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

Figure 6. Part of a sketch-map of Asfaqija e Siperme in Dhërmi/Drimades in 2005, sketched by Marko
Gjikopulli. Numbers indicate houses whose owners belong to a particular soi/fis. Key. 1. Beli; 2. Kumi; 3.
Dhrako; 4. Bixhili; 4. Stramarko; 5. Iliadhi; 6. Ramo; 7. Jorgji; 8. Vreto; 9. Dhima; 10. Gjoni; 11. Çulla; 12.
Ruci.
1.9.3. Çeta or Varka
In Dhërmi/Drimades soi/fis is a part of a larger “conglomerate” called çeta or varka, which
tends to be locally dispersed. Literally çeta means a military troop, while varka means a boat.
When asking about the local meanings of these terms, some villagers offered an explanation
related to Albanian language, saying that varka should be actually pronounced as barka which
means the same as its Greek counterpart. Other villagers noted that varka refers to barku, the
belly. Considering all local explanations together it is most probable that the meaning of
çeta/varka corresponds to that of a clan 49 , bearing the name of a common ancestor, to which
many of the locals cannot trace direct connections anymore. Many villagers noted that
çeta/varka tends to be exogamous.
49 In my thesis the meaning of a clan coincides with the lineage theory which defines it as a descent group that is
linked to a common apical ancestor though its members do not know their precise links to the ancestor (see
Seymour-Smith 1986: 38).
Martin Berishaj in his work The Hidden Power of Besa, uses the term tribe instead of the term clan (Berishaj
2004: 23). The former is defined according to the Skenderbeg’s Kanun that is valid mainly in the North of
Albania (cf. Elsie 2001, de Waal 2005, Vickers 2001). In southern Albania, especially in the area of Labëria, it is
valid the Kanun of Laberia (Elezi 2006) and the Kanun of Papa Zhuli (Backer 2003). Whilst Elezi notes that in
Himarë/Himara area prevails the Kanun of Laberia, Jorgji writes that in Himarë/Himara rules the Kanun of Papa
Zhuli (http://www.himara.eu/dhermi/guide-al.html). In contrast to Kanun of Laberia that issued recently (in
2006) there is no writen account on the Kanun of Papa Zhuli. As there iks a generale absence of the comparative
literature, I will mainly use local terms and explanations of them as they appear in local discourse and practice.
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