Fertility Trends, Marriage Patterns, and Savant Typologies in Albanian Context

Abstract

In this article, the author focuses on the speculative literalism and typologism in current scholarship to construct a taken-for-granted view, taking issue especially with many points raised in the literature on the subject that have associated fertility rates in Albania more closely with the existence of patriarchal cultural traits. This leads the author to argue that the specific rationale for the myth of many children, high fertility rates, and complex family structures in Albanian context, as elsewhere in patrilineal societies, is an ideological elaboration of patriarchy. Methodologically, the analysis of the standard view of childbearing, based on standard ethnographic methods, traditional historical sources and aggregate demographic data, is aimed to illustrate the inadequacy of the historical-ethnographic paradigm against the available empirical evidence. In turn, understanding how ideological elements are emphasized in cultural activism should lead, against current scholarship claims, to an understanding of the way in which the urgent need for male children must have been to hide away other more troubling reasons.

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“…This type of relationship may be particularly satisfying for Albanian and Serban children in Italy supporting the idea that a certain overall degree of affinity is necessary for expressing parent-child representations in these cultures. Results are also consistent with the traditional Albanian and Serbian family structure, being characterized by strong family ties, intergenerational connections and solidarity (Brannen et al, 2002;Doja, 2010;Wallace & Kovatcheva, 1998). It seems that Italian children opt for a more independent and autonomous type of relationship with their parents.…”

“…The traditional Albanian family is characterized by social norms of patriarchal values and obedience to authority. The family is the basic unit of the country's social structure, where children are brought up to respect their elders and, above all, their father, whose word is law within the family (Doja, 2010). As a consequence, an important feature of the Albanian family is the role of the father with his highly respected position within the family and society.…”

“…Additionally, the finding that in parent-child representations boys attributed greater Value to their father than their mother might be related to strong social gender roles in the groups considered. As specified in the introduction, boys are socialized to be more independent from the family than girls, and this is particularly true for the expected male role model in the three societies (Brannen et al, 2002;Ciairano et al, 2008;Doja, 2010;Wallace & Kovatcheva, 1998). Arguably, boys may view their father as the more important figure with whom to identify, which is also reflected in their representations.…”

Patriarchy and fertility in Albania

“…However, this top-down imposition of women's status transposed private patriarchy to the collective level. Women's position was strengthened but remained subordinate to men's and their primary role was still reproduction -now, however, not for the lineage but for the nation (Doja 2010;Kaser 2008). Kinship structures also remained important for accessing scarce resources and family reputation was used as a political instrument to distinguish communist friends from internal enemies who were disadvantaged or persecuted by the regime.…”

Politics of mass rapes in ethnic conflict: a morphodynamics of raw madness and cooked evil

“…The latter cannot be observed ethnographically. It is only inferred as a kind of what is called elsewhere Bcultural activism^, or a kind of a Bcultural Viagra^for social survival, which promotes the active support of particular cultural values and practices to uphold the existing state of social affairs by means of vigorous ideas of cultural coherence [1]. 1 In addition, the work of cultural ideology is never complete, and there is an unstable relation between cultural activism and actual cultural norms and practices, which depends on particular social and political conditions.…”