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

communism when they lived in places that provided them with a higher social status and a
privilege of being a citizen. In the period of communism this privilege was very much
conditional on economical well-being as there was significant difference in living between
rural and urban areas. In the rural areas people had no other possibility but to work in
agricultural cooperatives. There was also a shortage of goods. Many people complained that
often they could not even get bread. In the city, especially in Tirana, the opportunities were
greater, although there too the availability of goods was to some extent restricted. Another
motive for people’s indifference is that they are not interested in “community” matters but
keep their extensive involvement in those related to their families. This should be the
consequence of their poor education and their history of working in the cooperative. People
do not believe that they can change things simply by reregistrating themselves at the place
where they nowadays live and by participating at local elections. In the words of the official:
the “uneducated farmers” are unfit for political engagement.
One of the reasons why the municipality of Himarë/Himara is trying to encourage reregistration
of local people who nowadays live in one of the villages of Himarë/Himara
municipality but who in the period of communism lived in other places of Albania is to
improve the number of people living in this area and enlarge the number of the potential
voters who are important especially at local elections. As it can be noticed from population
graphs given in the appendix (see Appendix 4) the overall number of people increased only
slightly after 1990 mainly because of the incoming population originating from other areas of
Albania. Local people often express their feelings of abandonment as most of the youth
migrated to Greece. Besides, they are anxious about the newcomers and they express fear that
they are going to “die out”. Some of their fears are connected to the landownership that might
come into the hands of the newcomers. The increasing number of the newcomers is also
worrying from the political point of view as they are not going to support the local politicians
and the Human Rights Party 45 , which is supporting the Greek minority in Albania.
Different kinds of official counting in Dhërmi/Drimades, which include some people and not
others, suggest how different statistical perspectives shape what the particular people and
places are believed to be. For example, from the state’s perspective the number of residents
shapes an image of depopulation in Himarë/Himara area. From the perspective of the local
45 In 2002 the candidate Vasilis Bollanos of the Union of the Human Rights Party won the local elections in
Himarë/Himara (KEAD).
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