Ervis Burda - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ervis Burda
Introduction: The Image of Nation Fourteen years after that fatal night which left Harry Potter a... more Introduction: The Image of Nation Fourteen years after that fatal night which left Harry Potter an orphan and stripped Voldemort of his human life, leaving behind a mere spirit, the Dark Lord is brought back to physical form by his servant Peter Pettigrew. Summoning the Death Eaters, his loyal followers, Voldemort reveals the story of his fall and the misery of survival as a parasite inhabiting foreign bodies in a faraway land: And then, not even a year ago, when I had almost abandoned hope, it happened at last... a servant returned to me. He sought me in the country where it had long been rumored I was hiding...a place, deep in an Albanian forest...where small animals...met their deaths by a dark shadow that possessed them. (Rowling 654-655) Throughout the seven part series, the Dark Lord's exile in that Albanian forest is of minimal importance to the plot, yet for a scholar of the Balkans, even such brief attention proves indicative of a larger pattern of Western fascination with the region. Maria Todorova identifies this process as "Balkanism." Geographically inextricable from Europe, yet culturally constructed as "the other," the Balkans became, in time, the object of a number of externalized political, ideological and cultural frustrations and have served as a repository of negative characteristics against which a positive and self-congratulatory image of the "European" and "the West" has been constructed. (455) The Kanun and Its History Before we can consider the interaction of Albanian nationalism with Kanun discourse and its imprint on the knowledge imparted, it is important to provide a general overview of the Kanun's history, its application within Albania, and the mechanisms that give this body of law its power. A logical place to start would be the Albanian name given to customary law: the very word Kanun. Albanian sociologist Fatos Tarifa, who has produced several works on the topic, suggests that "Kanun, deriving from the Greek 'kanon,' signifies 'norm,' 'rule,' and 'measure'." (Tarifa 18) Thus, he traces its etymology to ancient Greek influence in the region. In contrast, Grutzpalk, in "Blood Feud and Modernity," comments on the word's "obvious similarity to the 'canon' of Roman law," (117) attributing its development to Roman rather than Greek influence. Additionally, anthropologist Stephanie Schwander-Sievers traces the word to more recent times, citing Ottoman influence. She notes that under the Ottoman administration system, kanun was a "term for local customary self-governance," used to differentiate local law from Islamic law, Shariah. (Enacment 101) On the other hand, Leonard Fox's English translation of the "Kanun of Lek Dukagjin", states: The word kanun is derived from the Greek kanon, which originally meant 'a straight rod or bar,' but which later came to be used metaphorically to mean 'a rule or standard of excellence.' According to this version, by Byzantine times, it had acquired a legal significance, and the word passed into the Albanian language most likely through Ottoman Turkish. (xvi) These varying accounts suggest that it is difficult to provide an accurate etymological account of Kanun's place in the Albanian language. Indeed, accounts of the word's origin are as numerous as they are murky, suggesting no compelling reason to favor any one above another. The word's complicated etymology notwithstanding, it is important to recognize that Kanun refers to a common practice in the areas inhabited by Albanian speaking peoples long before any semblance of a unified Albanian nation-state existed.
