Always already European: The figure of Skënderbeg in contemporary Albanian nationalism

Abstract

This article examines contemporary reproductions of the myth of Albania's national hero, Skënderbeg. Through the figure of Skënderbeg, Albanian nationalism produces an image of the nation as a seamless continuity of ‘Europeanness’ from the fifteenth century to the present. It does so by positing an original, self-conscious, medieval political unity as the first instance of nation-state-building in Europe. Second, through an image of resistance to the Ottoman Empire it positions Albania as the historical defender of the boundaries of ‘Christian Europe’. In so doing, it presents itself as a vital factor in the historical development of ‘European civilisation.’ It constitutes, it is argued in this article, a misdirected appeal to Europe – driven by a desire for future European Union membership – to recognise Albania as always already European. The notion of Europe is here seen as a powerful organising ideal that impacts directly upon the formation of collective identities on the periphery of the EU.

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Adela Halo for her assistance with the translations of all the Albanian texts cited herein. All errors are my own.

Notes

1. The Albanian spelling is ‘Skënderbeu’. Albanian nouns change according to tense and case and therefore sometimes his name is spelt ‘Skënderbeut’ or ‘Skënderbeun’. In English publications he also appears as ‘Skanderbeg’, ‘Scanderbeg’ or ‘Skenderbeg’. In Albanian the ‘ë’ is pronounced as the ‘u’ in church.

2. Skënderbeg is also increasingly considered a ‘national hero’ in neighbouring Macedonia, where, in 2006, a large statue was erected in Skopje. Increasingly popular in Macedonia, is the idea that Skënderbeg had ‘slavic’ roots, lived his life in a ‘slavic’ context and/or was originally from Tetovo in modern day Macedonia (Alagjozovski, 2007). Another statue, of the hero atop his horse, sits in Pristina in Kosovo.

3. The image of Skënderbeg also appears beyond Albania's borders, influenced by his significance among Albania's diaspora. Other examples of his iconic appearance in consumer culture include the production of ‘Skenderbeg Ale’ by the United Kingdom-based company Beer2Go, in 2005 (no longer produced).

4. The relationship between Albanian nationalist symbolism and history and forms of contemporary masculinity is one that I hope to pursue elsewhere.

5. In Albania, students attend elementary school for eight or nine years, depending on the school, followed by four years of high school.

6. Skenderbeu, miti qe bashkoi shqiptaret, Gazeta Shqip, 10 January 2007; Serish me Skenderbeun, Gazeta Shqip, 13 January 2007; Korrespodenca e panjohur e Skënderbeut me Sulltan Muratin, Gazeta Shqip, 14 January 2007; Të pathënat për Skënderbeun gjenden në arkivat e huaja, Gazeta Shqip, 18 January 2007; Përse ndihemi Kastriotë krenarë?, Gazeta Shqip, 18 January 2007; Një burrë si kont Gjergji. Gazeta Shqip, 18 January 2007; Skënderbeu dhe Vatikani, Gazeta Shqip, 21 January 2007. Perse nuk na ndihmon dot as Skenderbeu?, Gazeta Korrieri, 13 January 2007; Skenderbeu, heshtja qe mbeshtjell heroin ne pervjetore, Gazeta Korrieri, 18 January 2007; Miti i Skenderbeut nder arbereshet e Italise, Gazeta Korrieri, 18 January 2007. Skënderbeu’ i ngurtësuar në 600-vjetorin e tij, Gazeta Shqiptare, 25 February 2007; Në mullirin 500-vjeçar ku bloi ushtria e Skënderbeut, Gazeta Shqiptare, 20 January 2007.

7. The name ‘Iskender’, or ‘Alexander’, lends itself to another variant in Albanian nationalism, in which the fourth-century BC king Alexander the Great is claimed as being of Albanian ethnicity on the basis that his mother, Olympias, was an Epirote princess; ‘Epirus’ being a historical territory that spanned parts of northern Greece and southern Albania – hence the Albanian nationalist thesis of ‘our two Alexanders’.

8. In the Albanian version of the story, Skënderbeu's death occurs in 1468. Other versions, however, date his death in 1463, 1466 or 1467.

9. Indeed, around the time of the Congress of Berlin in 1878, in which the territorial divisions of the Balkans were revised in the wake of the Russo-Turkish War, Otto Von Bismarck declared that the Albanian nation simply did not exist (Ypi, 2007, p. 666; see also Misha, 2002, p. 39).

10. Barleti's (2005) version of this section of the speech is as follows:

  I did not bring you liberty but I found it here. As soon as my foot was set on your land, as soon as you heard my name, you all rushed towards me running, came in front of me, some of you more quickly than others, as if you had heard that your fathers, brothers, sons had risen from graves, as if all the Gods had descended here. You left me behind, you tied my hands immediately, you flooded me services so great and with a spiritual joy so big that it seems that you have enslaved me now, as much as you have liberated me. The kingdom and this city, I did not give you, but you handed it over to me. The arms, I did not bring you but I found you armed. I saw that you have liberty everywhere, in your chest, in your forehead, in your swords and spears, and as unmatched guardians, left by my father, you put again in its place with unchanged care and loyalty, the sceptre which you preserved for me up to this day and made me again with your untiring effort and work, lord of the kingdom of my ancestors, without bloodshed. Ahead now to take into our hands with Gods' help what remains also!

11. I put the territorial designation Albania in quotation marks here to distinguish its medieval construction from contemporary identities and boundaries. ‘Albania’ is the externally used name, for the country known locally as ‘Shqipëria’. The name ‘Albania’ certainly seems to have originated in the medieval period from the early ethnic labels ‘Arb-ër, Arb-ën, Arb-ën-esh’ (Doja, 2000, p. 427). At that time, it is likely that these terms ‘indicated a region or a part of the population situated in central Albania’ (Doja, 2000, p. 427). The name ‘Shqipëria’ appears much later, in the early eighteenth century (Doja, 2000, p. 431). There may well be, therefore, a certain continuity of ethnic identification in parts of the territory centred on the notion of ‘Albania’. What it clearly would not have had, at that time, is the sense of modern national collective identity that it does today, as either Albania or Shqipëria.

12. Sulstarova (2006) examines, in particular, the orientalist tendencies in the work of Albania's foremost novelist, Ismail Kadare. In a review of Sulstarova's work, Blendi Kajsiu suggests that: ‘With many of his narratives having as their setting the Ottoman period, Kadare consistently relies on Orientalist dichotomies to define the barbarous, Islamic “Turks” as the antinomy of still “Western” Christian Albanians, and with Ottoman conquest signalling not only the end of the political independence of medieval Albanian principalities but also the violent plucking away of Albania from Europe into Asia. Kadare's perception of Albania's inherently European and Western identity is most evident in the title of his 2006 work, The European Identity of Albanians [Kadare, 2006]’.

13. Kreu III: ‘Shqipëria në Perandorinë Osmane (shek. XIV–XVIII), 3.1 Qëndresa e Shqiptarëve ndaj Osmanëve (1380–1443), 3.2 Kryengritja e Përgjithshme dhe Lidhja Shqiptare e Lezhës, 3.3 Fitoret e Lidhjes Shqiptare të Lezhës (1444–1450), 3.4 Formimi i Shtetit të Pavarur Shqiptar nën Udhëheqjen e Skënderbeut, 3.5 Betejat e Mëdha të Viteve '60, 3.6 Vazhdimi i Luftës pas Vdekjes së Skënderbeut (1468–1506), 3.7 Rëndësia e Epokës së Skënderbeut (Korkuti et al., 2004, pp. 54–80).