Open AccessBorder and Memory in the village of Koshovice
Author(s) -
Stefania Vasilaki,
Maritina Vlachaki,
Nicos Koutsourakis
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the anthropology of east europe review/the anthropology of east europe review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2153-2931
pISSN - 1054-4720
DOI - 10.14434/aeer.v37i1.31951
Subject(s) - collective memory , ethnography , state (computer science) , socialism , period (music) , political science , sociology , geography , gender studies , ethnology , law , anthropology , politics , art , aesthetics , communism , algorithm , computer science
This article focuses on the village of Koshovice, Albania, where its residents are part of the officially recognized Greek minority. The local perceptions of the community are discussed as linked to the Albanian-Greek border and its presence in the collective memory. After the borderline creation in 1913, local residents were divided between the two neighboring countries. The ethnographic data collected underline the experiences and the everyday practices of the villagers of Koshovice, especially during the period of the Albanian socialist state between 1945 and 1991, when the border became almost impenetrable. The article then discusses the changes after the fall of socialism and the opening of the border in the early 1990s, especially showing how the local borderland communities are still connected nowadays to each other despite the inter-state division.