THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY OF ALBANIANS

Year 2012, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 51 - 68, 30.12.2012

Klejd Këlliçi Klementin Mile

Abstract

This article aims at exploring the structures of the collective memory
of Albanians during the last 100 years. To that purpose, the concept of
‘collective memory’, first developed by French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs,
and then refined by other scholars in the twentieth century, will be conceptualised
in the frame of equivalence functionalism, i.e. as a solution to a problem.
Such strategy requires a point of reference for the problem, which we take it
to be the Albanian elite’s problem of preserving and/or strengthening their
powerful position. This reference problem focuses attention to the interaction
between the Albanian elites and the masses, elucidating certain structural
features that have influenced the workings of collective memory production. 

Keywords

Memory, Albanian, Collective

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