From PPHILI66 at phd.ceu.hu Thu May 11 10:22:23 2000 From: PPHILI66 at phd.ceu.hu (Altin Ilirjani) Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 16:22:23 +0200 Subject: [ALST-L] CfA: Tirana Summer School in Political Science and IR Message-ID: Call for Applications Summer School in Political Science and International Relations. Tirana, 9-30 July 2000 Application deadline: 30 May 2000 The summer school is organized by the Albanian Political Science Association with the financial support of the Open Society Institute in Budapest. The program aims at promoting studies and research in political science and international relations at academic institutions in Albania and Kosova through curricula development and to familiarize participants with contemporary western and Anglo-Saxon literature in these subjects. The school comprises of two programs, political science and international relations. 20 participants will be accepted in each program. Political science program will offer courses on: Comparative Political Institutions and Political Behavior; Comparative Politics; and Public Choice. International relations program will offer courses on: International Relations Theory; International Politics of the Balkans, Governance in the European Union and the Challenge of Enlargement. English will be the language of instruction. Lecturers in the summer school include: Prof. Gabor Toka (Central European University); Prof. Ulrich Sedelmeier (Central European University); Prof. Hasan Unal (Bilkent University); Prof. Charles King (Georgetown University), Prof. Scott McDonnald Pegg (Bilkent University). Applicants to the summer school shall be from Albania, Kosova or Macedonia (Albanian Macedonians). Participants shall be lecturers or teaching assistants at Albanian universities in the region, graduate students of political science, international relations or other relating disciplines (including those who have graduated in recent years). Graduates of political and social sciences working in non-academic institutions may also apply. Qualified applicants will receive scholarships covering all their participation and travel costs. Applications for participation in the summer school should include: 1. Application form (completed and signed). In absence of an application form, please send a personal CV (contact address with email and fax number, education, work experience, publications) and a motivation letter (up to 200 words). 2. One recommendation letter, 3. Photocopies of your university diploma(s) or certificate(s). Only applications received by 30 May 2000 will be considered. All completed applications should be sent to one of the following addresses: Applicants living in Albania or Macedonia: Ermal Ilirjani Rr Cerciz Topulli, Nr 76 Tirana, Albania Tel/Fax: (355-42) 48157 Email: tirana at alpsa2000.org Applicants living in Kosova: Xhavit Rrexhaj Fondacioni Soros Rr. Banjalluka nr. 37 Bregu i Diellit, Prishtine, Kosova Tel. (381-38) 549 116 Email: kosova at alpsa2000.org All other applicants: Altin Ilirjani CEU, Political Science Dept Nador U. 9, Budapest 1051 Hungary Fax: (36-1) 327 3087 Email: apply at alpsa2000.org For more more information and application forms please visit our updated website at http://www.seep.ceu.hu/alpsa or write to one of the addresses above. From besnik at alb-net.com Mon May 15 13:40:28 2000 From: besnik at alb-net.com (Besnik Pula) Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 13:40:28 -0400 Subject: [ALST-L] Fwd: Book Review: Bozbora & Sinnu on Albania, Reviewed by Isa Blumi Message-ID: --- begin forwarded text Balkan Academic News Book Review 4/2000 ________________________________________________________ Nuray Bozbora, Osmanli Y?netiminde Arnavutluk: Arnavut Ulus?ulugu'nun Gelis[h]imi. Istanbul: Boyut Kitaplari, 1997. pp. 303 with bibliography; 6 maps and 2 photos, ISBN: 975-521-053-7 language: Turkish 'Abd al-Ra'uf Sinnu, Title: al-Naz'aat al-Kiyaaniyyah al-Islaamiyyah fi al-Dawlah al-Uthmaaniyyah, 1877-1881: Bilaad al-Shaam, al-Hijaaz, Kurdistaan, Albaaniyaa. Beirut: Bisaan, 1998, pp. 247 with index and bibliography; 14 primary documents from London's PRO, 4 maps. ISBN: none. language: Arabic Reviewed by Isa Blumi (NYU) ________________________________________________________ These two books cover the seminal period of an emerging Albanian political entity within the confines of the Ottoman Empire. The attempt to locate the origins of national movements in past work has an apparent impact on how both authors narrate the trajectory of history, but they go about exploring the issue in refreshingly novel ways. Dr. Bozbora has used her dissertation from Marmara University in Istanbul (1994) to provide one of the only scholarly book-length studies of Albanian history in the Turkish language. While I am personally engaged in this period with my own dissertation and thus have a number of problems with Bozbora's methodology and theoretical foundations, she must at least be congratulated for her attempt to integrate a wide range of secondary materials in the major West European languages and Turkish (Ottoman). That said, having proved her proficiency in these languages, my first and most assertive criticism of this book (Albania Under Ottoman Administration: The Growth of Albanian Nationalism) is the underutilized resources made available to