Historia dhë Identiteti kulturor Shqiptar
History and Cultural Albanian Identity

Summary/Abstract: lt is a known fact that contact, meeting, acquaintance, the symbiosis of different cultural elements brings color, prosperity, energy and vitality to the culture of a nation. Undoubtedly, in each effort to analyze the Albanian cultural identity, this fact should be taken into consideration. But, unfortunately, so often in the history, contact especially among different civilizations and cultures, means first of all conflict, bloodshed, lack of balance, traumas, misunderstanding, tension and above all interruption. Therefore, what is the balance of these two auxiliary and at the same time contradictory aspects of Albanian culture? While writing these lines, I know very well that such a question is valid not only for Albania. In fact a very superficial searching of the roots that nourish "the Albanian face" will indicate that they mix and interweave with the roots of other trees, sometimes not so near to each other. It is not only the roots that interweave, but also the branches. This is helpful to any serious research on the identity of any peoples, but it becomes more helpful when we speak of the Balkans (or Southeastern Europe). To a certain degree, the whole peninsula was and remains a piece of earth between East and West, Europe and Asia., between the past and the present, a bridge that links these two worlds, but unfortunately, it is more a piece of earth where they clashed and unfortunately still continue to clash and fight. Just as a Bulgarian writer puts it: "The bridge is built to walk on and not to sit on, it is too difficult to live on a bridge". So, to better comprehend "the Albanian face" it is valuable to identify the "differences to other Balkan faces", but at the same time it is also valuable to know where to put it in the common Balkan gallery.

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