Family Photographs in Communist Albania: State Photography and the Private Sphere
The aim of this paper is to present the first results of an on-going research project on the social uses of photography in communist Albania. If we are interested in official and propaganda photography, we would like to focus here on a less known aspect of photography in Albania, family photography. Social sciences have long been interested in the relationship between family and photography and it is established that photography tells a lot about family forms and kinship relations. Family albums are narratives; they tell the story of the family and produce an image of the family. We would like to question this image in the context of communist Albania, in which both photography and family were subject to political representations and practices.
La " biographie " : parenté incontrôlable et souillure politique dans l'Albanie communiste et post-communiste
During Communist times in Albania (1944-1991) everyone was defined, evaluated and classified through his or her « biography » [biografi], which was a judgement, in political terms, on one’s personality, acts and familial background. The « biography » was largely responsible for the authorities’ attitude towards the individual. In this paper, I try to understand what the word « biography » (and the phrase « good/bad biography ») meant for the people themselves. It appears that « biography » is often synonymous with « family or lineage background ». Such an observation leads to explain, in a second step, « biography » as the conjunction of a political concept, the « class struggle » as it was understood by both the authorities and the people, and the family or lineage [fis] as an institution of Albanian society. Finally, the paper suggests an interpretation of « biography » in terms of « purity », « stain » and naturalisation of differences.
Elisabeth Champseix et Jean-Paul Champseix. L'Albanie ou la logique du désespoir
Lefebvre Stephane. Elisabeth Champseix et Jean-Paul Champseix. L'Albanie ou la logique du desespoir. In: Politique etrangere, n°4 - 1993 - 58ᵉannee. pp. 1088-1089.