Voicing the stories of the excluded : Albanian families' history and heritage making at the crossroads of new and old homes
My research explores the dialectical relationship between identity and the conceptualisation/creation of history and heritage in migration by studying a socially excluded group in Greece, that of Albanian families. Even though the Albanian community has more than twenty years of presence in the country, its stories, often invested with otherness, remain hidden in the Greek âmono-culturalâ landscape. In opposition to these stigmatising discourses, my study draws on movements democratising the past and calling for engagements from below by endorsing the socially constructed nature of identity and the denationalisation of memory. A nine-month fieldwork with five Albanian families took place in their domestic and neighbourhood settings in the areas of Athens and Piraeus. Based on critical ethnography, data collection was derived from participant observation, conversational interviews and participatory techniques. From an individual and family group point of view the notion of habitus led to diverse conceptions of ethnic identity, taking transnational dimensions in familiesâ literal and metaphorical back-and-forth movements between Greece and Albania. Jiggling between the personal and the national, history
Vomvyla, E.
Voicing the stories of the excluded : Albanian families' history and heritage making at the crossroads of new and old homes. My research explores the dialectical relationship between identity and the conceptualisation/creation of history and heritage in migration by studying a socially excluded group in Greece, that of Albanian families. Even though the Albanian community has more than twenty years of presence in the country, its stories, often invested with otherness, remain hidden in the Greek âmono-culturalâ landscape. In opposition to these stigmatising discourses, my study draws on movements democratising the past and calling for engagements from below by endorsing the socially constructed nature of identity and the denationalisation of memory. A nine-month fieldwork with five Albanian families took place in their domestic and neighbourhood settings in the areas of Athens and Piraeus. Based on critical ethnography, data collection was derived from participant observation, conversational interviews and participatory techniques. From an individual and family group point of view the notion of habitus led to diverse conceptions of ethnic identity, taking transnational dimensions in familiesâ literal and metaphorical back-and-forth movements between Greece and Albania. Jiggling between the personal and the national, history
voicing story exclude family_history heritage make crossroad new old home explores dialectical_relationship identity conceptualisation creation history heritage migration study socially exclude group greece family even_though community presence country story often otherness remain hidden greek cultural_landscape opposition discourse study_draw movement past call engagement endorse socially_construct nature identity memory month fieldwork family take_place domestic neighbourhood setting area athens based critical ethnography data_collection derive participant_observation conversational interview participatory technique individual_family group point_view notion habitus lead diverse conception ethnic_identity take transnational dimension family literal_metaphorical back and forth movement greece personal national_history