Migration Memories in the Borderlands. The Constructions of Regional Identity and Memory in Zagoria (Southern Albania) through Place and Sound
Migration Memories in the Borderlands. The Constructions of Regional Identity and Memory in Zagoria (Southern Albania) through Place and Sound

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the essential role that place and sound can play in the construction of a regional identity based on a constructed memory based on “mythistory”. The chosen fieldwork site for this study, the region of Zagoria, is marked as a borderland; the chosen topic, migration, as a shared historical experience is perceived as worth remembering in different social strata. In discussing the process of how a local community can imagine itself through the act of remembering, it is argued that certain “memory figures” such as symbolic places and sounds fulfil an important role in the construction of a “migration memory”. The analysis of some of these symbolic local “memory places” and some examples of migration songs reveals that these “memory figures” are emotionally charged and possess multiple layers of possible meanings. It is in these places and sounds where the negotiation between official history and local “histories” takes place most prominently. Because of the ability of these songs and places to surpass the boundaries of time and individuality, they are perceived as “collective and representative”.

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