The Question of Its Social Cohesion
The Kosovar Family Revisited.
The Question of Its Social Cohesion
One Decade after the War andPolitical Unrest
FWF Project Number: P22659-G18
Project Leader: Prof. Karl Kaser
Introduction to the preliminary project reports
by Karl Kaser
1)Project Aims and Research Questions
The project aims to investigate the social cohesion of the Kosovar-Albanian familyone decade after the war (1999) and the introduction of liberal economy,as well as forced migration and re-migrationafter the previous decade of political unrest. It builds on the pilotfield study „Kinship and Social Security in Kosovo in the EuropeanPerspective“, whichwas conducted by Karl Kaser and CarolinLeutloff-Grandits in collaboration with the Institute of Sociology/University of Prishtina and the Department ofEthnology and Cultural Anthropology/University of Zagreb (June to November 2009), funded by theAustrian Science and Research Liaison Office. In this project, it has been shown that the public social securitysystem is completely insufficient (because of the budgetary problems of a poor state), which puts a lot of pressure on the family as the main provider of social security. At the same time, the social cohesion of the family is in question. Herein lays the political and societal explosiveness of the research project and its values for international organizations as well as NGOs. What will happen if the social cohesion of the family and,as a result, the social and economic network crumbles and the public institutions are not able to step in and substitute private networks?
In fact, the Kosovar-Albanian family has been frequently describedasthe last European stronghold of patriarchal ideology, of big family compounds as well as of strong andextended kinship networks. The decade-long suppression of Albanians in Kosovo by the Serbian regime has strengthened the social cohesion among the Albanian population and mobilized remittances of its international migrants. The NATO bombardment of 1999 and the subsequent installation of international security and administrative bodies in the region lifted suppression and paved the way to liberty, which peaked in the declaration of an independent Republic of Kosova in February 2008.In order to understand in which way the ongoing processes have impact on the cohesion of the Kosovar family, deep qualitative research has to be conducted in a systematic way, which has not been done since two decades despite the centrality of the institution of the family for the Kosovar society and especially of social security.
Based on methodologies of the grounded theory approach, temporal as well as regional comparisonand the integration of international perspectives, the project aims to provide answers to the following six research questions:
(1) Which are the factors of change of family structures over time (late socialist period – present)?
(2) What is the impact of considerable internal and international migration?
(3) What is the impact of changing demographical and generational relations?
(4) What is the impact of possible factors of re-traditionalization such as customary law and religion?
(5) What is the impact of changing ideals with regard to family, marriage and gender relations?
(6) How is change over time reflected and readable on the symbolic level?
The research project offers the unique opportunity to Albanian and Southeast European studies, migration studies as well as European family studies to analyze the transformation of a relatively closed family and kinship system, based on a pronounced patrilineal ideology, in a rapidly changing economic, political and social environment. It aims at creating highly relevant data concerning the future of the Kosovar society and the objectives of NGOs and international donor organizations.
2)State of research
There are only three fieldwork studies of anthropological or sociological background that offer historicalin-depth insight to the Kosovar family before 1989 and which will be used as a source for comparison.
In 1975, the Norwegian anthropologist Backer(Backer 1979) conducted fieldwork in the village of Isniq (municipality of Deçan) situated in theNorthwest of Kosova. More than a decade later, the US-American anthropologist Reineck (Reineck1991) did a long term study in the region of Opoja in the Southwest of the country. TheKosovar-Albanian sociologist Rrapi conducted fieldwork in the whole region of Dukagjin from 1972to 1989/91 (Rrapi 2003). The regions of Opoja and Deçan are comparable with respect to mountainousremoteness and are specific because they constitute Kosova’s periphery toward Macedonia and Albania,respectively. Although the three studies focus on rural areasexclusively, they are extremely usefulfor the reconstruction of family, kinship and gender relations, family cohesion and patriarchal ideologybefore the outbreak of political turmoil. They are in striking accordance with the applicant’sanalysis of traditional household and kinship structures as well as of the patriarchal concept of genderrelations in the Western Balkans (Kaser 1995).
The three studies give the following prognosis: under the conditions of increasing industrialization, the patriarchalfamily and its values will disappear (Rrapi 2003: 30). Occupation outside the household, especiallyinternational migration, better education and emerging individualism will undermine the traditionalvalue system (Ibid. 124p.). The young generation desires to build up a nuclear family household and tolive a “modern life”. A tendency to split after the death of the patriarch is visible. But after the dissolution,sons may keep collaboration upright; their personhood is defined in terms of a larger family group(Reineck 1991: 188p.).
Most of the recent research that has been conducted on family and kinship relations following the war andon forced emigration, respectively, uncritically affirms these prognoses and states that the traditional Kosovar family isdissolving due to radical economic changes, the consequences of war, migration and re-migration(Saltmarshe 2002: 188). However, recent research is characterized by its fragmentation, the lack of system and the lack of stringentregional and temporal comparison.
The ASO-financed pilot projecton kinship and social security in Kosovo carried out by Karl Kaser and CarolinLeutloff-Grandits in 2009, which was based on 40 interviews conducted inthe Prishtinë quarter of Dardania and in the village of Llukar (region of Prishtinë),was a first attempt to receive new insights into the transformation of family relations, and alsoindicated an ongoing decrease of family cohesion. It was shown that parents' and children'sthe world views and values of differ enormously and that generational relations are also shifting. Respect and love of children towards parents are weakening and the future-oriented care for children becomes more important than care for (elderly) parents.Emotional kinship ties are increasingly considered independent from materiality. Even the willingnessto materially support siblings weakens. Marriage ideals are changing considerably and the age at marriage is increasing based on higher education, professional and economic pressure especially on young men. In selection ofmarriage partners young people try to reconcile individual wishes with economic and family considerations.“Traditional” gender roles become increasingly questioned, as young women more and more orient themselvestoward a “Western” model; they are increasingly well educated; female employment becomesaccepted and even constitutes a necessity for the maintenance of family economy.
