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Thu, Feb 09 2012
A curious attraction
CAFÉ LAND: Rruga Nëna Tereza, named after Mother Teresa, is the main pedestrian street in Pristina.
Photo: Magdalena Rahn
SECULAR: While Kosovo is 90 per cent Muslim, observation of the religion is nominal.
Photo: Magdalena Rahn
SLEEP TIGHT: At the main market in Pristina, one can still find many hand-made, and homemade, goods.
Photo: Magdalena Rahn
HISTORY: Many of the old, Turkish-era buildings in Pristina were destroyed during the 1998/99 war and the ensuing modernisation of the city. This one has survived, for now.
Photo: Magdalena Rahn
GOODBYE: KLA founder Adem Jashari and his family were killed in their house in a three-day attack by the Serbian army in March 1998.
Photo: Magdalena Rahn
Ten years since the war between the Kosovars and the Serbs ended. Ten years since KFOR entered Kosovo, and began to provide a source of stability. Or so proclaim the billboards that are posted around Pristina now, in the summer of 2009.
Ethnic cleansing is not supposed to happen, not in modern society, not in the Western world, not when there is widespread internet and mobile phone coverage and, even then, even 10 years ago, at least fax machines and e-mail.
But it did. Estimates of death related to the war (Nato attacks, Yugoslav ground forces, the Kosovar Liberation Army) hover at about 10 000 people, and there are still about 3300 people unaccounted for.
From an outsider’s perspective, Kosovo is a jumble of contradictions. For a society that was partially destroyed so recently, it is truly a joyous place. National pride, following Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia on February 18 2009, is visible, if not hopeful. Cafés and bars bustle; cars, many of them with licence plates from Germany or The Netherlands, bearing witness to the owners’ prosperity in an adopted country, clog the roads. The air smells of sunburnt dust and, at 7pm, fresh-baked bread. There is construction everywhere. Young people fill the streets, Western-orientated if anything in their dress and outlook. Or so that is how we see it, we 60 or so students from Japan, Syria, the United States and all around Europe who are in Pristina for two August weeks of intensive courses in the Albanian language. (Most of the population in Kosovo is ethnic Albanian.)
The International Seminar for Albanian Language, Literature and Culture was first held in 1974 at the philology faculty (at that time the philosophy faculty) of the University of Pristina. This year marked the 28th.
Most language learners are Balkan studies students, though there are also a few journalists, NGO workers and simply the curious – though most likely none of us beginners have expected it to be such a difficult language. (From now on, when someone says to me: "But how did you ever learn Bulgarian? It’s such a hard language!", my response will be: "Try learning Albanian.")
What Pristina, the capital and, with a population of nearly 600 000, the largest city in Kosovo (population nearly two million), lacks in infrastructural stability and aesthetics (in comparison, returning to Sofia is like arriving in Paris), it makes up for in cafés. Be prepared to drink good coffee, a lot of coffee, always served with a glass of water by a friendly waiter. The population is overwhelmingly young, say under the age of 32.
And for whatever most people in the West, or even most people outside of immediate proximity to the country, think, there is nothing dangerous, backwards, radical, militant, cunning or uncivilised about the society. Granted, exceptions always exist, but in the three times that I have stayed in the country in the past year, such has never crossed my path.
So back to the coffee. It’s good. And in some sense, it is the best way to understand life here. Sit down, order a macchiato (most places in the centre charge 0.50 to one euro), relish the milky foam and just watch. If you are male, carry on. If you are female, best first think to go with someone else, male or female – not like anything negative would happen, or you would not be served, it is simply that females do not go to bars/restaurants/cafés by themselves: it is simply part of the culture.
People walk past, greet friends, read the paper; children scamper around, beggars ask for money or sell peanuts by the teacupful. Life is calm, yet there is an underlying push.
"My impression of the country and its people is that they were eager to get started with something. The momentum of progress so far seems to have created a desire to keep that spirit alive," Kevin Gabbard, a linguistics major at Ohio State University, tells The Sofia Echo. He is joined at the seminar by three of his professors (including eminent Albanian scholar Brian D Joseph) and five fellow students.
Peder Wiegner, a peace development worker in Pristina with the Mennonite Central Committee, has a slightly different view. "One of the first things I noticed was that young people here in Kosovo are generally pretty eager to leave for another country. There are many reasons for that. The obvious one is that unemployment in Kosovo is quite high, and the prospects for young, educated, skilled people to find jobs is low. It is detrimental to the population to have so much unemployment and unused energy," he says.
"There are a lot of young, educated, skilled people who are eager to get jobs in media, for example, where they feel that new energy is desperately needed. New energy, new ideas, new values and innovation are needed. This would mean eliminating the older generation which has been in charge... But the older generation will not let their stable jobs slip out of their hands so quickly. Plus, there is always resistance to change, especially if something is at stake, like one’s career."
