ChapterPDF Available

The Everyday of Religion and Politics in the Balkans

January 2018

In book: Everyday Life in the Balkans (pp.321-336)
Chapter: 30
Publisher: Bloomington: Indiana University Press

Authors:

Albert Doja

University of Lille

The Resurrection Cathedral in Tirana, as construction nears completion, 2013. Photograph by David W. Montgomery.

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"The Albanians" mosaic at the entrance to the National Historical Museum in Tirana tells a story of resistance to invasion and occupation throughout the country's history. Such presentations of the past are among the material ways history incurs upon everyday life, often to political and religious ends, 2006. Photograph by David W. Montgomery.

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Figures - uploaded by Albert Doja

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Content uploaded by Albert Doja

Content may be subject to copyright.

EDITED BY DAVID w. MONTGOMERY

30 e Everyday of Religion and

Politics in the Balkans

Albert Doja





 

   



   

        

  

    







 

         

         





 

 

          

   

      

 

      

         

 



     

 





 

      



  



     

   





   







         

     

  

        

   

    

 







    





     



 

 

 



 

 





         

       



 



Everyday Le in the Balkans



 



      





    

 

    

 







   



 

   

 

e Everyday of Religion and Politics 



 

 

          

  

  





 

  

  



    

 

         

 

 

 

 

  

 









    

   



  







  

 



  

 







      

         

         



         

       



 

  

   

  







 

         



     

      



  



 





       

      

    



      

  

         

  



  

   



 

     



 

     



 

          

   

     

 



e Everyday of Religion and Politics 

      

 





         

   

 



 

   





 

 

 



 



 

 



  

 



   













 

 





    





      

        

       





      

 

          

    

      

 



 



        



 

 

 

 

 

        

 

   

 

 

 



    

 

 



         



  

  



 

   

 

 



      

   

 

       

        



 

 

 

   

      

   



    

   

 

      









   

          

           

    







   

  



  

 

 

      

  





           

  



 

  

     



    

 





 

           





 



  

         

 

 

   







      

      

 



  





       

   

      





        

    

        

 

  

 

   

 

   

  

      



 

 I  

    

 

 







   

 

       

 







 





       



 

  

  



 



        

           

           

          

 



   

   

 

    

 

   

 

 

     







 



 

 



        



Notes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  







 







  



 



 





 









 







 

 

 

 

  



 



 



 





    









 

  



  

 

 



 

 

 



 



 

 









 







   Ka8Eptv�, 





 



 







332 Everyday Le in the Balkans

 



  

 





 

 



 





 











 



 





 

  

 





 



 



 



   





 

 

 

 

 



  







   



e Everyday of Religion and Politics 333

 







 



















 

 

References

           

      



         



  

           





 

  





         





      









        







   

 

          





334 Everyday Le in the Balkans

      

& 

   





           

         



          

           







         

& 

         

     



e Everyday of Religion and Politics 

Contents

 

 

  

 

   

  



  

  

 

 

 



  



  

 



 

  



  

 



 

 





 



 



 



 

 



 

 

 



  



 



 



 



 

 



 



 



 

 



 

 

 





 



 

 



 

 

  



 

 



 



  

 



 

 

 





 



 



 



 

 





 



  

 

 



 

 

 



  



 

  





 



 

 

 

 





















 



 



 

 

  

  I  



  



   

    

 

 

   





          

