The Role of Albania and Kosovo in the ‘South-Eastern Turn'
Tuesday, 9 April 2019, 4 – 5:45pm 
A lecture by Chloe Fagan (TCD) as part of the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies Research Seminar.
The Role of Albania and Kosovo in the ‘South-Eastern Turn’ in Contemporary German Language Literature
The past fifteen years have seen an increase in German language texts taking Albanian or Kosovar themes as their focus.
This paper explores texts by Albanian and Kosovar migrant authors, and other contemporary German language texts written in response to recent Albanian and Kosovar history, to assess how they fit thematically into the so-called "Eastern Turn" in contemporary German language literature, and take it a step further, to form a “South-Eastern Turn”.
It examines the question of how these authors and texts respond to the cultural traumas of the fall of Communism in Albania, the period of change in its aftermath, the war in Kosovo, and the resulting migration/refugee culture, and how these texts contribute to our understanding of these events and processes, as well as assessing migrant subject configurations in these Albanian/Kosovar texts, in combination with a critique of Balkanist discourse which Albania, and Kosovo, are subject to.
It ultimately argues that one of the main concerns of this “Turn” is to disrupt the official narrative produced by the dominant discourse in Albania and Kosovo, to problematize the understanding of this history, and to highlight the memory work currently lacking on the political level in Albania and Kosovo.
Campus Location: Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute
Accessibility: Yes
Room: Neill Lecture Theatre
Event Category: Alumni, Arts and Culture, Lectures and Seminars, Public
Type of Event: One-time event
Audience: Undergrad, Postgrad, Alumni, Faculty & Staff, Public
Cost: Free
