Albania: National Identity & the “Other”

Albania: National Identity & the “Other”

The history, culture, and place in the Balkans have all influenced Albania as it has got to form a national identity and not just one characteristic. Developing over time, the Albanians came up with common accounts of their identity, which in most cases revolves around language, survival and the need to remain in a community in spite of the outside pressure. Due to the impact of various empires and other nations, which influenced Albania, the concepts of identity are directly related to the questions of belonging and difference. These common concepts are the reasons why Albania thinks of itself the way it did. 

National identity in Albania is formed by language, common experiences of survival, and strong sense of unity, and is supported by comparisons with external groups and powers that are used to define who fits in the nation and who doesn’t.

National identity is a sense of belonging to a nation that is formed by means of similar narratives, symbols, values, and memories. Anna Triandafyllidou (1998) describes how  national identity is made through making a choice about who’s part of the nation and by figuring out who is not, in other words, it is through comparison with outsiders that a nation establishes itself. Benedict Anderson (1993) also explains/describes nations to be “imagined communities” basically saying that a lot of people won’t know each other, yet, still feel connected through symbols and shared stories. Many also talk about how national identity is revolved around shared myths, historical memories and traditions that give meaning to the community. Stuart Hall (1996) also adds that identity is made through representation such as stories that define who belongs to the nation and how it’s different from other nations. All of these points show that national identity is best looked at or understood as an evolving structure based on history, politics and culture. 

Language is most definitely one of the highest foundations that has shaped Albania's national identity. The Albanian language (Shqip) which is the sole representative of the Indo-European family is one of the main signs of national identity of Albanians and their separation in comparison with the other countries around them. Language played a big role in shifting the identity in the nationalist movements of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, which made Albanians different from their neighbors, Greeks and Slavs. The importance of the language helped establish unity within those country, the language is very significant and the center point of how Albanian identity is remembered.

Survival under domination is also another narrative that structured the identity of Albania. Albania's history is always the main topic but never mentioned without their struggle against foreign oppression, such as the Ottoman Empire. Since Albania was long under the control of foreign authorities, Albanians made a common narrative of struggling against the outsiders and surviving, which has been represented through national heroes, like Skanderbeg. 

Religion also plays a big role in shaping the identity of Albania but it’s a bit complex. Being a religiously diverse country with most of the population being Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox Christian. Albania takes pride in disallowing religion to separate the country and emphasizes unity with a popular phrase “the religion of Albania is Albanianism” making every citizen feel like they belong and that they are all one. This understatement of religion was particularly because of the communist era, because the official position was against religious practise. This was an extreme policy but one that supported the concept of national identity as something that is not based on religion. It’s often argued that religion in Albania is an individual difference that nationalism wants to neutralize rather than highlight. As a result of this the separation between the country and religion has been established to be an important feature to their identity. 

According to Anna Triandafyllidou (1998), “national identity is not formed in isolation but is constructed through a dual process of defining the in-group (the Self) while contrasting it with Others”, while in Albania's situation both external and internal sides of Othering have shifted Albania’s national identity.

In Albania's history foreign empires like the Ottoman Empire have played important roles of being an external Other. The stories of Albanian nationalism tend to focus on the opposition to these forces and show them as a danger to independence and cultural survival. Also, external Others in national discourse have been neighboring Balkan states, especially Serbia and Greece, mostly in terms of the territorial issues and minority issues. These add to the unity of Albanians and their sense of identity.

Another type of Othering is how Albania relates with Europe. Albanians have been the subject of Western discourse as less European or culturally backward. Also, the national narrations focus on the European origins and cultural legitimacy of Albania. This Othering is symbolic, showing the role that Albania is playing in Europe and strengthens a need to be recognized and belong. 

Othering is also caused by internal differences like religion. Instead of letting the religious groups turn into interior others, Albanian nationalism downplays differences to keep its unity. This is a part of the effort to make sure that internal divisions don't undermine national identity, which fits with the argument by Triandafyllidou that internal Others may undermine cohesion in case it is not handled.

Another thing that has been concentrated on is the influence of the collective memory on national identity. Klejd Këlliçi (2025) shows that Albanian political governments used popular rites like burials and reburials of national leaders to strengthen certain national discourses. These practices helped in making the membership of the nation and the values that should be glorified, and nearby other ways of interpreting the past. These kinds of memory practices show that the national identity is being actively produced and reproduced as a result of symbolic practices and not naturally being inherited. 

The national identity in Albania is best to be shown or explained as a group of dominant discourses that are influenced by language, survival, secular unity, and collective memory. These things were formed not just out of experience in history but also reaffirmed by the Othering processes separating Albanians and foreign powers, adjacent states, and imaginary outsiders. Instead of being fixed attributes, Albanian national identity is dynamic and contested and usually determined by internal diversity and external pressures. An analysis of these processes can explain how belonging and difference are defined in Europe today in Albania. 

References:

 Hall, Stuart, and Paul Du Gay. Questions of Cultural Identity. 1st ed. London: SAGE, 1996. Print.

https://primo.seattleu.edu/permalink/01ALLIANCE_SEAU/9l7g2n/alma99291373501868 

  Triandafyllidou, Anna. “National Identity and the ‘Other.’” Ethnic and racial studies 21.4 (1998): 593–612. Web.

https://primo.seattleu.edu/permalink/01ALLIANCE_SEAU/3bmk5g/cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_60936023 

  Kellici, Klejd. “Reburials, Nationalism and Regimes: Identity, Dead Bodies and Regimes of Memory in Albania, 1930s–1970s.” History and memory 37.1 (2025): 37–63. Web.

https://primo.seattleu.edu/permalink/01ALLIANCE_SEAU/3bmk5g/cdi_proquest_journals_3232809481 

  Walter, Richard. “Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism.” SAIS Review 1992: 150–151. Web.

https://primo.seattleu.edu/permalink/01ALLIANCE_SEAU/3bmk5g/cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_839263986