her at the Prime Minister's Archives in Istanbul and her subsequent reliance on secondary work for the foundation of her thesis. Bozbora notes the use of some 40 Ottoman documents (with 29 documents from London's PRO) spanning a period between 1878 to 1905. The amount of material in Istanbul is almost mind-boggling, the whole of Albania history in the late Ottoman period floods the archive's catalogues begging for a comprehensive and much belated revision of this important historical period. The sorry fact that the most important works of this period are heavily reliant on sources from Vienna, Tirana, Prishtina, London (anywhere but the heart of the Empire, Istanbul) cries out for a book of Bozbora's ambition. Bozbora does not perform the task, unfortunately, to its full potential. It is for this reason that my disappointment is so profound. Bozbora attempts to identify the origins of Albanian Nationalism through the sophisticated theory of John Breuilly (Nationalism and the State, 1982) which posits examples of late nineteenth-century nationalism were responses to state modernization. Bozbora suggests that an amalgamation of institutional and cultural artifacts were central to establishing an Ottoman presence in its most prized of Balkan possessions and these artifacts created the context for nationalism in the nineteenth century. The book meanders through several chapters obviously attempting to establish this foundation, culminating in a rather lengthy and at times nuanced study of the period of reform (Tanzimat) which immediately proceeded the convening of the League of Prizren in 1878. It is within these pages that Breuilly's structuralist approach to locate nationalism reveals its impact. It is therefore unfortunate that we have to rely on a dubious selection of sources, all tainted by their outdated narrative styles or ideological luggage, to understand the period. Of course these works constitute the heart of the literature available to us, but I would expect Bozbora to apply some of her sophistication (demonstrated by finding inspiration in Breuilly's work) to be a little more critical of the material she cites. When Kristo Frasheri, Halil Inalcik, Stanford Shaw and Stefanaq Pollo constitute our historiographical foundation, we are doomed to questionable results. These works were problematic when they were written for their univocal claims (the lack of scholarship in this area rendered each of these works essential to historians). Today, after much thought has been put into the power of language and the politics of history, let alone the dubious links to the "Decline" thesis of the Ottoman Empire these authors claimed, Bozbora should be more critical. The most productive aspects of this book lies in identifying important events and processes which impacted how the inhabitants of the Albanian districts related to Istanbul. The suggestion that reform measures emanating from Istanbul in the nineteenth century antagonized local communities is not a novel contribution. It is the far more nuanced interaction between inter-state rivalries (Austrian, Russia, Serbian, Montenegrin, British and Ottoman) and the expressed reactions and consequent demands of future Albanian nationalists which proves helpful. It is within the mechanics of this imperial quagmire which left the integrated populations of Nish, Kosova, Malisore, Janina, Manastir, and Shkoder at the mercy of covetous neighbors and the failures of Istanbul. The League's of Prizren and Peja (Ipek), local revolts in Gjakova (Yakova) and the activities of Albania's diaspora are listed judiciously as important markers. Again, Bozbora's challenge to identify the reforms instituted (half-heartedly) in Albanian territories as the fundaments of Albanian nationalism is unfortunately lost in the rather arbitrary use of primary documents. I would like to see more effort put into reflecting the clear developments in Istanbul by the use of documentation (of which there are hundreds of examples) in order to identify the real actors in this process. Albanian reactions to the events of the times were not products of a few great men (since the book does not contain an index, they are themselves, hard to find in the text) but communal acts. There is no mention of wide-spread communal organization in this book because they generally are lost in the finer print of the archival material. I am afraid the obvious dependency on the secondary literature (Skendi, Pollo, Frasheri etc.) to identify where to start in the arduous work of archival research leads Bozbora, ultimately, down the same conclusive logic they took. My solution would be for research beyond the "moments" of history-the Prizen and Peja Congresses. Research which delves into the complex social history of the Albanians of the late Ottoman Empire, where we would find new heroes and heroines, starts not with the Albanian members of the Young Ottoman movement (a worthwhile subject) or Ismail Kemal, but those same people who made up the heart of Kosova's Liberation Army. In 'Abd al-Ra'uf Sinnu's work (The Fragmentation of the Islamic Structure in the Ottoman State, 1877-1881: Syria, Hijaz (Sa'udi 'Arabia--Mecca and Medina), Kurdistan, Albania) we find a far more specific analysis of events surrounding the conclusion of war between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman