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

and Leake (1967) who were similarly amazed by the view over the Bregu area and devoted
passages to it in their writings. Today, some of these writers are well known to the inhabitants
of the Himarë/Himara area.
Dhërmi/Drimades
11 th September 2004. It was Friday morning when a local taxi brought Entela and me to
Dhërmi/Drimades. As we settled in the Himarë/Himara municipality, we rented a taxi in order
to be mobile and visit all seven villages in the area. Upon our arrival to the village the taxi
driver dropped us off in the middle of the road. Wandering around and looking for the village
centre we saw an old woman coming towards us. Entela asked me if we should stop her and
inquire about the village and its people. As my command of Albanian language was very poor
at the time, Entela took the lead and greeted her.
“Good morning lady. May we stop you for a second?” asked Entela in a gentle voice. The old
woman, burdened with age and hardly walking, raised her head and looked at us. Instead of
answering she asked: “Where are you from?” Entela explained that I am a foreigner from
Slovenia and that she is from Vlorë. She went on saying that I am interested in people’s
habits, culture and ways of living. The lady replied that she had no knowledge of such things
and that it would be better to go to the school where people familiar with these things could
be found. Although Entela told her that we were not interested in “that” kind of knowledge,
the old lady insisted that she was far too old to know about such things. Entela translated her
answers and commented: “Oh dear, she can hardly speak Albanian… I guess she speaks
Greek like most of the people in Himarë!” She suggested that we should leave her alone, go to
the school and see what would happen. I agreed. When we wanted to thank the lady for taking
her time for us and say goodbye, Entela asked me if she could ask her about her origin. I
agreed and Entela asked the old woman: “Jeni e Shqiptarë apo Greke?” (“Are you Albanian
or Greek?”). The woman responded with a short “Vorioepirot”, bid us goodbye and left.
Entela translated the lady’s words: “She said that she is Greek!” I commented that her answer
had actually been Vorioepirot (Northern Epirot). In an agitated voice Entela explained that
this meant the same as Greek.
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