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Abstract
This article compares the interrelationships between gender, family structures and intra-family care arrangements during two markedly different periods of Albania's recent history. The first of these, the communist era, was dominated by the autocratic state-socialist regime of Enver Hoxha. In contrast, the post-communist period that followed was characterised by a kind of reactive free-for-all capitalism and high rates of both internal and international migration, the latter mostly to Greece and Italy. Families have been torn apart by this mass emigration, resulting in husbands separated from their wives and children, and older generations left behind by their migrant children. All this contrasts with family, residential and care arrangements during the communist period when not only were families generally living in close proximity, but also state welfare was available to support vulnerable and isolated individuals. Across these periods, however, the burden of care responsibilities fell almost wholly on women, despite the egalitarian ideology of the socialist era and the potentially modernising and empowering effects of post-socialist migration on the agency of women. The article provides a valuable lesson in historicising regimes of gender, family and care across dramatically contrasting social models.
“Lavando los pies de los hombres”: género, cuidado y migración en Albania durante y después del comunismo
Este artículo compara la interrelación entre el género, las estructuras familiares y los acuerdos de cuidado intrafamiliares durante dos períodos marcadamente diferentes de la historia reciente de Albania. La primera de estas, la era comunista, estuvo dominada por el régimen socialista estatal autocrático de Enver Hoxha. En contraste, el período post comunista que le siguió estuvo caracterizado por un tipo de capitalismo reaccionario del tipo sálvese quien pueda y altas tasas de migración tanto interna como internacional, esta última mayormente hacia Grecia e Italia. Las familias han sido partidas por esta emigración masiva, lo que resultó en que los maridos quedaron separados de sus esposas y los niñxs, y las generaciones mayores dejadas atrás por sus hijxs migrantes. Todo esto contrasta con los arreglos familiares, residenciales y de cuidado durante el período comunista, cuando no sólo las familias generalmente vivían en una gran proximidad, sino también el bienestar estatal estaba disponible para apoyar a los individuos vulnerables y aislados. A lo largo de estos períodos, sin embargo, la carga de las responsabilidades del cuidado cayeron casi exclusivamente sobre las mujeres, a pesar de la ideología igualitaria de la era socialista y de los efectos potencialmente empoderadores y modernizantes de la migración post socialista sobre la agencia de las mujeres. Este artículo ofrece un aporte valioso en la mirada histórica de los regímenes de género, familia y el cuidado a través de modelos sociales que contrastan fuertemente.
“为男性洗脚”：阿尔巴尼亚共产主义期间与之后的性别、照护和移民
本文比较阿尔巴尼亚晚近两个显着不同的历史阶段中，性别、家庭结构与家庭内的照护安排之间的相互关係。第一个阶段为共产主义时期，该时期受到恩维尔．霍查（Enver Hoxha）的独裁社会主义国家政体所支配。反之，随之而来的后共产主义时期，则以毫无限制的反动资本主义与高比率的国内及国际移民为特徵，其中国际移民多半迁徙至希腊与义大利。众多家庭被此一大规模移民所拆散，导致丈夫与其妻儿分离，而老一辈的世代则被移民的儿女遗留在家乡。这些皆与家人们一般而言住在附近、国家福利得以支持脆弱及孤立的个人的共产主义时期之家庭、居住与照护安排大相径庭。但在这些时期，照护责任之重担，却几乎全数落在女性身上，儘管社会主义时期有着自给自足的意识形态，以及后社会主义移民对女性行动者的现代化与培力有着潜在的效用。本文为历史化截然不同的社会模式之间的性别、家户与照护，提供了宝贵的学习经验。
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this article was presented at the ESF Research Conference on ‘Family Life in the Age of Migration and Mobility’, Nörrkoping, Sweden, 16–20 September 2013; thanks to the conference participants for their interest and questions. We are particularly grateful to our research participants for sharing their life stories with us.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Julie Vullnetari
Julie Vullnetari is Lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Southampton and Associate Researcher at the Sussex Centre for Migration Research. She holds a DPhil in Migration Studies from the University of Sussex and has published widely in peer-reviewed international journals such as Global Networks, International Migration, Gender and Development and Geografiska Annaler. Her latest book Albania on the Move published by Amsterdam University Press (2012) examined the links between internal and international migration from a development perspective. Besides her main focus on the interactions between migration, gender, development, ageing and care, she is also interested in the migration of Eastern European Roma, border communities and the ‘socialist way of life’. In her current research, together with Russell King, she investigates everyday life in communist Albania aiming to construct a ‘historical ethnography’ of this country during its phase of ‘actually existing socialism’.
Russell King
Russell King is Professor of Geography at the University of Sussex and Visiting Professor of Migration Studies (and former Willy Brandt Professor 2012–2013) at Malmö University. He has a long-standing research interest in migration, especially in Southern Europe and the Balkan region, and in the multiple relationships between migration, gender and development. In recent years, he has coordinated a number of projects relating to Albanian migration, leading to several journal articles and two books: Out of Albania (co-authored with Nicola Mai, published by Berg, 2008) and Remittances, Gender and Development (joint with Julie Vullnetari, published by I.B. Tauris, 2011). He is the founding Director of the Sussex Centre for Migration Research, and was the editor of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies from 2000 to 2013. His most recent research project, joint with Julie Vullnetari, examines everyday life in communist Albania and is funded by the Leverhulme Trust.