INVENTION OF A NATIONALISM. MYTH AND AMNESIA Piro Misha san élite phenomenon: the very idea ofan Albanian nation germinated first in the minds of a handful of country, mostly in Europe, but als economic centres of the Ottoman Empire, The initial impulse and ration came from the European Enlightenment, as well 2s from the influence of the writings of a mumber of Western scholars, tavellers, poets, ethnographers and p} forgotten part of Europe, whi ethnographic communi well to reconstruct pieces of th Common with the other nat identification became linguistic and cultural. [t was a process which 34 Piro Misha in the long run brought about fundamental change by devaluing the pt that for centuries had constituted the esence of Oiton ¢ bases of Islamic or Orthodox unity whic seeds of Balkan nationalism, including the Albanian national mc sprouted. "The process of Albanian nation-building cannot be fally understood unless we put it in the context of the nineteenth-century Balkans, chacacterised by severe contficts and confrontations among the newly. created Balkan nation-states king to define their national ‘were constructing their national myths, codes, symbols, i policy of territorial expansion as tional homogenisation. The Albanians ng ‘Numerous parallels exist between the Albanian national move~ and the other nineteenth-century Balkan national movement npostant differe phy: The process of nation-building a own distinct also forced to make thei the acknowledgement of the malism: Myth and Ammesia 35 ced at the time all over the Balkans and many of enough simply to observe their late departure along the road to modernity, one should also explain why. What prevented the Albanians region? This leads to a number of other questions requiring a critical examination of the past and questioning much of what is taken for granted by the ‘An answer should be found to the question why the Albanians ‘were among the last to liberate themselves since they initially resisted the Ottoman invasion more vigorously and for longer than most of their neighbours, and curing the first centuries of Ottoman role revolted pethaps more often than any other people in the region.? This is particularly perpl xms of the distance to the centre of the Empire and the proximity to Western Europe) was the change of the name the Albanians had this period a mu ‘transformations with long-term consequences took place in Albanian -ausing the change not only of name but also of religion. It36 Piro Misha Albania of the last evo centuries without taking umber of before the ct backward and i pared to thei which most of theie neighbours had known on their road towards the affirmation of distinctive national identity. Albanians were cut off from contacts with the rest of the ‘world even ifjudged according to the standards of the Ottoman Empire. Albania continued to remain a mysterious country, an image that pur- sued it fora very long time. Even as late as 1913 the French journalist Delaisi wrote: pastes. Bur even withot very difficult, which mea cessary for the creation of the awareness of: orto Vlora, The Albanian poet Asdreni, who lived in Bucharest, rav- cllingit in 1903, wrote that ajourney from the port of Duarres, where he landed, to 40 te. ‘Only 2 horse or ‘paths can travel here, The ‘a traveller com: this happens more because the man who shoots does not ‘wasting a bullet just for a passer-by’® A report written by the Intelli- ia 37 gence Division of the British Admiralty Staff'in 1916, during the First World War came to the conclusion that one of the main factors causing the extreme stagnation of Albania was the geographical en- vironment Another major obstacle (although strangely enough itis rarely men cir lack of a single admit es, often became factors of discord. Examining the nineteenth-century history of Albania it is easy to see how many of the major obstacles the Albanians faced in ng to construct a national identity are to be Octtorman policy in the lst centuries of their rule in Albania, Feeling regional and religious div be the best way of c the Empire. Because ofits strategic borderland po: considered by the Sublime Porte not only as a borderland defensive belt, but also as an important source of cheap cannon-fodder. ‘To this end the Ottomans did their best to keep the country isolated and uncontaminated by contacts with Europe. Paradoxically, the geographi-38 Pio Misha recognise Albanians as such, considering them either: thodox’ because of the practical implic what that foxey ruly meant. They sographical notion known by the name of bo too ‘ould be ethnically also took care that none of these fox homogeneous. en most of the factors which normally help in constructing say the leat, prob- lematic the last remaining factor which did have the pot Decome an element of national cohesion was the language. In this light it becomes clear why the Ottomans undertook severe coercive ‘measures in order to prevent the teaching of the Albani ‘were not allowed to use their own language even when, ‘encouraged policy was e to compile a common. very few Albanians could imagine that their nguage could or should be written.” By the end of the nineteenth century in the whole of Albania only two Albanian schools existed, while there were some 5,000 Turkish or Greek schools. this docs not mean that Albanians were educated. On. ‘World War in the whole region of Mirédita, with 000 people, only three people could wi ne ofthe few Europeans ited Albania atthe beginning the twentieth century, an Italian Invention of Nationalism: Myth and Ai 39 is created in a part ofthe Muslim world, prevailing over the teligions soli arity In Albania this inhibitory policy extends ao to the Christan pops Iation (che only case), asthe Turks ae afraid tha they would havea negative influence on Albanian Muslims.” ‘The fact that education was only