Deçan/Dečani: cultural heritage and community

2011-08-27T13:05:00.000+03:00

I decided to officially archive this blog on the day my DPhil was confirmed. But I have waited for the electronic publication of my thesis, Interrogating Archaeological Ethics in Conflict Zones: Cultural Heritage Work in Cyprus, to announce the archiving. From now on, I will blog at Conflict Antiquities.

On Conflict Antiquities, I will concentrate on illicit antiquities trading, organised crime and political violence in Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. As I explain in an introduction to Conflict Antiquities,

I want to study the history of the trade in conflict antiquities; and to explore the relationship between the trade in conflict antiquities and the funding of conflict and violence.

2005-10-02T23:36:00.000+03:00

Decan buildings 8.

2005-10-02T23:34:00.000+03:00

Decan building 7: damaged, but repaired home.

2005-10-02T23:28:00.000+03:00

Decan building 6: possibly abandoned home - a traditional Albanian kulla perhaps - that seems to have sustained fire damage, which may be indicative of deliberate destruction; if it were deliberate, the damage may have been done to drive the inhabitants out or to ensure they didn't return.

2005-10-02T23:21:00.000+03:00

Decan political art 9:

[Corrected on the 14th of January 2007]

I had incorrectly asserted that:

"LDK 52 Rugova" refers to the 2004 local election results, in which Rugova and his party, the LDK (Lidhja Demokratike e Kosoves, the DLK - Democratic League of Kosovo - in English) won 52% of the Albanian vote.

Kosovar has corrected my reading of the graffiti:

Graffitti LDK 52 doesn't speak of LDK election percentage, but of the LDK contestnt number in the ballot; LDK got 43%.

2005-10-02T23:07:00.000+03:00

Decan political art 8: the poster reads, roughly, "hero of war and peace, General Ramush Haradinaj".

2005-10-02T22:58:00.000+03:00

Decan buildings 5.

2005-10-02T22:57:00.000+03:00

Decan political art 7: graffiti writings include "Dardania", the name of a kingdom within Illyria, the society that emerged in the Twelfth Century B.C.E. and that culture-historical archaeologies have characterised as the first Albanian community.

This may be the signature tag of a writer named Dardania, or a claim of an Albanian nationalist that this place, Kosova/Kosovo, is a part of Dardania/Albania, or both.

[Updated on the 14th of January 2007]

Vasilevs has commented that, 'Albanians are not Illirians.Ilirians were have a culture 1000. years ago.'

I don't know how clear my original phrasing was, as I talked about "culture-historical archaeologies", but I was only saying that archaeologists and historians who accept the idea of ancient ethnicity and of those ancient ethnic groups' continued existence into the present think that Dardanians/Illyrians were ancient Albanians.

Personally, I don't accept culture-historical narratives, but they're frequently the foundation of nationalist ideology, so they have to be addressed. As this graffiti made some reference to Dardania, I made some effort to explain it by noting its meaning as the name of the ancient kingdom and that ancient kingdom's use in culture-historical archaeologies.

I also included the possibility that it was tag of the artist, which could have been chosen as a reference to ancient Dardania, but could not have been; still, if an English tag artist chose "Saxon" as his moniker, I think it would be reasonable to think they might be making some reference to the ancient Saxon community.

[Updated on the 27th of January 2007]

Bytycci asked why I included Vasilevs' 'one-sided' comments as 'corrections' (although I had intended them to be a source of 'clarification', as they gave me the opportunity to explore some issues). I'll try to get round to something on this soon. I'm not saying Albanians aren't related to Illyrians, but I'm not saying they are - and I know that sounds like a cop-out.

From a culture-historical perspective, Illyrians were ancient Albanians (or Albanians are modern Illyrians), but from other approaches, tracing a direct line back through communities and cultures is seen as difficult or impossible, particularly when the public perception of communities and cultures is commonly as 'natural', 'eternal' groups that people cannot join or leave; moreover, the public frequently think that people cannot be members of more than one community or culture at the same time and that those groups in a sense have a life of their own and may even be worth dying for.

