university of nova gorica graduate school contested spaces and ...

After the demise of communism all children (male and female) of the late Lambro and
Mihailis moved to Athens where they worked as physical workers. Within some years
Mihailis’ children gradually returned to Albania. One of them, Andrea, moved to
Dhërmi/Drimades. The other two brothers and a sister settled in Tirana. In 2000 Andrea and
his wife settled in Andrea’s father’s house which they share together with Andrea’s brothers
whenever they come to the village to spend their holidays. Following the agreement they
divided their father’s house in two parts. One part belongs to Andrea and his two sons who
are still single. In winter they live in Greece, and in summer they live in Dhërmi/Drimades.
The other part of the house belongs to Andrea’s elder brother. The third brother agreed that he
has the right to use all the houses whenever he comes to the village. In 2001 Andrea and his
two sons decided to build a bar on the land that Andrea’s father once owned together with his
brother Lambro. Although the coastal land was not part of the decollectivisation process
Andrea nevertheless built a bar there.
In 2003, Andrea’s cousin Kosta, the son of Lambro, returned to the village. He came together
with his wife Ariadne. Later on their only son Archilea (besides Archilea they have two
daughters who both live in emigration) joined them. They settled in Maria’s house which
upon the agreement between five brothers belongs to Kosta’s elder brother Janis. As Janis
continues to live in Greece he allowed Kosta and his son Archilea to use the old house until
they build a new one on the arable land (800 square metres) that used to belong to their father.
Whilst one of the brothers died in Greece the other renounced the property as he had together
with his children migrated to the United States. When Kosta returned to the village he claimed
back half of the 2000 square metres of the coastal land where his cousin built a bar. Similarly
to Andrea, Kosta and Archilea too had aspirations to build a bar on the coast and earn some
money from tourism. Andrea was therefore forced to pull down his bar. Soon after that he
built a small hotel on the half of the land that he owns together with Kosta. This was the
reason for dispute between Kosta and Andrea in the first year (2003) of Kosta’s return.
During later years (in 2005) they became friends again, because of the political events and
processes of decollectivisation and compensation of the property. They realised that it is
better to settle a dispute within their own soi/fis than to leave it to the government and lose
everything.
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