available in a foreign language helps explain why Albanian culture remained principally popular and folk- Joric and why Albanian nationalism was disadvantaged compared to tthe general context in which the process of national formation and, later of national integration, slowly advanced: a context characterised by strong local and regional awareness, while the national consciousness remained rather vague. Bernd Fischer described this situation as fol ‘A combination of indigenous Albanian circumstances and conscious Otto- man policy succeeded national sentiment tnt the ate nineteenth century in a clastic eatrot and stick fashion, the Tuckish at verted Albanian nationalism chrough outright repression 38 well 2s by means which amounted to litle more than bribery. Forsome time the very existence o ic the country was very diffic real nation-building movement ‘not impossible, to maintain, political national : ‘were events that happened far av 8) in which the Turks suffered a c dangerous unbalancing of the pre Balkans, ° Stefan Great Powers called the Congress of Beilin, The goal of the Congress was a more prudent partition of the Empire among, the newly created regional nation-states. Among many internationally relevant decisions, the Congress of Berlin decided to partition among, °F Guiceiandin, Impreson al "eno Ske, The Alanon National Aung Pres 1967, 88 Bernd Fischer, Mire Zep dhe popeka pr uber ne Shaper, Tirana: Gabe} MCM 1995, p54,40 Piro Misha its direct neighbours a number of territories inhabited by Albanians. For the Albanians the Congress of Berlin sent another quite alarming. signal, which went far beyond its practical decisions. It di ‘The German organisation, which marked the transformation of thi ‘mantic national movement into @ real political national movement, n Albanian nationalist ideology. Although the League of Prizren eventually filed, defeated militarily by the Turks, it constituted a turning, in the history of the Albanians. Until then the main preoccupa- ts was to identify and collect evidence proving ideology, which aceelemsted the process of cultural and political fermentation that would lead not only fo the creation, a few decades later, of an Albanian independent state, but which helped bring the Albanian Question to the attention of the world. nediate objective of preventing the partition ies among its neighbours, the Albanian national movement had more or less the same platform as any other national movement during its affirmation phase. In short, demas culturally and afew decades compared ighbours. the generally defensive the Albanian national movement. For Albanian nineteenth century nationalists national affirmation meant first of all a way of Invention of a Nationalism: Myth and Amnesia 4 interrupting what they considered to be ‘the already advanced process of erosion of sentiment and nat ge unifying ele- ber of danger- e language centrifugal forces wa mn and that of e the basic demand of Albani transformed from a simple q) ‘The recreation of the past is an which makes a people a nation. Th But history itself was not sufficient as to be known as the ‘nationalisation of history’ ente: Albanian nationalists the reconstruction of the past was important, to give evidence to the Albanians that they shared a common histot that they had been liv their neighbour movement which was faced with a very carried out by Greek and Serb zeal not only denied the existence of an Albanian nation, but went to extremes, such as in the case of a propaganda French and German by a former Prime Minister of Serbia, Vladan_ Georgevitch, who tried in earnest to convince the world that Albanians were so underdeveloped that they still had there if not for ever, at least ‘tamil Kadare, Kom shptore page pi. 'Vladan Georgevitch, Les Albans ts gandes pin (German eranlation by Prince Alexis Kar-Georgevit42 Piro Misha ‘Consequently the dividing line between myth and history was often theory and others were replaced by ‘which was more convincing because it was supported by a number of| scholars, The Illyrian descent theory soon became one of the principal pillars of Albanian because of ts importance as evidence of Albanian torical continui , he south fact that the Albanian national symbol Kastrioti emblem," derived from it, was almost never mentioned because ‘Orthodoxy in 3 country where the the writings o Albanian p ‘one finds numerous metaphors and images expr slorious past where a true but dormant identity ofthe Albanians was to be found. Naum Veqilarshi,'® one remarkable personality of the firstperiod of the Albanian national movernent, compared the situation of the Albanians with that of a larva that one day would become a butterfly, The Arbéreshi!® sang fall of homesickness about ‘the great time of Arb % the Albanian nationalist project was to create the appropriate conditions forsuch an ‘awakening’ (the national awakening, the national revival). Viewed in this perspective, as with any nationalism, Albanian nationzlism ed by he practi ore complicated. After centuries of terethnic 1 name ofthe medieval family of Georg Kastor, known aso (1767-1840) wa the fr ideologue ofthe Albanian national ley. They are descendants of Albanian popalation groups the Ozomans. Tues ofa coexistence in a multinational empi heroic tragedy had myth, Skanderbeg was ‘whose memory was still live in oral tradition, especially among the Arbéreshi, The nationalist writers needed to do nothing more subjecting him to chat laboratory that serves to transform history into myth. As with most myths, his figure and his deeds became a mixture ‘was made a national hero although his d never really involved all Albanians. Neither Kosovo nor most parts of the south were ever included. An attempt he made in 1455 to take the city of Bera in fact es, tis religious dimension needed to be anderbeg became simply the national