you are free to do so.

Peace, love, positivity.. and viva democracy.

PS. I thought about citing all of my sources as I was writing but it became overwhelming. Of course, most of what I present are not my own opinions but recounts of historical events, which I learned from reading various books. If you would like to read on your own and are not sure where to begin, I would be happy to suggest some books and articles.

An update from your friendly neighborhood Albanian Archaeologist

Well, dear friends. Your friendly neighborhood Albanian archaeologist has gone a bit MIA of late. Why so, you may ask?

Life – more specifically, life in academia. This is more a note to check in than a proper post.  Check-in with who exactly I’m not sure, but if you’re reading this; Hi, I’m letting you know that I will be back soon. With killer content and insight – I hope.

Grad school can take a toll on you, so much so that it envelopes you. There is deadline after deadline. You have to read constantly, you have to publish, you have to attend classes, teach classes, ” do research,” plan research, apply for grants, attend social events, talks, evening lectures, conferences.. the list goes on.  I will be the first to admit, I struggled to keep up with all of this.

On the surface, I weathered my first year of grad school rather well. I got straight A’s in my classes, landed some grants, went to conferences and talked about my research. I even conducted preliminary dissertation research in Albania and Kosovo this summer (a post that is on the drawing boards I assure you).

In my first year, I often felt like I was running as fast as I could but not getting anywhere. As soon as I completed one task, another fell in my lap. You got a grant to fund your summer research? Great. Better start thinking about the next one you’ll apply to. You finished your 20 page research paper? Amazing. Better start the other one you’ve put off until now.

These are the themes that I would like to explore in this platform because I don’t think that I am alone in thinking like this.  The fact that so many graduate students deal with depression, stress, anxiety, and imposter syndrome is a glaring redlight that there is something seriously wrong with the system so many of us idealize. Many of us pursue graduate degrees because we want to further our field, because we want to be creators of knowledge, we want to be academics. But the game has changed, it has become toxic. And we need to have a discussion about this.

I hope you will stick around until then.

Love, peace, and positivity,

Your friendly neighborhood Albanian archaeologist.