Vasilevs' comment in full read, '... Albanians are not Illirians.Ilirians were have a culture 1000. years ago,Albanians still living in primitive comunities.' I meant for them to be a source of 'clarification', rather than 'correction', as they allowed me to discuss culture-historical constructions of communities and histories. Also, it was only after I noticed a typo in his link and found the site he wanted to send people to that I realised exactly what he meant.

Naively, I originally thought he meant to say 'ancient' rather than 'primitive' and was trying to correct me that 'Albanians are not Illyrians', they were them 1,000 years ago, using 'primitive' to mean 'ancient' or 'technologically undeveloped', one thousand years ago.

It was only after I found the site he tried to link to that I realised he was a rabid Serb nationalist and was accusing them of being 'primitive' now.

2005-10-02T22:48:00.000+03:00

Decan political art 6: graffiti tags include "NATO" and "UCK [Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves]" (KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army)); I presume both of them were done by UCK soldiers, activists or supporters, recognising their alliance.

2005-10-02T22:31:00.000+03:00

Decan political art 5: the graffiti tag under the window is by a member or supporter of the "KPC [Kosovo Protection Corps]", the successor organisation to the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army).

2005-10-02T22:25:00.000+03:00

Decan building 4b.

2005-10-02T22:21:00.000+03:00

Decan building 4a: I haven't determined whether it is unfinished, abandoned or destroyed; the roofing and what look like fire damage appear to indicate destruction, but they may have had innocuous causes.

2005-10-02T22:07:00.000+03:00

Decan building 3: this is a memorial to a local soldier killed in combat.

Vasilevs commented that, 'That is not a soldiers,man,that is a terrorists like IRA,ETA or Al Quaeda.Enought with that and call the things with right name!'

The question of whether a KLA member was a "terrorist" or a "soldier" is difficult for me, as I would define terrorists as those who commit violence against civilians to achieve political aims and I don’t know if this person did that; however, without any evidence that he did deliberately harm civilians, I wouldn't be willing to label him a terrorist.

2005-10-02T22:06:00.000+03:00

Decan building 2: this is a memorial to local soldiers killed in combat.

Vasilevs continued, '...againe soldiers...shame on you...they were kill childern (ex.Pec 1998.)'.

Again, I don't have evidence either way and wouldn't want to condemn them as terrorists without it; if they did deliberately kill civilians, adult or child, then I would agree that they were indeed terrorists, rather than soldiers.

2005-10-02T21:57:00.000+03:00

Decan political art 4b: poster close-up - it reads roughly, "the Hague should not have [Prime Minister] Ramush Haradinaj, but Kosovo should".

WARchild translates it thus: 'It says Hague doesn't need Ramush, but Kosova does. Implying that he was a good PM.'

2005-10-02T21:56:00.000+03:00

Decan political art 4a: the poster reads, roughly, "the Hague should not have [Prime minister] Ramush Haradinaj, but Kosovo should".

[Updated on the 14th of January 2007]

WARchild translates it thus: 'It says Hague doesn't need Ramush, but Kosova does. Implying that he was a good PM.'

The graffiti tags include the Serbian paramilitaries, "[Arkan's] Tigers" and Albanian paramilitaries, "AKSh (Armata Kombetare Shqiptare) [ANA (Albanian National Army)]" and "LKCK (Levizja Kombetare per Clirimin e Kosoves) [NMLK (National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo)]".

2005-10-02T17:56:00.000+03:00

Decan political art 3: graffiti tags include "UCK [Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves]" (KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army)) and "AKSH [Armata Kombetare Shqiptare]" (ANA (Albanian National Army). Other symbols include the peace logo; I suppose, given the use of depleted uranium shells in the Kosovo War, there is a possibility that it is meant to be the original CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) logo.

2005-10-02T17:49:00.000+03:00

Decan building 1: this is a memorial dedicated to a local soldier killed in combat.

2005-10-02T17:18:00.000+03:00

Decan political art 2: graffiti tags include "UCK (Ushtria Clirimtare e Kosoves) [KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army)]".

2005-10-02T17:13:00.000+03:00

Decan political art 1: this is the sign at the town limits. As in Peje and elsewhere, the Serbian language has been erased from public life; this act reveals the strength of feeling that maintains the current tensions.