Between Conflicting Systems

An Ordinary Tragedy in Now-Capitalist Albania

in Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
Author:
Matthew Rosen Ohio University rosenm@ohio.edu

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2019.280202
Keywords:
Albania; capitalism; ethnography; literature; moral economy; postsocialism; structures of feeling; value systems
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Abstract

‘Business as usual’ in contemporary Albania takes place between different and conflicting systems of meaning and value. Drawing from ethnographic material collected in Tirana, Albania, this article examines the complexities of social and economic life in a city where distinct moral economies routinely clash with the capitalist principle of profit. Starting from the ethnographic impulse to learn how two local booksellers made sense of the contradictory systems of meaning operating in their everyday lives, the analysis shows how a grinding of discordant value systems produced the more general paradox of an ‘ordinary tragedy’.

Contributor Notes

Matthew Rosen, Ohio University. E-mail: rosenm@ohio.edu

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Anthropological Journal of European Cultures

(formerly: Anthropological Yearbook of European Cultures)

Cover Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
22
Keywords:
Albania; capitalism; ethnography; literature; moral economy; postsocialism; structures of feeling; value systems
Print Publication Date:
01 Sep 2019
Online Publication Date:
01 Sep 2019
Copyright:
© Berghahn Books 2019

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