La « biographie » : parenté incontrôlable et souillure politique dans l’Albanie communiste et post-communiste

Abstract

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.

Keywords

• kinship
• Albania
• class struggle
• communism
• totalitarianism