Changing Visions of Self and Nation Among the Kosova Albanians
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SEIZING THE PAST, FORGING THE PRESENT: CHANGING VISIONS OF SELF AND NATION AMONG THE KOSOVA ALBANIANS Janet Reineck Monterey Institute of International Studies August, 1992. I have just received a letter from Nuria, an What have been the social repercussions of the crisis Albanian friend in Kosova. She writes from her village gripping Kosova? What effect have years of fear and just north of Prishtina. Like most of her friends, Nuria deprivation had upon the Albanians' perception of self and was raised in a conservative Moslem family, was engaged nation? During the 1980s Albanian identity was forged and married to a man she had never met, and lives now primarily in terms of social symbols derived from the with her husband and children in her husband's extended past. Ideological conservatism in rural Kosova had family. Having been denied, by her father, an education deepened as Albanians responded to mounting ethnic and beyond primary school, she cultivated her mind and economic marginalization. Albanians seized upon nourished her imagination by reading novels and poetry in tradition in order to reinforce their personal and collective secret, hiding them under her embroideries and dignity in the face of a demeaned status in Yugoslavia. needlepoint. Her frequent letters tell of the landscapes How have recent events challenged this persuasion. around her, of the color and texture of the seasons, of the feelings these evoke in her. They also convey her reaction Looking into the future, how will the demise of to the hardship and desperation which has engulfed her Yugoslavia, the end to five decades of ideological world. This is her letter: conditioning [read: Titoism and Serbian hegemony] and the persistent threat to the Albanians' survival change the The sun is setting in the west and a light breeze begins to way they structure their lives? Will the obsession with blow. The edge of our wheat field is painted with the red conservative ideals, with familism and gender shades of evening. The sky is quiet, filled with clouds; it stratification championed by the Albanian masses be is a rare and beautiful sunset tonight. We are all healthy. abandoned? Would Kosova's independence promote a But the political and economic situation is now new world view, or would the uncertainty brought about unbearable. It is especially difficult in the village, where by a new political order inspire Albanians to find the hardships have pushed us against the edge. My father psychological security in Tradition? and two brothers have been fired from their jobs. My husband works, but receives no salary. The taxes are so At this point we can only speculate about Kosova's high--we are forced to give 70% of the profit from the political future. But from an anthropological standpoint, land to the cooperative. It is a terrifying situation. But questions about the direction of social change in Kosova what are we to do? It is the same for all Albanians. In the beg to be examined. Let us then lay a groundwork for an midst of this crisis we can only hope that a brighter future investigation into the prospects of a social and cultural awaits us. We live for the day when Kosova will be able reformation. We begin with a brief look at Kosova's to build a new life for itself in Europe, when our demographic and historical profile. tomorrow will no longer be only in the dreams of The Setting: Demographic and Historical Notes: children. Toward these ideals today we raise our voices to the whole world, and await an answer. Kosova is bordered in the south by Macedonia, in the east and north by Serbia, in the northwest by Montenegro, and On March 23, 1989 the Federal government in Belgrade in the southwest by the country of Albania. Its heartland declared martial law in Kosova, ending fifteen years of of fertile plains, hills and valleys is almost completely nominal autonomy within the Republic of Serbia and surrounded by dramatic mountain ranges chiseled by ushering in a period of political upheaval, blatant civil gorges. With a population of 1.8 million (1986 figures), rights abuses and ethnic violence in the province. the ethnic distribution in 1981 was 77.4% Albanian, Economic hardship coupled with a general state of 13.2% Serbian, 3.7% Serbian-speaking Moslems, 2.2% repression and fear have inspired an unprecedented sense Rom (Gypsies), 1.7% Montenegrin (The Provincial of unity and nationalism among Albanians. These Statistical Bureau, 1987). The steady exodus of Serbs and developments have challenged some fundamental aspects Montenegrins which began in the late 1960s and of Albanian identity. accelerated in the 1980s due to political pressures has increased the percentage of Albanians to 90%. Kosova resistance against the Ottomans led by their greatest has the highest natality and infant mortality rates in national hero, Gjergj Kastriot (better known as Europe, with 29.9 live births per thousand, 55.2 infant "Skenderbeg"). After his death, resistance weakened and deaths per thousand live births. Kosova's rate of the Ottoman occupation became further entrenched. population increase is 24.7 per thousand with an annual population growth of 2.4% (1987 statistics). Today the The current political dispute over Kosova centers on the average age of Albanians is twenty-four, making them the fact that both Albanians and Serbs claim historical rights youngest ethnic group in Europe. to the province. Kosova was the center of the Serbian medieval kingdom and many of Serbia's most important Kosova's 10,908 sq. km. are divided into twenty-two monuments are located there. The Serbian defeat at the komuna (counties). Until its establishment as an hand of the Turks in 1389 is at the heart of Serbian epic autonomous region in 1946, Kosova was considered as literature. As such Kosova plays a deep emotional role in two regions: "Kosova" (also known as Fusha e Kosovo the identity of contemporary Serbs. In addition, while it is [The Kosova Field]) in the east and Metohija (or Rrafshi i clear that Albanians have "always" inhabited parts of Dukagjinit [The Plain of Dukagjin]) in the west. This western Kosova, the length of time they have been in division was based upon geographical relief and other parts of the province is unclear, making historical consequent patterns of economic subsistence resulting in claims on territory a source of perpetual enmity between cultural patterns unique to each region. Albanians and Serbs. Historically, Kosova was part of the north-south link from Modern History: Belgrade to Thessalonika and the east-west route from Istanbul to the Adriatic coast and to Bosnia-Hercegovina. The growing nationalism of eighteenth century Europe It has served as a frontier between the eastern and western was lost on the Albanians. In Europe nationalist Roman empires, between Serbian, Bulgarian and movements were nurtured by religious and linguistic Byzantine states, between Christianity and Islam, Greek unity, the leadership of one class, the influence of foreign Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, and between the intellectuals and discontent with foreign rule. Through the modern states of Albania and Yugoslavia. Its strategic centuries fierce clan and regional loyalties and the economic and political position, fertile land and plentiful absence of the incentives for unification present in mineral resources have made Kosova a desirable European nations prevented the emergence of an possession for a succession of invaders throughout its Albanian nationalist consciousness which would unite the turbulent history. Albanians against their oppressors. Finally, in 1878, Albanians united against foreign manipulation when the The Albanians are believed by many scholars to be Congress of Berlin gave the Albanian regions of Gusinje descendants of the Illyrians who lived throughout much of and Pllav to the Montenegrins. Leading Albanian writers the territory of present-day Yugoslavia and Albania until met at the fabled "League of Prizren" to make their will the fifth century B.C. Throughout their history Albanians known to Berlin. They demanded autonomy within the were ruled by Greece, Rome, Byzantium, the Celts, Slavs Ottoman empire, a right to the taxes collected, schooling and Ottoman Turks. The Turkish occupation lasted five- in the Albanian language and religious freedom. But hundred years and profoundly effected Albanian social, because Albanians sought autonomy under Istanbul rather cultural and political life. than independence, the European powers saw them as an Ottoman tool. It was not until the revolt of the Young The Ottomans began their domination of the Balkan Turks in 1908 and the harsh, repressive measures of their Peninsula in 1389 after the victory over the Serbs at the new policies of "Ottomanism" that Albanians finally famous "Battle of Kosovo" near the modern-day capital of began a unified revolt against the Turks. Prishtina. Prior to 1389 the medieval Serbian monarchy ruled Serbia from the heartland of Kosova. During this In 1912 the Ottomans were defeated and Albania was period the highland Albanians were beginning their proclaimed a republic. With the withdrawal of the Turks descent into the lowlands of Kosova in response to in 1913 the European powers constructed the "Treaty of population pressure in the mountains. This descent Berlin" which created an independent state of Albania. accelerated when the Ottomans invaded and the Serbian This new state excluded the ethnic Albanians in Kosova lords and their subjects moved northward. During the who then became part of the "Serbian Kingdom," and in fifteenth century the Albanians staged a massive 1918 part of the "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes." By this time there was a new united Balkan and poorer south widened, ethnic tensions increased and front against the Ottomans and against an autonomous in 1981 culminated in massive Albanian demonstrations Albania which would claim precious lands.