State in 1877-78. The central concern of the book is to locate the impact a growing element of internal resistance to Ottoman centralization (related to the reforms noted in Bozbora's work) in light of the conclusive diplomatic defeat at San Stefano and later Berlin. Identifying four regions in the empire which proved highly volatile is an innovative and unexpected (but welcome) move by the author, exhibiting his interests beyond what Arabic-language texts offer. The specificity of the study, as opposed to the long dur?e approach of Bozbora makes this book, as a whole, far more intellectually tenable. For the purposes of this forum, I will focus on chapter five in which the author explores the "Russian-Ottoman War (1877-1878) and its impact in the renaissance of the Albanian Region." Not unlike his treatment of the other areas under study, the author identifies an incipient external presence in the events which lead to the League of Prizren. Largely due to the material that he uses (more or less the same as Bozbora's in terms of European-language materials with one welcome exception from the Arabic language, Muhammad Mufaku's much neglected work) the reader is left to conclude that dictates from London, Belgrade, St. Petersburg or Istanbul had far more weight than local actions. I am reluctant to be overly critical of this observation because in the context of the larger story the author is trying tell, it has a profoundly different reading of the period, both in more accessible European languages and Arabic. Read autonomously from the book, however, the chapter is more or less a failure in critical reading, in particular because it is full of rather unhelpful reiterations of the same works I noted in the first review. This is quite suggestive, really. Bozbora's book does not work as well as this one because of the focus of his respective study. As in the administration of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina (Chap 3.) the Sultan's decisive policy shift after the significant territorial loses in the Caucuses and Balkans towards a quasi-Islamic nationalism had a significant impact on politics in Albanian territories. How the Great and Lesser Powers responded in what remained Ottoman Albania to the, according to Sinnu, justifiable policies, has a profound effect on what transpires during the following forty years. It is to be remembered that large numbers of refugees from areas newly awarded Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Austria-Hungary not only put logistical strain on locals in the Kosova and Shkoder administrative districts, but enormous sociological and political pressure as well. This point is only hinted at, largely because of the inadequacy of his sources, and Sinnu does not capture the mood of the time (Bozbora does not with any great skill in this either). Sinnu correctly notes the regime of Sultan Abd?lhamid II demonstrated a heightened awareness of the impending claims made upon the Empire for further territorial expansion. The Christian powers, as the author elects to identify them, pushes for extensive extra-territorial rights for what are now large minority populations, that of Catholic and Orthodox Albanian, Slavic and Greek speaking populations. The concentration of large numbers of "ethnically cleansed" people mixed with these protected minorities have very interesting consequences for the Ottoman state and Sinnu's analysis would have benefited from understanding this element better. The chapter itself is structured, not surprisingly, to summarize the outstanding events in Albanian history, from Roman times to 1877. While that kind of narrative proves virtually useless in explaining the relatively complex situation on the ground in 1877-78, the ultimate goal of the piece still retains some value. Much as Bozbora attempts to locate sources of the Albanian expression of nationalism, her failure to address this geo-strategic game with any authority makes Sinnu's work that much more admirable. Out of the same source material, we get a completely different perspective of the Albanian experience at the height of its manifested nationalist claims. Sinnu's work is much more conscious of geography, careful to identify the territorial fissures which had such an important role in foreign power intervention-their highly subjective census reports and maps of ethnic (sectarian) distribution. In the larger Ottoman context, such tensions manifested in Albania take on a far more ominous tone. Albanian issues, taken from the Ottoman perspective (a view not yet explored in any other language) highlights the vulnerability of the Ottoman position. In light of this observation,one can study Istanbul's complicated response to these challenges. Sinnu, in an equally innovative way, finds formative links between Abd?lhamid's heightened Islamic rhetoric and a growing Albanian, collective identity. (pp. 143-155) The demands periodically articulated by various communities in Kosova and Albania find resonance in a new imperial space. That space finds the minority populations largely hostile to continued Ottoman rule, including many Albanian-speaking Catholic and Orthodox Christians were often in direct conflict with their Albanian Muslim neighbors. Such a matrix is of dubious value if we insist on reading this chapter as an