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

According to Tilley (1994: 18) people live in the place and thus they have a sense of it being a
part of them. He suggests that place is fundamental in the process of formation of individual
identity. Ariadne stresses how she and Kosta work on their garden, managing the erosion and
fertility of the soil. They have placed the garden on a higher ground and enriched it with an
artificial fertilizer. Their success in gardening determines the prosperity of their fast-food
restaurant. Ariadne shows her injured hands and contrasts her present position with her past
work as a teacher, which was considered a privileged societal role in the communist regime.
The monolog about her work on the garden helps her to form her identity and define her
belonging to the coast and the village. Opposite to Kosta, she originates from Sarandë and has
moved to the village only a couple of years ago from Greece, to where she emigrated shortly
after the end of communism. Their settlement in the village was made possible when Kosta
inherited his father’s house. Later on Kosta and his son built a fast food restaurant on the
coast which now represents all of the family’s income. Ariadne has no prior memories about
the village, so she defines her place and belonging in connection with her work and
management of the land.
Later in her talk Ariadne forms her identity also through the distinctions between her and the
“others”, which are shown in her attitude towards supposedly inadequate handling of trash.
She sees local municipal officials as careless and irresponsible. They were supposed to
establish an organized system for trash disposal years ago, but have not fulfilled their
promise. The inadequacy and instability of government’s attitude towards villagers is revealed
in her statement: “This is Albania. Only lies. One day they say this, another day the opposite.”
She refers to the hegemonic ways of the state and exposes her way of generating the meaning
of Albania as a synonym for instability and inadequacy.
Her identity is also formed in contrast to Kostas’ cousin, who is now also her neighbour. He
used to have a bar on their land, but was forced to remove it after their claim. He left behind
all the garbage, which she had to clean together with Kostas. While cursing the irresponsible
cousin she again stresses her conscientiousness regarding the garbage disposal problem.
Considering Gupta and Ferguson (2001) she forms her identity constantly by suturing the
oppositions between her and the “others” (i.e. the state and Kostas’ cousin) to justify her
presence in the village. Gupta and Ferguson (2001: 14) see this dynamism in the process of
individual’s identification as clearly representing the relationship between place and power. In
accordance with the spatial organisation of tourist facilities and their owners, Ariadne defines
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