Importing Religion into Post-Communist Albania: Between Rights and Obligations

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May 2023

Enika Abazi

After the communist regime seized power in Albania in 1944, the vilification, humiliation, persecution and execution of clergy of all faiths, including Muslim, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, were conducted publicly. Religious estates were nationalized in 1946, and around the same time, religious institutions were closed or converted into warehouses, gymnasiums, workshops or cultural centers. In the communist constitution of 1976, Albania became the first constitutional atheist state in the world. In Article 37 of the Constitution was stated “the state does not recognize any religion”. Albanians were forced to deny their religion, change their belief system and adopt the new socialist way of life that praised secular gods such as the Communist Party and its leaders. The image of the party leader replaced religious icons. Young people were encouraged to follow worldly pursuits, including offering their life for communist deities. With the fall of communism, Albanian clerics and foreign missionaries encouraged the revival of religiosity in the country. Because in Albania, religious institutions and clergy did not exist for more than 3 decades, foreign actors played a major role in the return of religion to social life and among young people. Post-communist Albania represents a quintessential case study of importing religion into a formerly atheistic country that lacked qualified clergy, religious institutions and strong religious beliefs. In the permissive post-communist Albania, people, especially young people, attributed different meanings to religion and religiosity. Mere investigations and surveys of faith communities along traditional lines would fail to provide useful insights into the significant transformations that have impacted the religious field in Albania after the fall of the communist regime and the current challenges faced by new and “traditional” denominations. The post-communist religious context is dominated by two opposing currents: The first trend is marked by the legal organization of religious practice in the public space, which grants freedoms and equality to the “traditional” religions recognized by the state, but autonomous and independent from it. The other trend is shaped by the rituals and practices of believers from abroad who are pushing for the creation of new autonomous religious communities. This paper is not investigating religious “communitarianism” along traditional lines but rather examines salient religious identification and societal relationships and discusses their implications. This analysis rests on survey data and free-flowing and open-ended interviews conducted mainly with students of the Political Science Department of the University of Tirana and of the European University of Tirana, as well as research of different social networks. The article is divided into three parts, which present the following: literature insights, the historical background of Albania’s secularization and current religious trends and practices.

Prošlost u sadašnjosti: vrijeme i narativ o balkanskim ratovima u medijskoj industriji i međunarodnoj politici

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2022

U ovom članku istražujemo različite forme putopisa, medijskih izvještaja, diplomatskih zapisa, politika, istinosnih tvrdnji i svjedočanstava eksperata u kojima su različite narativne perspektive o balkanskim ratovima, kako starim (1912–1913) tako i novim (1991–1999), bile najevidentnije. Tvrdimo da su načini na koje su ove perspektive ukorijenjene u različitim vremenima i istorizacijama rezultovali u konstruisanju opšteprihvaćenih i zastarjelih predstava. U praktičnom smislu, istražujemo nekoliko obrazaca narativa koji su vodili senzacionalizmu medijske industrije i esencijalizaciji kolektivnog pamćenja. Uzeti zajedno, kao opšta odlika savremene politike i analize u dominantnom međunarodnom mišljenju, politici i nauci, ovi narativni obrasci pokazuju da se istorijsko znanje prenosi na načine koji stvaraju sadašnjost i predstavljaju izvještaje o drugoj prošlosti, kao i da se kolektivna vjerovanja aktera međunarodne zajednice konstruišu kao medijski događaji i javne hegemonističke predstave. Cilj nam je pokazati na koji način se određeni trenuci prekida istoricizuju i posljedično koriste i zloupotrebljavaju za anahronistično predstavljanje jugoistočne Evrope.

Abazi, Enika, and Albert Doja (2017) "The past in the present: time and narrative of Balkan wars in media industry and international politics." Third World Quarterly, 38 (4), pp. 1012-1042

Preprint

Full-text available

Mar 2017

In this article, we explore various forms of travel writing, media reporting, diplomatic record, policy-making, truth claims and expert accounts in which different narrative perspectives on the Balkan wars, both old (1912–1913) and new (1991–1999), have been most evident. We argue that the ways in which these perspectives are rooted in different temporalities and historicisations have resulted in the construction of commonplace and time-worn representations. In practical terms, we take issue with several patterns of narratives that have led to the sensationalism of media industry and the essentialisation of collective memory. Taken together as a common feature of contemporary policy and analysis in the dominant international opinion, politics and scholarship, these narrative patterns show that historical knowledge is conveyed in ways that make present and represent the accounts of another past, and the ways in which beliefs collectively held by actors in international society are constructed as media events and public hegemonic representations. The aim is to show how certain moments of rupture are historicised, and subsequently used and misused to construct an anachronistic representation of Southeast Europe.

