Search

The idea for movement of blood feud reconciliation was one of the most important humanitarian missions in the Albanian society in Kosovo during the 1990s. The act of forgiveness of blood feud was a humane act that reconciled families and had a positive impact on Albanian society in Kosovo. During 1990, Albanians in Kosovo started to face a dire situation in all aspects. The year 1990 marks many momentous events in the history of Kosovo, and many of these events were difficult ones since most Albanians left their jobs by force, and as a result, the economic situation of Albanian society became very dire. During the year 1990, most of the professors, doctors, police officers, judges, journalists, etc., were forcibly removed from work by the Serbian authorities, as a result many families were struggling for economic survival. The life of the Albanian population was endangered not only by the political situation as well as by the economic difficulties. Life in many Albanian families became difficult and almost unbearable, many families took the path of exile and left Kosovo. In this study, the difficulties and the political and economic situation of Albanian society will be mentioned only indirectly, in short points. This study aims to highlight a very humane event that began in Albanian families and society, and it all started in 1990. In this difficult and dark year for the Albanians in Kosovo, „a light began to shine in many families”, and the movement for the suppression of blood feuds and the reconciliation of Albanian families began. Blood feuds mostly happened between families, but they could also happen between entire tribes and could last for several decades. Despite the difficult circumstances, what makes 1990 more remarkable is the movement for social and spiritual liberation. This movement has historical importance for society in Kosovo because it broke „chains” of murders in Kosovo, reconciling thousands of people for a short historical period. Despite the extremely hard historical circumstances in which the society in Kosovo was during the 1990s, it was the movement for reconciliation that brought about a revival of Albanian society in Kosovo. The reconciliation movement led by Anton Çetta had an incredibly positive impact to the Albanian society. In addition to the fact that thousands of people agreed with this movement, what makes it even more remarkable is that it brought a positive effect to every family to the extent that many children born in the 1990s bear the names: Pajtim and Pajtime (reconciliation), as well as many places in which the reconciliations were being held in, calling them: Meadow of Reconciliation, Hill of Reconciliation, etc. This humanitarian event brought a positive impact to the entire Albanian society Anton Çetta became a symbol of reconciliation.

This paper will discuss certain aspects of Albanian life where blood feuds have manifested in a more pervasive manner. Otherwise, the shedding blood is unavoidable phenomenon in all 11 books of the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, which is not the only existing Kanun, but it is the only one that has institutionalized blood feuds. We will briefly compare passages from Ismail Kadare’s novel "Broken April" and Adem Demaçi’s "The Snakes of Blood," two of the most representative works on blood feuds and the Kanun codes of the Albanians. This comparison aims to illustrate the articles or provisions that the Kanun clearly defines, which the authors bring to life and make more tangible through their application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately sixty lyrical songs were inscribed into the Folklore Archive of the National Museum during the field research in Brcko conducted by Bosnian writer and folklorist Alija Nametak as an employee of the Institute for Folklore Research in 1956, including a ballad about a mother who sacrificed her son to save her brother's life. This moving ballad has been inscribed at least twice more in Bosnia's north, and two variants of this song were recorded in Derventa - they are included in a large collection made by Smajl Bradaric and kept in the National Museum of BiH's Folklore Archive. The National Museum and the BiH Slavic Committee collaborated to publish this collection (Bradari 2018). The mentioned ballad was also discussed in Munib Maglajlic's 1985 study "Muslim Oral Ballads," in the section entitled Conflict in the Family, indicating its importance, but also a solid number of variants throughout Bosnia (Maglajlić 2018). The variants presented here, however, were not the subjects of Maglajlić's analyses, even though he found as many as nine versions of this ballad from various sources for his study. This paper will use the method of three-variant ballad promotion to see the oral poet from Bosnia's north in action. It will try to show and highlight the poetic achievements of the "northern" variants. The poetic shaping of key motifs will be considered in each recorded variant, and the difference between them will be established. Methods of interpretation and analysis will be used.

Copyright of Social Sciences & Humanities Studies / Društvene i Humanističke Studije (DHS) is the property of Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Tuzla and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Itobiad: Journal of the Human & Social Science Researches / İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi is the property of Itobiad: Journal of the Human & Social Science Researches and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A standard narrative is that nonviolence failed in Kosovo: the Milosevic regime was ended by a NATO bombing campaign. This essay exposes errors in this narrative. Kosovo's nonviolent resistance successfully unified the masses against the regime with a distinctive innovation of building solidarity by reducing violence. In particular, it reduced murders in blood feuds. Kosovo emerged from war with comparatively low violence for a post-conflict society burdened with organized crime. We contrast Kosovo with societies where more people were killed by criminal violence after peace agreements than in wartime. Reconciling blood feuds as part of Kosovo's nonviolent campaign for freedom contributed to this accomplishment. Nonviolent resistance campaigns can be evaluated through a criminological lens whereby averting war is just one means to reducing death rates from intentional violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blood feuds and honor killings suggest a systematic and collective process of trial and punishment in tribal communities based on customary norms. Customary murders usually occur in tribal groups in which central authority is either weak or totally absent. In the former case, tribal people experience a conflict between norms of the central state and those of the local group. On the other hand, the acts of tribal groups violating legitimate legal and administrative system differ from similar unlawful acts, in that they are determined and justified by norms of the feudal group and they have been perpetrated deliberately and under the pressure of the group. In this paper, first, connection of customary murders with tribal communities has been examined. Then the reasons and motives that drive them to those practices at the expense of violating legal system and central authority are considered. It is seen that customary norms and "common honor and prestige" conception of tribal people form an identity and affiliation much more important than their allegiance to state. Accordingly, any attempt to remove those devestating practices should consider penetration of legitimate authority of the state especially by educational and informative methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini constitutes a centuries-old code of behavior, regulating both individual and collective conduct. Emerging as the primary source of the country's customary law, the dominant element of northern2 subculture has emblematically influenced the entire sphere of Albanian ideas, beliefs and customs. The code represents the body of traditional law and has been orally transmitted from generation to generation, resisting in an unwritten version throughout the centuries and governing the most important aspects of the social structures among northern tribes. In the period between the collapse of Old Serbian Empire and the arrival of the Ottomans, the population of this area was free and uncontrolled and the peculiar mountainous territory was out of reach for the dominants. The code has been generally accepted for many centuries as a self-adjusting rule applied in the administration of the highland communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The following paper explores the contemporary Albanian society, as a reality which is at a crossroads between modernity and tradition, where old values and new ambitions live side by side. To elaborate on this, the research refers to the code of customary law presented in the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, an ancient statute at the basis of Albanian culture. The Kanun is analyzed both as a code of customary law and as a frame of reference for social behavior that constitutes Albanian identity. The code represents the body of traditional law and has been orally transmitted from generation to generation, existing in an unwritten version throughout centuries and governing the most important aspects of the social structures. The Kanun represents the oldest Albanian jurisdictional system. This research is relevant from both a sociological and juridical point of view. The study examines the role played by the ancient customs in the current reality, such as the private justice practice based on the blood feuds' tradition. Although many prescripts contained in the Kanun might appear today as obsolete and archaic, blood feuds are still present and represent a social wound in the current dynamic of Albanian society. The analysis follows a deductive approach, specifically focusing on the pillars of Lekë Dukagjini's Kanun: the word of honor, hospitality and blood revenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]