The Whole Map of the Balkans: Ethnicity, National Identity and Empire in the Work of Ismail Kadare [ 2003 - 2005 ]

Research Grant

Researchers A/Prof PH Morgan

Brief description The Albanian intellectual, Ismail Kadare, foreshadowed the re-valorization of ethnic identity as a socio-political category under late 20th century communism. While Kadare's novels and essays deal primarily with his native Albania, they also represent the emergence more broadly of ethnicity as a factor in the literature of Eastern and South-Eastern European socialism. The project will explore in depth the relationship between ethnicity, ideology and socialist literary culture that underpins Kadare's work, providing the first detailed analytical and critical study in English, and locating Kadare in the context of the major lines of contemporary European thought regarding ethnicity and ethnic identity.

Funding Amount $84,666

Funding Scheme Discovery Projects