The "biography": uncontrollable kinship and political taint in Communist and Post-communist Albania

Social practices and mobilisations of kinship: an introduction

“…Such an observation leads to explain 'biography' as the conjunction of a political concept, the 'class struggle' as it was understood by both the authorities and the people, and the family or lineage (fis) as an institution of Albanian society. We see here how the state performs this ideological frame (De Rapper 2006). and the 'family' has influenced the black market trade and smuggling activities which have been part of everyday occupational activities for most of the local people in the nineties.…”

“…[55] First, the state plays an essential role in constructing these ideological frames, as is demonstrated here by the contributions of Galia Valtchinova regarding Bulgaria and Gilles de Rapper on Albania (Valtchinova 2006, De Rapper 2006.…”

“…While we may agree with Jean-Pierre Dedieu and Zacarias Moutoukias when they suggest, 'that the stating of a link between several individuals does not in itself authorise any inference as regards its consequences' (1998: 9), we must however add that it should allow inferences as regards expected consequences. These expectations exist in behaviour and in the elaboration of strategies (Autant-Dorier 2006, De Rapper 2006, Fliche and Massicard 2006, Valtchinova 2006).…”

“…[93] Gilles De Rapper shows also how the use of the ideological frame by the Albanians has important repercussions for the kinship system and the practices which are linked to it, notably in the domain of matrimonial alliances. Those with a bad background are prohibited to marry others, in turn they are obliged to form a lower class (De Rapper 2006).…”

From the German-speaking point of view: Unholy Empire, Balkanism, and the culture circle particularism of Albanian studies

“…Marriage codes, blood feuds, religious beliefs, hospitality, as well as certain peculiar customs such as the ''sworn virgins,'' those women who allegedly still continue to obtain male status by pledging eternal virginity (Young, 2000), or the distorted use of ''biography'' that is said to have been specifically exemplified during Socialism in Albania (Rapper, 2006), are put under the spotlight and conventionally described by contemporary foreign writers. Their common approach is simply meant to single out exoticized patterns of traditional social structures, not unlike what Edmund Leach once unforgettably denounced as ''the butterfly collecting'' of older forms of anthropology (Leach, 1961: 2).…”