The scientific serves as an opportunity to evaluate the changes that have taken place in Albanian studies, paradigm shifts, development approaches, and prospects for the future. About 40 researchers from different disciplines will discuss these topics during a three-day conference. The goal is to reflect collectively on current and emerging approaches in Albanian studies in order to identify future directions of research and to predict possible collaborative projects.
This conference is the result of long-term cooperation between the Department of History (University of Tirana), the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Art Studies (IAKSA, Tirana), the Institute of Mediterranean, European and Comparative Ethnology (IDEMEC, Aix-en-Provence) and Center for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asian Studies (CETOBAC, Paris).
A round table was organized in the first part of the conference. It was called “Albanian Studies in the Past 20 Years: A Paradigm Changing?” What followed was titled “Interdisciplinary Research in the Albanian Context”. At the end of the first day a 55-minute documentary titled “Construction of Enver Hoxha’s era – A Short Story of Electrification of Albania” by Björn Reinhardt and Eckehard Pistrick, was shown on the screen.
Sequences of the historic propaganda film, oral history and ethnographic materials blend together in an emotional artistic collage that shows the fascinating history of enlightenment as a story between reality and propaganda. The documentary illuminated a forgotten chapter of the communist era and the impasse problem of ideology with its modernist practices.