The past in the present: time and narrative of Balkan wars in media industry and international politics

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2017

From the communist point of view: Cultural hegemony and folkloric manipulation in Albanian studies under socialism

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2016
COMMUNIS POST-COMMUN

In the standard folkloric and ethnographic tradition of Albanian studies, various efforts to seize an authentic, traditional and popular culture, supposed to have really functioned in a society of official ideology, were devoted primordially to a catalogue of descriptivist and empiricist research, which only served to confirm the ultimate goal of constructing a primarily essentialized national specificity and a particularly antiquated view of national culture. Whereas the long-term continuities in the Albanian studies of peoples culture (kultura popullore), which pre-dated and out-lived socialism, together with the ambiguous relationship to anthropology are emphasized elsewhere, in this paper we look more closely at the limited changes and innovations that occurred in the decades of communist regime in Albania. The aim is to uncover how the traditional ethnographic-folkloric studies of peoples culture, marked by intellectual isolation and stigmatized by association with moralist and nationalist ideologies, were mobilized to service the shifting ideological needs and state policies towards the cultural hegemony of the communist regime.

From the native point of view: An insider/outsider perspective on folkloric archaism and modern anthropology in Albania

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2015
HIST HUM SCI

Albert Doja

In the standard native tradition of Albanian studies, descriptive and empirical research has only confirmed their own ultimate goal of constructing national specificity and a particularly antiquated view of national culture. In this article, I show how and why an articulate analysis of the main intellectual traditions and their impact can provide fresh insights into grasping the cultural particularism of Albanian studies. Methodologically, a new picture of knowledge production must arise if we consider the historical, cultural, political and ideological terrain on which certain influential ideas and practices in Albanian studies of people’s culture have emerged. The aim, then, is not to provide an exhaustive picture of a positive knowledge of culture and society, but to show the urgent need for avoiding any adoption of concepts that might be pure reconstructions of arbitrary and timeless structures and values, while rejecting any approach in terms of survivals and folklorism.

Nationalist Mobilization and Stories of Serb Suffering

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2002
Rethink Hist

Florian Bieber

This article focuses on how the myth of the Kosovo battle of 1389 was resurrected as part of the nationalist revival in Serbia in the later 1980s, and the different ends to which it was put during the violent struggles of the 1990s. Cultivated through centuries of Ottoman rule, the myth decreased in importance during the communist period but re-emerged in Serbia in the 1980s as a powerful mobilizing tool, often juxtaposed with the supposed 'genocide' of Serbs at the hands of Albanians in the autonomous province. The wide ranging sexcentenary celebrations in 1989 were a display of the newly found (and short-lived) unity between church, state and different nationalist traditions in Serbia, marked by a well-known speech by Slobodan Milosevićon the site of the medieval battle. Ten years later,Serbian troops withdrew from Kosovo, effectively ending the decade-long domination of the Milosevićregime over the province; but even with the end of Serb rule, the Kosovo myth remained relevant in Serbian political discourse. This article explores the different interpretations given to the historical battle since the 1980s, the manipulability of historical facts, and how historical myths are put to use for political ends. It highlights the circular conception of time put forward by nationalist ideology with the implied repetitions of the medieval battle in contemporary and recent events experienced by Serbs; this strategy aims to tie individual and collective memories together in a unity to insure the individual's loyalty to the nation.

The Politics of Religion in the Reconstruction of Identities: The Albanian Situation

Article

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Dec 2000

Albert Doja

In order to appreciate die very historical significance of the successive sive processes of conversion and reconversion among Albanians and other Southeast European populations, and to subject them to a more effective anthropological analysis, this article argues that they should be understood in terms of the dynamics of objectification and resistance against pressures exerted by authorities holding political and religious power. This approach allows us to put the meaning of religious affiliations into the perspective of negotiation and redefinition of social identities, leading to the transformation of Albanian identity and ethnicity, and re-establishing traditions of political, social and national history.