Introduction: The Image of Nation Fourteen years after that fatal night which left Harry Potter a... more Introduction: The Image of Nation Fourteen years after that fatal night which left Harry Potter an orphan and stripped Voldemort of his human life, leaving behind a mere spirit, the Dark Lord is brought back to physical form by his servant Peter Pettigrew. Summoning the Death Eaters, his loyal followers, Voldemort reveals the story of his fall and the misery of survival as a parasite inhabiting foreign bodies in a faraway land: And then, not even a year ago, when I had almost abandoned hope, it happened at last... a servant returned to me. He sought me in the country where it had long been rumored I was hiding...a place, deep in an Albanian forest...where small animals...met their deaths by a dark shadow that possessed them. (Rowling 654-655) Throughout the seven part series, the Dark Lord's exile in that Albanian forest is of minimal importance to the plot, yet for a scholar of the Balkans, even such brief attention proves indicative of a larger pattern of Western fascination with the region. Maria Todorova identifies this process as "Balkanism." Geographically inextricable from Europe, yet culturally constructed as "the other," the Balkans became, in time, the object of a number of externalized political, ideological and cultural frustrations and have served as a repository of negative characteristics against which a positive and self-congratulatory image of the "European" and "the West" has been constructed. (455) The Kanun and Its History Before we can consider the interaction of Albanian nationalism with Kanun discourse and its imprint on the knowledge imparted, it is important to provide a general overview of the Kanun's history, its application within Albania, and the mechanisms that give this body of law its power. A logical place to start would be the Albanian name given to customary law: the very word Kanun. Albanian sociologist Fatos Tarifa, who has produced several works on the topic, suggests that "Kanun, deriving from the Greek 'kanon,' signifies 'norm,' 'rule,' and 'measure'." (Tarifa 18) Thus, he traces its etymology to ancient Greek influence in the region. In contrast, Grutzpalk, in "Blood Feud and Modernity," comments on the word's "obvious similarity to the 'canon' of Roman law," (117) attributing its development to Roman rather than Greek influence. Additionally, anthropologist Stephanie Schwander-Sievers traces the word to more recent times, citing Ottoman influence. She notes that under the Ottoman administration system, kanun was a "term for local customary self-governance," used to differentiate local law from Islamic law, Shariah. (Enacment 101) On the other hand, Leonard Fox's English translation of the "Kanun of Lek Dukagjin", states: The word kanun is derived from the Greek kanon, which originally meant 'a straight rod or bar,' but which later came to be used metaphorically to mean 'a rule or standard of excellence.' According to this version, by Byzantine times, it had acquired a legal significance, and the word passed into the Albanian language most likely through Ottoman Turkish. (xvi) These varying accounts suggest that it is difficult to provide an accurate etymological account of Kanun's place in the Albanian language. Indeed, accounts of the word's origin are as numerous as they are murky, suggesting no compelling reason to favor any one above another. The word's complicated etymology notwithstanding, it is important to recognize that Kanun refers to a common practice in the areas inhabited by Albanian speaking peoples long before any semblance of a unified Albanian nation-state existed.
Introduction: The Image of Nation Fourteen years after that fatal night which left Harry Potter a... more Introduction: The Image of Nation Fourteen years after that fatal night which left Harry Potter an orphan and stripped Voldemort of his human life, leaving behind a mere spirit, the Dark Lord is brought back to physical form by his servant Peter Pettigrew. Summoning the Death Eaters, his loyal followers, Voldemort reveals the story of his fall and the misery of survival as a parasite inhabiting foreign bodies in a faraway land: And then, not even a year ago, when I had almost abandoned hope, it happened at last... a servant returned to me. He sought me in the country where it had long been rumored I was hiding...a place, deep in an Albanian forest...where small animals...met their deaths by a dark shadow that possessed them. (Rowling 654-655) Throughout the seven part series, the Dark Lord's exile in that Albanian forest is of minimal importance to the plot, yet for a scholar of the Balkans, even such brief attention proves indicative of a larger pattern of Western fascination with the region. Maria Todorova identifies this process as "Balkanism." Geographically inextricable from Europe, yet culturally constructed as "the other," the Balkans became, in time, the object of a number of externalized political, ideological and cultural frustrations and have served as a repository of negative characteristics against which a positive and self-congratulatory image of the "European" and "the West" has been constructed. (455) The Kanun and Its History Before we can consider the interaction of Albanian nationalism with Kanun discourse and its imprint on the knowledge imparted, it is important to provide a general overview of the Kanun's history, its application within Albania, and the mechanisms that give this body of law its power. A logical place to start would be the Albanian name given to customary law: the very word Kanun. Albanian sociologist Fatos Tarifa, who has produced several works on the topic, suggests that "Kanun, deriving from the Greek 'kanon,' signifies 'norm,' 'rule,' and 'measure'." (Tarifa 18) Thus, he traces its etymology to ancient Greek influence in the region. In contrast, Grutzpalk, in "Blood Feud and Modernity," comments on the word's "obvious similarity to the 'canon' of Roman law," (117) attributing its development to Roman rather than Greek influence. Additionally, anthropologist Stephanie Schwander-Sievers traces the word to more recent times, citing Ottoman influence. She notes that under the Ottoman administration system, kanun was a "term for local customary self-governance," used to differentiate local law from Islamic law, Shariah. (Enacment 101) On the other hand, Leonard Fox's English translation of the "Kanun of Lek Dukagjin", states: The word kanun is derived from the Greek kanon, which originally meant 'a straight rod or bar,' but which later came to be used metaphorically to mean 'a rule or standard of excellence.' According to this version, by Byzantine times, it had acquired a legal significance, and the word passed into the Albanian language most likely through Ottoman Turkish. (xvi) These varying accounts suggest that it is difficult to provide an accurate etymological account of Kanun's place in the Albanian language. Indeed, accounts of the word's origin are as numerous as they are murky, suggesting no compelling reason to favor any one above another. The word's complicated etymology notwithstanding, it is important to recognize that Kanun refers to a common practice in the areas inhabited by Albanian speaking peoples long before any semblance of a unified Albanian nation-state existed.
