Persistence of Ethnic and Linguistic Division During the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak in Kosovo

Demaj, Uranela; Vandenbroucke, Mieke

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-94350-9_128

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…As the Serbian authorities left the territory, the ethnic Albanians who have always constituted Kosovo's demographic majority asserted their political dominance. While after the Declaration of Independence (2008) Kosovo was officially proclaimed a multi-ethnic country with shared Albanian and Serbian co-officialdom, in reality, the reversed power relations challenged the notion of inclusiveness (Demaj & Vandenbroucke 2016, Demaj & Vandenbroucke 2022, Demaj 2022. Rather, the power reversal crystallized the division of society along ethno-spatial lines with ethnic segregation as the main impediment to the democratic development of Kosovo (Kostovicova 2005, OSCE 2008, Friedman 2014, Fridman 2015, Demaj & Vandenbroucke 2016, Demaj 2022.…”

Section: Renegotiating Albanian National Identity Through the Politic...mentioning

confidence: 99%

BAC, U KRY! Space, Albanian Commemoration and the Gheg Variety as a Linguistic Symbol of State Independence in Postwar Kosovo

Demaj,

Alla

2023

Journal of Nationalism, Memory &Amp; Language Politics

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This paper investigates the reconstruction of Albanian identity in Kosovo after the region's transformation to state independence in 2008. The cultural environment emerged as a site of ethnic appropriation and contestation in the longstanding interethnic struggles between the Albanians and the Serbs. The study examines the socio-symbolic and linguistic manifestations of national identity in Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo, through the lens of Linguistic Landscape Studies. The first aspect of the study investigates M. Theresa Boulevard, the central promenade of the city and a site of memory and commemoration, to highlight how the period of South Slavic hegemony in Kosovo and the recent interethnic war resulted in a redefinition of Albanian identity. The second aspect of the study focuses on the written manifestation of the Gheg variety of Albanian as a symbol of Kosovo's independence. Through this dual focus on memory and language, the study aims to arrive at an understanding of how new national and political self-identifications are shaped in contexts that have undergone ethno-political conflicts and socio-political shifts. We argue that the symbolic configuration of Kosovo suggests a redefinition of Kosovo-based Albanian identity following the transformation to state independence. The study contributes to an understanding of the multi-layered redefinition of Albanian identity in Kosovo, calling attention to language and memory in the process of constructing national identities in postwar contexts.

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Section: Renegotiating Albanian National Identity Through the Politic...mentioning

confidence: 99%

BAC, U KRY! Space, Albanian Commemoration and the Gheg Variety as a Linguistic Symbol of State Independence in Postwar Kosovo

Demaj,

Alla

2023

Journal of Nationalism, Memory &Amp; Language Politics

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“…Demaj and Vandenbroucke (2016) examine present-day discrepancies between language policy and practice in the LLs of the capital of Pristina against the post-war socio-political shift of the territory. Another LL study by Vandenbroucke and Demaj (Vandenbroucke and Demaj, 2022) similarly focuses on the transgressive dimensions of space as a place where ethno-political contestation is voiced through dialogically layered graffiti inscriptions. The language of crisis communication in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has also been the focus of attention in a recent LL study by Demaj and Vandenbroucke (Demaj and Vandenbroucke, (2022).…”

Section: The Linguistic Landscape As An Important Site Of Identity Bu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another LL study by Vandenbroucke and Demaj (Vandenbroucke and Demaj, 2022) similarly focuses on the transgressive dimensions of space as a place where ethno-political contestation is voiced through dialogically layered graffiti inscriptions. The language of crisis communication in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has also been the focus of attention in a recent LL study by Demaj and Vandenbroucke (Demaj and Vandenbroucke, (2022). More straightforward in connecting the built environment with the question of symbolic identity building are the contributions of Albertini (2012), Krasniqi (2013), Ermolin (2014), andFort (2018).…”

Section: The Linguistic Landscape As An Important Site Of Identity Bu...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbolic identity building, ethnic nationalism and the linguistic reconfiguration of the urban spaces of the capital of Pristina, Kosovo

Demaj

2022

Ethnicities

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This paper presents a historical study of the linguistic landscape (LL) of Pristina’s city center as an important site of contestation and competing symbolic identity constructions throughout Kosovo’s turbulent interethnic past. By means of historical linguistic evidence of the LL configuration of landmark establishments in the central promenade of the city, the paper illustrates the role of language in the construction of national identity and in this way, argues for the reconciliation of the study of symbolic nation building in Kosovo with language as an equally deserving dimension of investigation alongside other socio-political and social facets It is also argued that apart from its symbolic role to convey the specific ideological concepts of the dominant ethnic elites, the LL has been crucial in the construction of ethnocentric spaces, and has therefore been participatory in the creation of ethnic segregation which is the defining characteristic of Kosovo’s post-war ethnic configuration today.

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Multilingualism and language endangerment flame via COVID-19-crisis communication

Tsakuwa

Adamu

2023

International Journal of Multilingualism

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Persistence of Ethnic and Linguistic Division During the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak in Kosovo

Cited by 3 publications

References 6 publications

BAC, U KRY! Space, Albanian Commemoration and the Gheg Variety as a Linguistic Symbol of State Independence in Postwar Kosovo

BAC, U KRY! Space, Albanian Commemoration and the Gheg Variety as a Linguistic Symbol of State Independence in Postwar Kosovo

Symbolic identity building, ethnic nationalism and the linguistic reconfiguration of the urban spaces of the capital of Pristina, Kosovo

Multilingualism and language endangerment flame via COVID-19-crisis communication

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