Who are the Illyrians? The Use and Abuse of Archaeology in the Construction of National and Trans-National Identities in the Southwestern Balkans. In: Archaeology and the (De) Construction of National and Supra-National Polities, Archaeological Review from Cambridge, 27.2 – 2012:71-84

Archaeology enjoys an excellent reputation in the social and political lives of the Balkans and Anatolia, where it has been perceived as an efficient tool for the manipulation of public opinion. Cultural heritage is usually taken as hard evidence for the continuity of the nations' identities and as a commodity that can bring additional revenues. Archaeological narratives are being co-authored by state authorities and the public. Information is being issued by the state and edited further according to the nation's needs as well as public desires and requests. Nationalism has dramatically shaped methods and approaches and raised dividing walls among regional archaeologies in the Balkans. The main nationalist device in Balkan archaeology has been ethnogenesis, which is the search for formations, origins and continuities of ethnic identity. A locally coined public archaeology has achieved multivocality by means of constant interaction between the state and the public. Archaeological information is released after having been filtered by the state, which welcomes feedback in order to adapt and further process its narrations. However, these have already been pre-defined within national antagonisms and conflicts. A translocal approach is suggested as a means to overcome archaeological regionalism and biases originating in national conflicts.

The construction of grand narratives in Balkan archaeology has been shaped in subtle yet profound ways by geopolitical agendas. This paper examines the impacts of imperialist, colonialist, and nationalist archaeology, using Bruce Trigger's foundational framework, with a particular focus on the Greek region of Macedonia. Archaeology in this region began to formalize in the first half of the 20 th century, becoming a tool of colonial influence that reflected the cultural imperialism of the powers that prevailed after World War I. Following World War II, a distinctly nationalist archaeology arose -not as a direct response to previous colonial activities or external threats, but as a reflection of internal social tensions that surfaced after the Greek Civil War. These tensions were framed within patriotic archaeological narratives, a practice that persists today, albeit with declining effectiveness as the cultural and social landscape of regional archaeology has changed.

2017

Spatial variation and patterning in the distribution of artefacts are topics of fundamental significance in Balkan archaeology. For decades, archaeologists have been classifying spatial clusters of artefacts into discrete “cultures”, which have been conventionally treated as bound entities and equated with past social (or even ethnic) groups. The need for an up-to-date and theoretically informed dialogue on group identity in Balkan prehistory is the point of departure for this volume. Thirteen case studies covering the beginning of the Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age and written by archaeologists conducting fieldwork in the region, as well as by ethnologists with a research focus on material culture and identity, provide a robust foundation for exploring these issues. Each essay challenges long-established interpretations and provides a new, contextualised reading of the archaeological record. Bringing together the latest research (with an intentional focus on the central and western Balkans, i.e. former Yugoslavia), the chapters offer original perspectives on Balkan prehistory with relevance to the neighbouring regions of Eastern and Central Europe, the Mediterranean and Anatolia.

Article “Who are the Albanians? The Illyrian Anthroponomy and the Ethnogenesis of the Albanians – A Challenge to Regional Security”, Serbian Studies: Journal of the North American Society for Serbian Studies, Vol. 26, 2012, № 1−2, ISSN 0742-3330, 2015, Slavica Publishers, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, pp. 45−76

THE HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE WESTERN BALKANS, 2021

This book is a revised and updated version of the monograph Historija arheologije u novim zemljama Jugoistočne Evrope, originally published in Sarajevo in the Bosnian language. It is divided into chapters dedicated to the seven new countries created after the break-up of Yugoslavia and their archaeologies, with the final chapter reflecting the concept of ‘Yugoslav’ archaeology. Each chapter starts with a brief geographical, archaeological and historical introduction of the country in question. In the English edition, these parts are somewhat enlarged to help readers who are not well acquainted with the geography, archaeology and history of the region to contextualise the subject of study better. The main goal of the monograph is a reflection on the development of archaeology and the historical, social and cultural conditions of its knowledge.

Ancient Thrace: Myth and Reality. The Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Congress of Thracology, Volume Two, 2022

I argue that Albanian archaeology is in need of self-reflexivity to better interact with its findings and conclusions during the country's communist past, placing itself within the wider international map of theoretically-informed archaeological practice. Drawing on national and international critiques by Richard Hodges, Mark Petruso, Sally Martin, and others, this paper aims to deconstruct the ideological discourses behind interpretations on Illyrian numismatics in the territory of Albania, while assessing the neo-colonialist rhetoric. Past efforts of Albanian archaeologists to construct a politically dictated historicity are placed in the wider context of highly instrumentalized nationalist interpretations of the archaeological record in Europe. (in Albanian see below)

The South Slav Journal (2012) 31/3-4: 61-83.

Historical myths are often used in construction and negotiation of communal, namely ethnic and national, identity. It is particularly the case in the Balkans. One of the most outspoken historical narratives here is the Illyrian myth, which connects the origins of various Balkan ethic/ national groups with ancient Illyrian tribes. Unlike many authors maintain, Balkan Illyrianism has been evident not only among the Croats, but also among the Serbs, Slovenes, and Albanians. Similarly, political and intellectual elites of the Bosnian Muslims have traced the pedigree of their "nation" back to the Illyrians. The interest in the ancient non-Roman history of Bosnian lands and the issue of pre-Roman-Slavic continuity emerged during the times of Communism, when the history of the socialist republic was being constructed. After the declaration of independence the spokesmen of Bosniak nation started to resort to Illyrian myth more and more aiming to foster a particular identity of their co-nationals and to promote Bosnia and Herzegovina as a rightfully Bosniak nation-state within the country and abroad.

Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2020

In this paper I concentrate on national and international archaeological interpretations, after 1944, on numismatics found in some of the Illyrian cities in Albania. This paper focuses on issues of interpretations during the communist regime, more specifically on adaptations of political agendas to prove the origin of Albanians. It concludes by placing interpretations of Illyrian numismatics onto the wider frame of a communist grand narrative. I argue that archaeology in Albania needs to get self-reflexive and turn its attention to international archeological theory to enrich its academic vigor. I focus primarily on Albanian and international literature published during the communist regime to make a point for an evaluation and assessment of interpretations consigning Albanian archaeology. The main issue of this research, or the consideration of interpretations on Illyrian numismatics as a single subject, is also duly addressed in the paper. This paper builds on previous publications critical of Albanian archaeology by Richard Hodges, Mark Petruso, Sally Martin, Lorenc Bejko and others. Although, the paper aims at deconstructing ideological discourse in Albanian archaeology, it remains aware of the international colonizing rhetoric of archaeological interactions. I conclude this paper recognizing a paradigm shift in Albanian archaeology, though claiming it benefits from multivocality.