Introduction: The Image of Nation Fourteen years after that fatal night which left Harry Potter a... more Introduction: The Image of Nation Fourteen years after that fatal night which left Harry Potter an orphan and stripped Voldemort of his human life, leaving behind a mere spirit, the Dark Lord is brought back to physical form by his servant Peter Pettigrew. Summoning the Death Eaters, his loyal followers, Voldemort reveals the story of his fall and the misery of survival as a parasite inhabiting foreign bodies in a faraway land: And then, not even a year ago, when I had almost abandoned hope, it happened at last... a servant returned to me. He sought me in the country where it had long been rumored I was hiding...a place, deep in an Albanian forest...where small animals...met their deaths by a dark shadow that possessed them. (Rowling 654-655) Throughout the seven part series, the Dark Lord's exile in that Albanian forest is of minimal importance to the plot, yet for a scholar of the Balkans, even such brief attention proves indicative of a larger pattern of Western fascination with the region. Maria Todorova identifies this process as "Balkanism." Geographically inextricable from Europe, yet culturally constructed as "the other," the Balkans became, in time, the object of a number of externalized political, ideological and cultural frustrations and have served as a repository of negative characteristics against which a positive and self-congratulatory image of the "European" and "the West" has been constructed. (455) The Kanun and Its History Before we can consider the interaction of Albanian nationalism with Kanun discourse and its imprint on the knowledge imparted, it is important to provide a general overview of the Kanun's history, its application within Albania, and the mechanisms that give this body of law its power. A logical place to start would be the Albanian name given to customary law: the very word Kanun. Albanian sociologist Fatos Tarifa, who has produced several works on the topic, suggests that "Kanun, deriving from the Greek 'kanon,' signifies 'norm,' 'rule,' and 'measure'." (Tarifa 18) Thus, he traces its etymology to ancient Greek influence in the region. In contrast, Grutzpalk, in "Blood Feud and Modernity," comments on the word's "obvious similarity to the 'canon' of Roman law," (117) attributing its development to Roman rather than Greek influence. Additionally, anthropologist Stephanie Schwander-Sievers traces the word to more recent times, citing Ottoman influence. She notes that under the Ottoman administration system, kanun was a "term for local customary self-governance," used to differentiate local law from Islamic law, Shariah. (Enacment 101) On the other hand, Leonard Fox's English translation of the "Kanun of Lek Dukagjin", states: The word kanun is derived from the Greek kanon, which originally meant 'a straight rod or bar,' but which later came to be used metaphorically to mean 'a rule or standard of excellence.' According to this version, by Byzantine times, it had acquired a legal significance, and the word passed into the Albanian language most likely through Ottoman Turkish. (xvi) These varying accounts suggest that it is difficult to provide an accurate etymological account of Kanun's place in the Albanian language. Indeed, accounts of the word's origin are as numerous as they are murky, suggesting no compelling reason to favor any one above another. The word's complicated etymology notwithstanding, it is important to recognize that Kanun refers to a common practice in the areas inhabited by Albanian speaking peoples long before any semblance of a unified Albanian nation-state existed.