Customary Laws, Folk Culture, and Social Lifeworlds: Albanian Studies in Critical Perspective

Albert Doja (1)

1 Université de Lille

The Institute of Comparative Law in Belgrade launched this year a Festschrift in honour of Valtazar Bogišić (1834-1908), a jurist, law historian and folklorist. His most notable works are researches on family structure and he is primarily known as a codifier of civil law in Montenegro, which he prepared on the basis of a voluminous questionnaire. One of his main informants was the leader of the Kuci lineage, at the border of Montenegro and Albania and reputed of Albanian stock. Obviously, he was also well acquainted with the customary laws of the neighbouring Albanian lineages of Gruda, Hoti and Kastrati. In this way he came to know considerably the structure of the traditional lineage society not only in Montenegro and Herzegovina, but also in northern Albania. Actually, he collected a very precious material, which will be published much later, and his contributions might be considered as a basis for later researches on customary laws and traditional societies in Balkan studies, including Albanian studies.

Mots clés: ethnographic sources; folklore; descriptivism; exoticism; criticism; anthropology; customary law; crime; social life; socialism; Albania

Domaines: Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie; Héritage culturel et muséologie; Droit; Sociologie

Albert Doja. Customary Laws, Folk Culture, and Social Lifeworlds: Albanian Studies in Critical Perspective. Luka Breneselovic. Spomenica Valtazara Bogišića o stogodišnjici njegove smrti [Gedächtnisschrift für Valtazar Bogišić zur 100. Wiederkehr seines Todestages], Beograd: Sluzbeni & Institute of Comparative Law, vol. 2, pp. 183-199., 2011. ⟨halshs-00692739⟩