Year II, January – June 2017, 1 – 2

Grounded on the studies on the toponymy and demography in the Byzantine territories in the late Middle ages, Austrian Byzantinist and Medievalist Johannes Koder reports in this paper on figures, the distribution and the density of populace and settlements within the territory of the Ottoman Sancak-i Arvanid. Such territory encompassed vast lands, starting from the river Ishëm in the north and Igumenitza in its southernmost extremity. Divided up into ten administrative areas, its capital was Gjirokastra. The author refers mainly to the Defter-i Sancak-i Arvanid – the tax collection book (1431-1432) kept by the new rulers, the Ottomans. Based on these data and thank to in-depth studies, Prof. Koder contributes to the re-definition of a vast historical area with special respect to its demography, geography, administration, economy and even toponymy. As the data on the Albanians from that time are limited, this study is further documentation to the continuity between the Middle age Albanians and the present-day shqiptarë. In addition, Koder emphasises that certain villages can still be spotted. Though some of them lie in decay now, they were inhabited at least until the second half of the 20th century.

The Illyrian College in Loreto (1580-1860) was one of those long-lived educational institutions which provided both clerical and intellectual education for the Catholic clergy. Many of its priests were appointed to the Albanian Ecclesiastical Province and to the Shkup Archdiocese, thus spurring the cultivation of written Albanian, which fuels present-day debates on Albanology. In the first part of his extended study, “A Cultural and Historical Survey”, Shejzat 3-4, 2016, Prof. Demiraj revolved around the circumstances leading to the foundation of this college and the teaching programmes (Ratio Studiorum) of the Jesuit Fathers. In fact, they ran it from 1580 to 1773. Other subtopics in that study were that of everyday life in the college and further life and deeds of the Albanian seminarians. In the second part of this study the author gives accounts on the lives of 124 seminarians/ priests. Further bibliographical data are also given, spanning 1580-1860.

A number of letters from the collection manoscritti Cicogna treasured at the Biblioteca Correr in Venice are evidence of the contacts between Gjergj Radovani and Jacopo Borzi, bishops of Shkodra and Daniel Farlati and Iacobo Coletti, authors of Illyricum Sacrum. Dating from the second half of the 18th century, in these letters the two bishops give abundant information about ruins and inscriptions from old churches. The letters highlight the paramount importance of the information without which Illyricum Sacrum and the history of the Catholic church in the Albanian territories would be lacking.

After the ruthless rule of Çaushi (Ottoman militia), the city of Shkodra was seized by Mehmet Bushatli. Under his auspices, the city enjoyed a long period of peace. The policies of forced conversion of Catholics to Islam changed radically. The current Albanian pasha now focused on regular tax collection from all subjects and respect of the Christian faith. However, the unbelievable good will of the household of the Bushatli went frequently unmatched. Triggering and getting involved in petty arguments, the Catholic clergy often forgot that the final purpose was the defence and the surviving of the Christian faith. Historian Italo Sarro outlines the importance of Monsignor Gjergj Radovani who, once appointed bishop to the diocese of Shkodra, displayed both prudence and firmness in carrying out his duties. In fact, he dealt successfully with the local clergy. On the other hand, he managed to offer the faithful an effective pastoral service.

Two newly found documents (1585) in the Vatican Secret Archive on the foundation of a seminary for Albanians in Bari or Lecce provided the necessary impulse for further studies on additional published and unpublished documents. The aim was to sketch out a timeline of the Reports of the Apostolic Visits to the Balkans from 1575 to 1585, with special focus on those relating to the Albanian territories. On the other hand, as the idea for a seminary only for Albanians followed closely that of the Illyric College (1580), the author of the paper tries to shed more light on the attendance of Albanian seminarians in this institute. Along with the reproduction of these two documents, at the end of the paper, the author illustrates the relationship of the founders of the seminary with Albania.

The paper opens with a summary of the entire Austrian-Hungarian- Albanian relations in politics, economics, military, culture and science. The study is an attempt to reconstruct the relevant science fields in terms of Austrian-Hungarian Albanology such as ‘politics’ in terms of Austrian-Hungarian foreign, cultural, education and trade policy towards the Albanian territories in the Balkans; ‘military’ in terms of military policy towards the Albanian territories in the Balkans, and ‘austrophiles’ – Albanian supporters of Austria Hungary. All this in accordance with Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory. The paper answers the question of the connection between research, politics and military in the context of such bilateral relations, seen through the prism of Johan Galtung’s theory of cultural imperialism. As to the military sphere, the paper first treats the ‘illusio’, the ‘doxa’ and the collective and individual actors in this field according to Bourdieu’s terminology. A serious focus is devoted to the hierarchy of such actors. In fact, General Staff officer and lieutenant Heinrich Clanner Ritter von Engelshofen was the main on-site actor and the most important agent of the General Chief of Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, relating to the Albanian affairs. His unpublished works in the Vienna War Archive speak loudly about his work in Albania. This too is analyzed at the end of this study.

Adapting the Chinese cultural revolution to the Albanian context (1967) affected society deeply. The essay does not purport, however, to explore the whole extent of such social and cultural change. It merely expresses an attempt to study the anthropologic reasons behind such political initiative which run even deeper than the ideas of revolution themselves. Works and speeches by E. Hoxha (and by other demagogues later on) in which the dictator inveighed against all religions – especially against the Catholic church – witness how the revolution had been carefully prepared for much before 1967. The official stance of the dictator on religions legitimized hatred and inaugurated a wave of persecution in the country which did not abate for long.

Focusing on Enver Hoxha’s speech from 6 Feb. 1967, this essay analyses the dynamics of the political discourse when Albania was sticking to the Chinese cultural pattern. Political discourse is metaphorical discourse by definition. The mental schemes created from their conceptualisation undergo complex cognitive processes which often act on the level of subconscience involving knowledge, experience, emotions, etc. In his speech, the speaker brings together the main three pragmatic tenets: obligation, legitimation/non-legitimation and the presentation/ill-presentation. The ruse contained in the text help legitimise and selflegitimise absolute power.
Hoxha’s speech is directed at communists who were supposed to be the eye, the ear, the tongue and the hand of the leader. So, his face could come alive to the hearers.

As witnessed even by the counternarratives brought by Albanian italophone authors, the “Albanian case” reveals, within the Italian postcolonial context, a series of specific characteristics. These can be essentially traced back to a centuries-old intense contact between the two shores of the same sea. Since ancient times, the Albanian territory has been of continuous expansionist concern for the Italian peninsula, which, on the other side, represented the destination of various immigration waves raising from Albania. Initial hospitality – hostility and refusal – successful integration seem to form a paradigmatic sequencing, bound to be repeated throughout history. The current happy-end of a troubled integration path of the Albanian community, which has been for a long period the most rejected and stigmatized by the public discourse among all other ethnic groups, could find its explanation in the “privileged” nature of Italian colonialism in Albania, and more specifically in the iconographic construction of an imaginary of the “other” crystallized by the fascist rhetoric. This paper aims to focalize the crucial moments of the Italian discursive attitude towards the “Albanian matter”, which has been marked out over the centuries through a striking rhetorical shift, well expressed by the question raised from Dorothy Zinn: Adriatic brethren or black sheep?