In summing up the already existing research, includingthe mentioned initial research project, three conclusions can be drawn:
(1) Patriarchal family valuesand family structures seem to be in rapid transformation, especially in urban contexts since the latesocialist era; indications of increasing individualism as well as a tendency towards nuclear familyhouseholds become more frequent; poverty and the liberalization of economy increases labor timeand reduces family life. The pressure on the wider kinship networks intensifies; the increasing necessityof care for the elderly and high long-term unemployment rates exhaust kinship solidarity andyoung women interfere with family and kinship networks because of the formers’ inclination to breakwith traditional roles.
(2) Beyond these internal factors, external ones are relevant as well. Surveys indicate an increasing dissolutionof largehousehold conglomerations and a diminishing of the cohesive strength of patrilineal ideology.Most important reasons are (a) the consequences of war and political upheaval in the 1990s; (b)the establishment of an independent Kosova state, which provides Kosovar Albanians with the feeling of collectiveand subjective security; (c) the immigration policy of the EU countries, which disrupts the lifelinebetween the migrating family members and the family of origin; (d) the liberalization of the market,which hampers the mutual and symmetric exchange of goods and support of the kinship network and individualizes economic success.
(3) However, the deficits of previous research are evident. The decline of patriarchal structures is derivedfrom the decreasing size of households. Still, (a) Neither is evident whether complex family constellationswill teleologically end up in nuclear ones, nor do we know anything about the transformation of familyconcepts and patriarchal ideology withinthe above-mentioned processes over time and space. (b) Themeaning of kinship networks and their adaptation to a rapidly changing society has been completelyneglected. The recent Human Development Report on civil society does not even mention kinship relationsas a factor that obstructs the establishment of civil society structures (UNDP-Kosovo: 2009).
3)Methods
The six research questions reflect a genuine historical-anthropological approach as elaboratedtheoretically by the applicant (Kaser 2003). One of the methodological key elements of the project is its comparative, temporal and regional approach.Temporal comparison is achieved by combining previous research findings in the two regionsof Opoja (Reineck 1991) and Deçan (Backer 1979; Rrapi 2003) in the 1970s and 1980s and its research.Regional comparison is established by conducting fieldwork in the two mountainous andremote regions of Opoja and Deçan and the urbanized region of Prishtinë. Migrants and their familiesfrom Opoja and Deçan in the regions of Prishtinë and in international host countries (Austria, Germanyand Switzerland) will be traced and included in research.
The second methodological key element of the project is its grounded theoryapproach. The research questions constitute not more than “sensitizing concepts”, which enable the scholar to ask particular kindsof questions at the beginning of the research process. They are the departure for developing, ratherthan limiting the scholar’s ideas; some of them may be dispensed in the course of research and substituted by others. The data are not forced into preconceived ideas or theories but define how to pursuethe initial interests (Charmaz 2006: p. 16).
As alreadymentioned, the “objective” reasons for the break-up of the largejoint family compounds are alreadyrather well-researched. We, however, will look at the “empirical reality” produced by the ongoinginterpretation of meaning by individuals, at the actual production of meanings and concepts used bythe social actors, at the contrast between the daily realities of substantial areas and the interpretation ofthose daily realities made by the actors.
4)Three Research Sub-focuses of the Project
The project offers three research positions, which are two doctoral research projects (MA ElifeKrasniqi and MA TahirLatifi) as well as one post-doctoral research project (Dr. CarolinLeutloff-Grandits). In all three sub-projects, the six main questions will be answered; however, from different research perspectives.
MA ElifeKrasniqi focuses her project work on the family organization in the region of Opoja by basing it on long-term fieldwork in the region as well as national migration destinations like Prizren and Prishtina. MA TahirLatifi focuses his work on the family organization in the region of Isniq by basing it on long-term fieldwork in the region as well as national migrationdestinations like Mitrovica, Decan, Peja and Prishtina. Dr. CarolinLeutloff-Grandits took up the focus of transnational family organization by taking both regions as a starting point and including visits to migrants in their international migration destinations.
Obviously, all three research sub-projects are closely linked to each other, which is also expressed in joint fieldwork units, close collaboration and various internal workshops in order to bring forward the analysis of the data.
In the following, preliminary results of the three research sub-projects will be presented.
Bibliography
Backer, Berit, 1979: Behind the stone walls. Changing household organization among the Albanians in Yugoslavia.MAThesis. Oslo: PRIO-publication.
Charmaz, Kathy, 2006: Constructing grounded theory: a practical guide through qualitative analysis.London: Sage.
Kaser, Karl, 1995: Familie und Verwandtschaft auf dem Balkan. Analyse einer untergehenden Kultur. Vienna-Cologne-Weimar: Böhlau.
Kaser, Karl, 2003: Menschliche Grunderfahrungen – der Blick der Historischen Anthropologie. Elisabeth List; Erwin Fiala (ed.): Grundlagen der Kulturwissenschaften. Interdisziplinäre Kulturstudien.Tübingen-Basel: Francke, 457-475.
Reineck, Janet S., 1991: The Past as Refugee: Gender, Migration, and Ideology Among the Kosova Albanians. University of California at Berkeley: Diss.
Rrapi, Gjergj, 2003: Die albanischeGroßfamilieim Kosovo. Vienna-Cologne-Weimar: Böhlau.
Saltmarshe, Douglas, 2002: The Resource Profile Approach: A Kosovo CaseStudy. Public Administration and Development 22, 179-190.
UNDP-Kosovo (ed.),2009: Civil Society and Development. Human Development Report, Kosovo 2008.Online:
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