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Albanian identity according to Konica and Frashëri

Photo: Driton Pacharada / Koha

In the modernist theory, it is said that nations are very ancient, the Albanian identity or nation is 170-200 years old, while the oldest identities are before 400 years.

The first attempt to create the Albanian identity was in 1844 with "Ëvetar" by Naum Veqilharxhi, where before 1800 there was no alphabet in the Albanian language, and also there was no initiative to have an alphabet, because people did not see the issue as a problem of the alphabet. So here we had neither nationalism nor national identity.

Thus we can say that we have the first sparks of national identity in the uprising of Ali Pasha Tepelena, which failed, while the formation of the Albanian national identity dates from 1878-1912. But an issue like this has not been sufficiently studied and has remained far from interdisciplinary research. This identity means the basic characteristics of a community, profession, political group, etc.

And that Albanian can be racial, gender, professional, cultural, political, etc. Language, tradition, culture and national affiliation are elements that man takes and transforms into constants of his identity. The dominant approach to Albanian identity is ideological, linguistic and historical-graphical.

In this article, two authors are taken for analysis: Faik Konica and Mid'hat Frashëri. Both of them have elaborated the identity of Albanians in their works "Albania - the rock garden of Southeast Europe" and "Our Wounds". (You can read the full article in today's issue of Koha Ditore)