authoritative statement about Albanian nationalism. I give the author more credit however, for inducting a rarely cited case, Albania, in the historical narrative of the Arabic-speaking world. Untold numbers of Albanian-Arabs who still live in neighborhoods in Tunis, Cairo, Damascus and Amman are largely unaware that their forefather's, in the service of the Empire, emanated from this complex social milieu in the Balkans. It is thus quite satisfying that Sinnu (apparently of Kurdish origin) is making a conscious effort to tie-in the origins of "Arab" nationalism, Kurdish efforts for a state and the beginnings of European imperialism in the region. This book fails to give the larger audience, beyond the Arabic-speaking world, any new insight into Albanian nation-building, but does the important job of situating what transpired in the Balkans during the Berlin Congress with events far on the other side of the Empire. ________________________________________________________ ? 2000 Balkan Academic News. This review may be distributed and reproduced electronically, if credit is given to Balkan Academic News and the author. For permission for re-printing, contact Balkan Academic News. --- end forwarded text From besnik at alb-net.com Thu May 18 11:27:55 2000 From: besnik at alb-net.com (Besnik Pula) Date: Thu, 18 May 2000 11:27:55 -0400 Subject: [ALST-L] Fwd: New Book in Albanian Anthropology Message-ID: --- begin forwarded text Apologize for cross-posting. The leader French publisher in humanities and social sciences L'Harmattan is pleased to announce a new book in Albanian Anthropology: Albert Doja, Na?tre et grandir chez les Albanais : la construction culturelle de la personne. - Paris : L'Harmattan : 2000. - 322 p. 24 cm. Bibliogr. p. 301-317. Index. - ISBN 2-7384-8879-X The aim of this book is a cultural anthropological analysis of collective representations and symbolic practices among Albanians related to childhood. >From a social anthropological point of view, the author tries to highlight the process of identity construction and socialisation concluding that social and cultural identity diversities are dependent largely on non-institutionalised educational processes. With a markedly attempt to open to the comparative considerations of other cultures, European and others, this book also tries to be the illustration of a fact of general impact in anthropological theory. The needs and demands of representing by a symbolic approach and of organising ritually the natural process of birth as well as the cultural process of socialisation are inherent in all human societies. Towards these events on which depend the continuity of the community, important moments when the social organisation meets the individual existence, all societies have elaborated numerous and various collective representations and symbolic forms. Notably, these understandings allow to review the whole of anthropological perspectives, going through the refusal of considering separately infrastructure and superstructure, inheritance and heredity, tradition and innovation, society and individual. Contents: Introduction 1. Fertility reveries Household and family relations The elementary symbolism Psychosocial mythology and heroic patterns The dogma of impregnation 2. Symbolic behaviour The crisis of impurity Reconsidering couvade Empirical intuitions of collective wisdom Purification and incorporation Symbolic connections 3. The mythology of destiny The unusual marker Symbolic ambivalence Divinities Ideologies 4. The symbolism of the name Collective imagination of the "double" and incarnation Sense and signification Patronymic inscription and founding mythologies 5. The development of body Feeding and bringing up Weaning and the voice of speech The way to humanity Haircut and circumcision The social destiny of individual 6. The socialising enchantment Lyrics definition Melodic poetic interaction Interactive communication Semantic and functional area Conclusion References Index To order: Publications L'Harmattan 7 rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique 75005 Paris, France or http://www.alapage.com/ http://www.chapitre.com/ A review copy may be obtained from: Ms Virginie Guy Colomby Service de Presse Publications L'Harmattan Phone: +33 (0) 140-467-922 Fax: +33 (0) 143-258-203 harmat at worldnet.fr _______________________________________________ Balkan Academic News Subscribe: balkans-subscribe at egroups.com Unsubscribe: balkans-unsubscribe at egroups.com Home: http://www.egroups.com/group/balkans/fullinfo.html --- end forwarded text From fasada at adanet.com.al Tue May 23 20:15:48 2000 From: fasada at adanet.com.al (fasada) Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 02:15:48 +0200 Subject: [ALST-L] (no subject) Message-ID: <3.0.32.20000524021405.007c4370@ns2.adanet.com.al> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 425 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.alb-net.com/pipermail/alst-l/attachments/20000524/48174f60/attachment.bin From iliriani at hotmail.com Tue May 30 14:11:57 2000 From: iliriani at hotmail.com (Altin Iliriani) Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 11:11:57 PDT Subject: [ALST-L] Call for papers: Southeast European Politics Message-ID: <20000530181157.2288.qmail@hotmail.com> Call for Papers. Southeast European Politics. Southeast