hero of numerous foes over the centuri But the transformation of Skanderbeg. into a national symbol did myth became the tional argument proving Albania’ cultural affinity to Europe. This44 Piro Misha [At this poinc it would be well to misunderstanding of what has bee simple when we speak of the Europe. The Albanian collectv Orient close by adding a further co ous contradictions and ambigui ake a clarification to avoid any so far, because nothing is in which to feel secure and protected. Yet there are contrasting images ‘of Europe the faithless’, Europe the inimical cause of many wrongs done to Albanians including their partion, Europe the immoral, ‘old whore’ ete. Both these conceptions of Europe are part ofthe same pattern, On the one hand, there is the notion of being part of Europe, of is civilisation, for which the Albanians sacrificed them from the Ottoman hordes. On of as being threatening, slippery and be avoided. Part of (created in the nineteenth century and tei 1913 when a major part of the Albanian-inhabited ten .ed among neighbouring, Balkan an important elemes relations with history. The use of history by nat image of a people as permanent victims constitutes an obstacle cal mentality, ed by a belated independence as well as an ideal impressio: ration, may have created for the Albanians the some of the features of the as well as some of the ‘most distressing manifestations of the post-communist period “What does being Muslim or b Albanianism?" asked Faik Konic: "Paik Konic, Albania, 25 Apsil 1897, p18, 45 suming an ans, the majority 1e sworn enemy of nians were aso the only only as a factor of discord but also asa ve ‘This explains the particular secu wh de it resemble West European types of nat than Balkan types. ‘The concern for religion as the potential seed the religious factor. Som as a pan-Albanian rel to arrangean xeation of the Albanian state, Zo, and minimising their outside connections. The refor ‘Albanian Islam and the efforts to achieve an autocephal dhe jane Shape, Tiana: Elena Giika in National Awakening, pp. 77.175.46 Piro Misha 1e most radical way. After fighting at length against sciously aspired? writes Peter Bartl In 1912/13 there were ‘who seriously doubsed the capacity of Albanians, if left alone, their own national state. ‘No Albanian, ifwe exclude only a few hot- hheads that have no idea of what isthe real situation inside the country, ‘would dream of an independent Albania’ Eqrem Be} Vlora wrote at the time (despite these misgivings he became a member of the first parliament a few years later)! After almost 500 years of 2 Muslim major ‘Albania was more influenced by Turko-Oriental cultu he region. As Bernd Fischer writes, ‘although vomans were severed in 1912, ast negative Ottoman legacy remained .. A unique Wellans inicluded a strong distrust of government and of the city as well ‘As late as 1922, that is ten years after the proclamation of} pendence, only 9 per cent of the land was arable at a time when population lived either from ageiculture or from animal husbandry. These figures help us to imagine the extreme poverty in which Albanians lived. Inadequate inftastructure and the lack of transport facilities and commmunications in the carly period of statehood continued to exist as described above. Albania remained a divided country after it had become a ngtion- levelopi creating che necessary normative framework which would make possible sate control over society. It also meant minimising the many reer Bart), Die Alain Muslme aur Zant der National Unabhingigheishoora, (1878-1912), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowiez 1968, p 282. 2 pid, p. 217 2Facher, MBreti Zag p56. sia 47 ral cleavages inherited ftom the past through ‘socialising’ and integrating the Albanians into one homogeneous ideology of ral and h weritage. At the same time, the demarcation of borders had left almost half of all Albanians outside , while their neighbours never really dropped ed, pr jty of Albanians in their territo ae was given such special importance isthe ipulsory military fe use of history continued, but this was no the purpose ofsocial cohesion, History served timise Albanian leaders and their policies, For example, both Zog jr best to present themselves asthe heirs of ‘communist period this logic reached Orwellian dimensions in the faking of historical photographs and48 Piro Misha ofthe Second World War, led by Enver Hoxha, became the glorious epilogue to a long tradition of fighting (“The Albanians have passed through history sword in hand’), Gradually, Albanian Commu carried the manipulation of history to the level of paranoia, a schizophrenia, and made Albania one of the world’s mo countries dominated by a climate of terror and suspicion. | | | i j THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN THE FORMATION OF ALBANIAN IDENTITY AND ITS MYTHS! Isa Blumi ‘Since the second half ofthe nineteenth century, the Ottoman vileyets ‘of Kosova (Kosovo), Yanya (Ioannina), Manastr (Monastir), and Ishkodra (Shkodra)” populated by a large Albanian-speaking majority, bore the brunt of the Balk sive shifts in political economy, demography and power. In this context, these Albanian-speakers were at once Vital rurtents external to dispersed and fragment « proved to be es to this period of transition, ‘The factors that shaped the numerous in and around the question of local education take on imperial dimensions during the latter half of the nineteenth century. These factors have often been identified in terms of sectarian allegiances—Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim—whieh in turn inform notions of ethnicity based on geo le states. Within the simplistic constructs of the 7The Oxcoman spellings will be sdmioisrative unite sch at layets and kat, See Isa Bhai, “The Comsmiodiication of Otherness and the Ethnic Unit in 49