Ethnic cleansing is not supposed to happen, not in modern society, not in the Western world, not when there is widespread internet and mobile phone coverage and, even then, even 10 years ago, at least fax machines and e-mail.
But it did. Estimates of death related to the war (Nato attacks, Yugoslav ground forces, the Kosovar Liberation Army) hover at about 10 000 people, and there are still about 3300 people unaccounted for.
From an outsider’s perspective, Kosovo is a jumble of contradictions. For a society that was partially destroyed so recently, it is truly a joyous place. National pride, following Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia on February 18 2009, is visible, if not hopeful. Cafés and bars bustle; cars, many of them with licence plates from Germany or The Netherlands, bearing witness to the owners’ prosperity in an adopted country, clog the roads. The air smells of sunburnt dust and, at 7pm, fresh-baked bread. There is construction everywhere. Young people fill the streets, Western-orientated if anything in their dress and outlook. Or so that is how we see it, we 60 or so students from Japan, Syria, the United States and all around Europe who are in Pristina for two August weeks of intensive courses in the Albanian language. (Most of the population in Kosovo is ethnic Albanian.)
The International Seminar for Albanian Language, Literature and Culture was first held in 1974 at the philology faculty (at that time the philosophy faculty) of the University of Pristina. This year marked the 28th.
Most language learners are Balkan studies students, though there are also a few journalists, NGO workers and simply the curious – though most likely none of us beginners have expected it to be such a difficult language. (From now on, when someone says to me: "But how did you ever learn Bulgarian? It’s such a hard language!", my response will be: "Try learning Albanian.")
What Pristina, the capital and, with a population of nearly 600 000, the largest city in Kosovo (population nearly two million), lacks in infrastructural stability and aesthetics (in comparison, returning to Sofia is like arriving in Paris), it makes up for in cafés. Be prepared to drink good coffee, a lot of coffee, always served with a glass of water by a friendly waiter. The population is overwhelmingly young, say under the age of 32.
And for whatever most people in the West, or even most people outside of immediate proximity to the country, think, there is nothing dangerous, backwards, radical, militant, cunning or uncivilised about the society. Granted, exceptions always exist, but in the three times that I have stayed in the country in the past year, such has never crossed my path.
So back to the coffee. It’s good. And in some sense, it is the best way to understand life here. Sit down, order a macchiato (most places in the centre charge 0.50 to one euro), relish the milky foam and just watch. If you are male, carry on. If you are female, best first think to go with someone else, male or female – not like anything negative would happen, or you would not be served, it is simply that females do not go to bars/restaurants/cafés by themselves: it is simply part of the culture.
People walk past, greet friends, read the paper; children scamper around, beggars ask for money or sell peanuts by the teacupful. Life is calm, yet there is an underlying push.
"My impression of the country and its people is that they were eager to get started with something. The momentum of progress so far seems to have created a desire to keep that spirit alive," Kevin Gabbard, a linguistics major at Ohio State University, tells The Sofia Echo. He is joined at the seminar by three of his professors (including eminent Albanian scholar Brian D Joseph) and five fellow students.
Peder Wiegner, a peace development worker in Pristina with the Mennonite Central Committee, has a slightly different view. "One of the first things I noticed was that young people here in Kosovo are generally pretty eager to leave for another country. There are many reasons for that. The obvious one is that unemployment in Kosovo is quite high, and the prospects for young, educated, skilled people to find jobs is low. It is detrimental to the population to have so much unemployment and unused energy," he says.
"There are a lot of young, educated, skilled people who are eager to get jobs in media, for example, where they feel that new energy is desperately needed. New energy, new ideas, new values and innovation are needed. This would mean eliminating the older generation which has been in charge... But the older generation will not let their stable jobs slip out of their hands so quickly. Plus, there is always resistance to change, especially if something is at stake, like one’s career."
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Magdalena:
"As a female who was born and raised in Southern California, though, I had no qualms about going somewhere by myself, nor in Western Europe."
Makes sense now that I think about it.
I know quite a few Americans who would travel in Europe on their own, while probably not so much in the States. Often young Americans, especially the more alert ones, find themselves in Europe and enjoy their individual freedom, as they couldn't in the US.
You can see how there's nothing wrong [...]
Read the full comment with an American lady spending a week in Paris, walking the streets, enjoying the cafes and so on. It's romanic to them. The same person going to Florida or Vegas on her own, would be another matter. In the US being by yourself, brands you with the stigma of loneliness and the implied undesirability that comes with it..
Being in a larger company of peers, makes them feel "popular" - another strange notion, characteristic of the American high school, of which many of them never really get out of....
