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The 1990s as a Time of Unmaking and Remaking Albania

MSCA conference

28.11.2025 – 29.11.2025

Horizon Europe – Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA)

  • 28-29 November 2025
  • Senatsaal (E 106 and E 110)
  • Ludwig Maximilian University
    Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
    Munich, Germany

Overview

Synopsis of the conference

The aim of the conference is to critically (re)examine one of the most transformative decades in Albanian modern history, namely the 1990s, by focusing on the intertwining processes of the violent dismantling of the socialist legacy and the equally violent remaking of the country’s cultural, economic, and political spheres under the supervision of the European Union’s institutions, the United States, and all manner of international organisations.

The conference will bring together scholars from various disciplines, including anthropology and sociology, art history and cultural studies, history, and political science. By pooling our collective expertise and insights, we hope that the conference will make a significant contribution to the emerging critique of Albania’s shift towards neoliberalism in the postsocialist period — a case study for what similarly occurred across the post-socialist space in Eastern and Southeastern Europe.nach oben

Organisers

Ylber Marku is a Marie-Curie Research Fellow at the Department of History of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and a Researcher at the Institute of History at the Academy of Sciences of Albania. Prior to the current appointments, Dr. Marku has had academic positions in Xiamen and Hangzhou, China, and has spent some time at the Wilson Center, Washington. D.C, USA, for the Center’s program Cold War International History Project. Dr. Marku is a Cold War historian with research interests in Albania’s communist past, the circulation of expertise during the Cold War, and the international communist movement. His research has been published in many international journals, including Cold War History, The International History Review and the Journal of Cold War Studies. Dr. Marku obtained his PhD in history from Lingnan University in Hong Kong and is currently working on his book project, tentatively titled Serving the Revolution: Educational Networks in Communist Albania which explores Albania’s international educational networks during the communist period. Email: ylber.marku@lmu.de / ylbermarku@protonmail.com.

Jonida Gashi is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Art Studies at the Academy of Sciences of Albania. She has a PhD in Humanities and Cultural Studies from the University of London. Her research explores contemporary art theory and criticism, film theory and the history of the cinema, as well as the artistic experience of post-socialism in Albania. Her work has been published in academic journals and edited volumes, as well as art newspapers and exhibition catalogues, among them: Albanian Trilogy: A Series of Devious Stratagems, D’un écran à l’autre, les mutations du spectateur, Arts of the Working Class, Transnational Crime Cinema, and Radical Children’s Film and Television. Her first monograph, Kinemaja para gjyqit: Nga kinokronika e gjyqeve të popullit te filmat e vigjilencës revolucionare të masave (Cinema on Trial: From the Newsreels of the Communist Show Trials to the Revolutionary Vigilance Films) was published by Pika pa sipërfaqe in 2025. Gashi is editor-in-chief of the journal Art Studies, published annually by the Academy of Sciences of Albania, and a founding member of DebatikCenter of Contemporary Art. Email: jonida.gashi@akad.gov.al / jonidag@gmail.com.nach oben

Summary of the panels

  • Panel I. Art and Politics. (Fri, Nov 28th—morning session / 09:30 - 12:45).
    Speakers: Raino Isto, Sashenka Lleshaj, Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei.
    Respondent: Louisa Avgita.
  • Panel II. Crisis and Consolidation. (Fri, Nov 28th—afternoon session / 14:30 - 17:30).
    Speakers: Adrian Brisku, Smoki Musaraj, Maurizio Albahari.
    Respondent: Nick Mai.
  • Panel III. Regional and International Dimensions. (Sat, Nov 29th—morning session / 09:30 - 12:30).
    Speakers: Enis Sulstarova, Piro Rexhepi, Isa Blumi.
    Respondent: Vjosa Musliu.
  • Plenary Session (Sat, Nov 29th —afternoon session, 14:30 – 16:15).
    With the participation of the organizers, the panellists, the respondents, and the audience.nach oben

Detailed program of the conference

Day One, 28 November 2025

09:00–09:30 Registration
09:30–09:45 Opening Remarks Ylber Marku 
– Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich

Panel I: Art and Politics / Chair: Jonida Gashi

Time Title Speaker
09:45–10:15 The Contemporary Art Society and Its Enemies, or, The High Tide of Prophecy and the Promise of Autumn Raino Isto – University of Maryland and the American University, Washington D.C., USA
10:15–10:45 The Demolition of the National Theater: Place, Transition, and Reform Sashenka Lleshaj – Independent scholar, Montreal, Canada
10:45–11:15 From Instability to Utopia: The Art and Politics Emerging from 1990s Albania Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei – Independent scholar, Tirana
11:15–11:30 Coffee break
11:30–12:00 Presentation of the respondent’s report Louisa Avgita – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
12:00–12:45 Q & A Panellists + Respondent
12:45–14:30 Lunch break

Panel II: Crisis and Consolidation / Chair: Ylber Marku

Time Title Speaker
14:30–15:00 Varieties of Economic Nationalism in the Communist Albania of the late 1970s Adrian Brisku – Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
15:00–15:30 Neoliberal Capitalism, Ponzi Logics of Accumulation, and Informal Economic Repertoires: The Great Transformations of the 1990s in Albania Smoki Musaraj – Ohio University, Ohio, USA
15:30–16:00 Democracy and the Bordered Horizon: Notes from the Other Side Maurizio Albahari – Notre Dame University, Indiana, USA
16:00–16:15 Coffee break
16:15–16:45 Presentation of the respondent’s report Nick Mai – University of Leicester, United Kingdom
16:45–17:30 Q & A Panellists + Respondent

Day Two, 29 November 2025

Panel III: Regional and International Dimensions / Chair: Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei

Time Title Speaker
09:30–10:00 From Socialism to Europe: Framing Post-Communist Transition in Parliamentary Debates in Albania, 1991-1992 Enis Sulstarova – University of Tirana, Albania
10:00–10:30 Resurfacing Remains of 1990s Albanian Islamophobia Piro Rexhepi – School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SEES), University College London, United Kingdom
10:30–11:00 Trapped in a Neo-imperial Whirlpool: Albania, Globalization and the Post-Cold War World Isa Blumi – Stockholm University, Sweden
11:00–11:15 Coffee break
11:15–11:45 Presentation of the respondent’s report Vjosa Musliu – Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium
11:45–12:30 Q & A Panellists + Respondent
12:30–14:30 Lunch break

Plenary Session / Chair: Jonida Gashi

Time Title Speaker
14:30–16:00 Plenary Session With the participation of the organizers, the panellists, the respondents, and the audience.
16:00–16:15 Closing Remarks Jonida Gashi – Centre for Art Studies, Academy of Sciences of Albania, Tirana/Albania

nach oben

Abstracts and Introduction to the speakers

Listed in the order of the panel presentations