THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY OF ALBANIANS

Özet

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.