Trinity:
"As for you valerie, your culture seems to be some caveman paranoid who the husband likes to go in individual holidays to get better looking younger woman."
That's your Muslim way to look at things. Why is everything about the evil sex, with you folks?
For example, I can never get my wife to go to India - she fears the filth and the people. She can never get me out to some spa resort - not my thing.
In a civilized (European) society, we can keep our individuality [...]
Read the full comment and still have the strong relationship.
I have been to Turkey many times and am speaking from personal experience. Turkey is very modern in many ways, until you scratch the surface. The signs to look for is gender balance in the establishments. If they are predominately men, then you kind of figure out where you are.
Kosovo's declaration of independence had nothing to do with individual freedom, but had everything to do with ethnic separation. I've been to Kosovo and in the country side they live in those "family compounds" - large, very patriarchal, family homes - not exactly a bastion of individuality. Many of them have very small windows to the street. The Serbs in that respect are much more advanced.
As a rule, the stronger the family, as institution, the less individual rights in a given society.
Magdalena.
I agree with you. Greece though is probably the most culturally conservative country in the EU. The difference between BG and GR in many ways, is how we were affected by Christianity.
In addition to our Communist decades - very important period for tracing our secular values, we have deeper roots of mistrust for organized religion.
Throughout the Ottoman "Long night", the Turks basically placed the Greek clergy in charge of the Bulgarian Christians. That actually gave the Church the status of an outsider, borderline "an associate of the oppressor", and it wasn't until the 19th century, when the Bulgarian National Church was recognized, that we started identifying with it.
Orthodox Church is genuinely indigenous to Greeks and their faith until this day, seem much more heartfelt - hence the relative conservatism.
From my experiences, while the tradition of women not going to restaurants/cafés alone might have its basis in religion, such is not confined to Islam -- take Greece as an example, where, even in Athens, from my experience living there, women rarely dine/drink coffee alone.
As a female who was born and raised in Southern California, though, I had no qualms about going somewhere by myself, nor in Western Europe.
Neither is good, neither is bad, it just is.
Great article,
Good to have seminars on language and culture were it can be aprociated from people with interest.
As for you valerie, your culture seems to be some caveman paranoid who the husband likes to go in individual holidays to get better looking younger woman.
No need to share your domestics with all of us, its simply nasty.
And have you been to Turkey before or are you so desperate to cling on to your schicofrenia?
Plus it was their individual freedom that was met [...]
Read the full comment with all of Kosovo to declare their independence.
This comment has been removed by the moderator because it contained Обиди, дискриминация, срещу журналисти
I disagree that it isn't natural for a man (or a woman) to go places alone.
In fact I see it as a mark of civilization, when members of society do not seek safety in numbers. I am happily married, yet we occasionally take individual vacations and certainly have common, as well as separate friends and associates.
The mark of advanced society is the high degree of individuality of its members, which in turn spells the lesser need for conformation and tribal approval.
And you are right, it isn't about religion.
[...]
Read the full comment /> In the US when you say "Islam" or "Christianity" people automatically hear "religion".
That's because the US is a fundamentally a religious society and they are prone to see it much too literally. Very few in Europe are deeply religious, so to us religion is little more than a code word for culture.
Sadly, American values, through Hollywood, are confusing the terminology for many Europeans, these days.
Religion dictates culture. I don't fear Allah, but I do fear Islam, because that tidal wave could undermine many of the individual freedoms we've achieved in Europe.
Christianity learnt to adopt and co-exist with freedom in Europe. Islam will not have the chances, given their population pressure...
I wouldn't say it has always to do with religion. It's a common human trait and a natural thing that a woman (or a man) would be hesitant to go places alone. Having companionship plays an instrumental role in societies. But comparing them to religion seems like branding them. I would take both sides.
"... it is simply that females do not go to bars/restaurants/cafés by themselves: it is simply part of the culture."
That's not an Albanian thing but a part of the Muslim wide culture.
Turkey is the same way. In fact you can't get into a night club without a woman there (you have to bring one, since they are not going to come on their own), otherwise there will be just a bunch a guys dancing with each other - the norm in countries like Pakistan.
The inter gender relations [...]
Read the full comment is among the biggest problems with Islam. I personally have very little hope for areas predominately Islamic, because they will never utilize the creative energy of half of their population fully and generally in order to have an advanced society, individual freedom must be the # 1 prerequisite.
To a degree the US has similar characteristics, as it is the most religious and conservative, Christian society.
A woman would rarely sit to have lunch by herself in the US, and of course much less go to a club. They need to be in pares or more and preferably in a group.
I loved that in Europe one can go out and meet a girl without necessarily needing the support of something the Americans call "wing man" to distract her girlfriends (modern day chaperons), or to provide cover, so to say.
Very 19th century, I must say...