Europe Politics (SEEP) is a refereed academic journal published three times per year at the Central European University, Budapest (CEU). SEEP is devoted to political science, international relations, contemporary history and other areas of academic research focusing on Southeastern Europe or pertaining to the region. The journal seeks to promote a comparative approach, which takes developments in individual countries of Southeastern Europe in the larger context of the region. Southeast European Politics seeks to cover the areas so far frequently neglected in many academic debates, especially the Southern Balkan countries of Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Montenegro. Young academics from Southeastern Europe are particularly encouraged to submit articles, book reviews and research notes. For a list of books available for review, please contact the editors. For guidelines for papers to be submitted, please visit the website of the journal at http://www.seep.ceu.hu/ All papers for consideration should be sent electronically or by normal mail (in case of hard copy submisions, please send them in triplicate) at the following address: Southeast European Politics Department of Political Science Central European University Nador U. 9, Budapest 1051 Hungary Fax: (36-1) 327 3087 E-mail: editor at seep.ceu.hu reviews at seep.ceu.hu Web: http://www.seep.ceu.hu/ ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com From iliriani at hotmail.com Tue May 30 15:59:57 2000 From: iliriani at hotmail.com (Altin Iliriani) Date: Tue, 30 May 2000 12:59:57 PDT Subject: [ALST-L] Last Call: Tirana Summer School in Political Science and International Relations Message-ID: <20000530195957.56648.qmail@hotmail.com> Due to the large number of applications and emails received about the summer school in PolSci and IR, the deadline for applications has been postponed till the end of this week. All those interested to apply can do so by sending a completed application form or detailed CV by email to pphili66 at phd.ceu.hu Other documents should be sent by normal mail to one of the addresses at the end of this email. ------------ Last Call for Applications Summer School in Political Science and International Relations. Tirana, 9-30 July 2000 Application deadline: 31 May 2000 The summer school is organized by the Albanian Political Science Association with the financial support of the Open Society Institute in Budapest. The program aims at promoting studies and research in political science and international relations at academic institutions in Albania and Kosova through curricula development, and to familiarize participants with contemporary western and Anglo-Saxon literature in these subjects. The school comprises of two programs, political science and international relations. 20 participants will be accepted in each program. Political science program will offer courses on: Comparative Political Institutions and Political Behavior; Comparative Politics; and Public Choice. International relations program will offer courses on: International Relations Theory; International Politics of the Balkans, Governance in the European Union and the Challenge of Enlargement. English will be the language of instruction. Lecturers in the summer school include: Prof. Gabor Toka (Central European University); Prof. Ulrich Sedelmeier (Central European University); Prof. Hasan Unal (Bilkent University); Prof. Charles King (Georgetown University), Prof. Scott McDonnald Pegg (Bilkent University), Prof. Philippe C. Schmitter (European University Institute, Florence). Applicants to the summer school shall be from Albania, Kosova or Macedonia (Albanian Macedonians). Participants shall be lecturers or teaching assistants at Albanian universities in the region, graduate students of political science, international relations or other relating disciplines (including those who have graduated in recent years). Graduates of political and social sciences working in non-academic institutions may also apply. Qualified applicants will receive scholarships covering all their participation and travel costs. Applications for participation in the summer school should include: 1. Application form (completed and signed). In absence of an application form, please send a personal CV (contact address with email and fax number, education, work experience, publications) and a motivation letter (up to 200 words). 2. One recommendation letter, 3. Photocopies of your university diploma(s) or certificate(s). Only applications received by 30 May 2000 will be considered. All completed applications should be sent to one of the following addresses: Applicants living in Albania or Macedonia: Ermal Ilirjani Rr Cerciz Topulli, Nr 76 Tirana, Albania Tel/Fax: (355-42) 48157 Email: tirana at alpsa2000.org Applicants living in Kosova: Xhavit Rrexhaj Fondacioni Soros Rr. Banjalluka nr. 37 Bregu i Diellit, Prishtine, Kosova Tel. (381-38) 549 116 Email: kosova at alpsa2000.org All other applicants: Altin Ilirjani CEU, Political Science Dept Nador U. 9, Budapest 1051 Hungary Fax: (36-1) 327 3087 Email: apply at alpsa2000.org For more information and application forms please visit our updated website at http://www.seep.ceu.hu/alpsa or write to one of the addresses above. ------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com