Honneur, Foi et Croyance: approche linguistique anthropologique des valeurs morales et religieuses

Article

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Jan 2011
ANTHROPOS

Albert Doja

Cet article explore essentiellement l'intérêt et l'éventualité de procéder à des analyses d'histoire sémantique des termes du vocabulaire des institutions qui servent à exprimer les notions d'honneur et de croyance. Cette analyse permet notamment d'entreprendre une approche comparative dans la perspective croisée de l'anthropologie historique et linguistique qui peut s'avérer cruciale pour une nouvelle appréhension du rapport entre les valeurs sociales de la morale et de la religion. Pour désigner la religion aussi bien que la croyance les Albanais utilisent des termes qui tirent leur origine dans le même fond commun indo-européen avec les termes latins ou grecs anciens équivalents. Mais à la même souche d'autres mots restent attachés en albanais, qui désignent les valeurs morales de l'honneur comme le serment et la parole donnée aussi bien que les stratégies d'alliance matrimoniale. Autant dire que les termes de ce champ lexical dénotent des notions qui apparaissent cruciales pour comprendre le fonctionnement du groupe social, familial et parental, ainsi que celui de la société tout entière. Il devient possible alors de mieux comprendre l'expression de cette notion fondamentale qui repose non seulement sur un code de l'honneur très strict, mais aussi sur des structures lignagères fortement prégnantes, sur la primauté de la filiation et des liens du sang, mettant en œuvre une responsabilité collective dans les mécanismes complexes des systèmes d'alliance et de vengeance. Parallèlement, pour comprendre les valeurs morales aussi bien que la nature de la religion chez les Albanais, il ne faut pas partir de la subjectivité d'une croyance ou de l'objectivité d'un savoir, mais de la relation que les discours de l'honneur et les pratiques sociales instaurent entre les hommes. Foi et religion ne sont que la vertu de l'honneur, le poids de la croyance et de la confiance en la parole donnée.

Instrumental Borders of Gender and Religious Conversion in the Balkans

Article

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Mar 2008
Relig State Soc

Albert Doja

In this paper I explore the ways and extents to which religious identifications and affiliations become instrumental political resources for ascertaining hierarchical relations among social groups and individuals, with extensive use of gendered metaphors referring to different categories of people as whether effeminate or truly manly, and actual women often used as a currency of exchange.

A Political History of Bektashism in Albania

Article

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Mar 2006

Albert Doja

Heterodox mystics and heretics of any kind become sometimes dangerous and other times reliable, depending on political situations, as was the case with the Bektashis. The system of beliefs and practices related to Bektashism seems to have corresponded to a kind of liberation theology, whereas the structure of Bektashi groups corresponded more or less to the type of religious organization conventionally known as charismatic groups. It becomes understandable therefore that their spiritual tendency could at times connect with and meet social, cultural and national perspectives. In turn, when members of the previously persecuted religious minority will acquire a degree of religious and political respectability within society at large, the doctrines of heterodoxy and liberation theology fade into the background. In the end, the heirs of the heterodox promoters of spiritual reform and social movement turn into followers and faithful defenders of a legitimate authority. They become the spokespeople for an institutionalized orthodoxy whose support is sought by the political regime.

Bringing in Earthly Redemption: Slobodan Milosevic and the National Myth of Kosovo

Article

Apr 2015

Jason A. Edwards

Slobodan Milosevic’s rise from a minor Communist Party figure to the eventual Serbian president was bound up in rhetoric. Specifically, I examine how Milosevic rhetorically recast and modified the myth of Kosovo. The myth of Kosovo is one of the fundamental pillars of Serbian identity. I argue Milosevic modified the fundamental themes of the myth—disunity and unity—to bring an earthly redemption to Serbs in the late 1980s. Milosevic’s use of the Kosovo myth cemented his hold on presidential leadership in 1989 and is an important example of how past events are fruitful topoi for political leaders trying to build nationalist movements.

The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia

Article

Nov 1999
Slav East Eur J

Heavenly Serbia: From Myth to Genocide

Book

Jan 1999
SLAVIC REV

Branimir Anzulovic

The Everyday of Religion and Politics in the Balkans

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