Spotlight on….Albania

by John Watkins

On 21 January 2025, UCL’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) hosted another PROLang event about Albanology. Academics from universities in Albania, Italy, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany and the UK discussed a range of literary and cultural research projects. After a few words from Ramona Gonczol, convener of PROLang, the event moderator Dr Mirela Xhaferraj welcomed the audience and set the scene for the presentations.

First to address the meeting was Sidorela Doli, a lecturer in Albanian Language and Literature at Charles University in Prague. Doli is interested in how literature can help us explore human behaviour, especially when that behaviour is difficult to talk about “due to mentality or some outdated habits”. In her paper, “The phenomenon of Albanian Sworn Virgins (Burrneshat) in the literary aspect”, Doli noted that most studies of Burrneshat have been anthropological and social. She thought that literary representations of Burrneshat can provide a “starting point” for discussions about gender, sacrifice, autonomy and homosexuality. Novels that have explored the tradition of Sworn Virgins include Pran of Albania, a children's historical novel written in 1929 by Elizabeth Miller. More recent novels by Elivira Dones, Kristopher Dukes and Petraq Risto provided insights into the social, cultural and historical context of the Sworn Virgin tradition.

Next to speak was Ledio Hala, a lecturer in Albanian at the Universities of Regensburg and Zurich. Hala’s research focuses on the “didactics and scientific study of Albanian as a foreign and heritage language”. Hala began by explaining that Albanian is divided into two dialects, Gheg in the north and Tosk in the south. Efforts to standardise the language began in the nineteenth century during the National Renaissance when the Elbasan version of Albanian was chosen because it contained both Gheg and Tosk features. In 1972, the communist regime adopted “northern Tosk” as the official form of Albanian. Hala said that communist ideology had shaped decisions about language; language was seen as “a tool for nation-building and control”. Hala has looked at government documents, newspapers and private letters to help him trace “the influence of socio-political factors on language planning and the spread of linguistic norms”. He hoped that his work would contribute to broader discussions on language planning and standardisation.

Joe Ruffell, a PhD student at the UK’s Open University, was also interested in Albania’s communist past. In his paper, “Narrating the totalitarian party-state: the role of ideology and history in Communist Albania”, Ruffell argued the public sphere in communist Albania had been dominated by “the narrative of the Partisan struggle of World War II and the post-war project for reconstruction, sovereignty and modernisation”. In order to consolidate this narrative, the regime created what Ruffell calls an “organisational society” that merged Party, state and civil society. Party history was the “key narrative” and Party membership was “the key inclusion mechanism” for the whole of society. Preserving this “self-constructed world” became a political priority. The narrative was reinforced by “self-description” in official publications, speeches, films, public monuments and Martyrs’ Cemeteries. Challenges to the narrative, perceived or real, led to purges, show trials and repression. When the system began to falter in the 1980s, the state doubled down on “Stalinist methods of repression” in order to preserve its unifying narrative.

Anxhela Lepuri, a lecturer in the Department of Albanian Language at the University of Tirana, was interested in how parents maintain the Albanian language among second-generation speakers in diaspora communities. In her paper, “Behavioural patterns of parents in supporting heritage language maintenance”, Lepuri said that the diaspora acted as a “cultural bridge” between the Albanian territories it had come from and the wider world. It had to navigate “the dual challenges” of preserving cultural identity and integrating with the dominant culture of the host country. Some families chose to abandon their heritage language entirely. Others opted to use their first language in the home. In these households, parents had responsibility for creating a “positive linguistic environment”. It was particularly important for children to talk with their elders and grandparents in order to preserve “heritage language identity”. By analysing these patterns, Lepuri hopes to shed light on “the pivotal role parents play in preserving Albanian linguistic and cultural heritage”.

Federica De Bastiani has a Master’s degree in Modern Languages and Literatures from the University of Calabria. Her paper, “Martin Camaj, the Arbëresh World, and the Short Story Shkundullima” looked at the life of writer and Albanologist, Martin Camaj. After opposing the communists during the Second World War, Camaj was forced to leave Albania. He went first to Belgrade and then in 1960, he moved to Rome. In Italy, Camaj discovered a second homeland among the Arbëresh. Their historic experience of exile mirrored his own, and he took it on himself to protect their language, culture and Albanian identity. In the short story Shkundullima (The Earthquake), De Bastiani showed how Camaj combined northern Albanian Gheg and Arbëresh words to make a literary connection between Albania and Arbëria. The plot centres on a bridge which becomes a symbolic link between northern Albania and southern Italy and between Camaj himself and the Arbëresh folklorist and writer, Girolamo de Rada. De Bastiani identifies a number of motifs - streams and torrents, vineyards, chimneys, open doors - that Camaj used to link the two worlds. Through his adoption of the Arbëresh world, Camaj managed to create a “literary homeland” for himself.

The final paper was given by Anna Kapitanova-Krasteva, a PhD student in the Department of General, Indo-European and Balkan Linguistics at the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski". Her paper, “Adjectival modifiers in the nominal projection in Albanian and Bulgarian”, discussed the placing of adjectives in Albanian and Bulgarian. Although the two languages belong to different linguistic families, both allow adjectives to be “hierarchically ranked”. Kapitanova-Krasteva found that adjectives in the two languages are a “mirror image” of each other: ones that normally precede the noun in Bulgarian follow the noun in Albanian. This analysis enabled her to discuss the “linear order of a series of adjectives”.

This was a wide-ranging and stimulating afternoon that gave an insight into the breadth of Albanological research currently being carried out in European universities. Both the Albanian Ambassador, HE Uran Ferizi and the Kosovan Ambassador, HE Ilir Kapiti, attended the seminar. Both stressed the continuing importance of Albanological studies in foreign universities, especially as both Albania and Kosovo are small countries with limited resources. They congratulated SSEES for its commitment to the Albanian language through its programme of language classes, and its new course, Albanian Language for Heritage Speakers, designed specifically for people of Albanian heritage.

There’s a recording of the PROLang seminar on UCL’s YouTube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5APLy4rCTY