The National Conference on the Formation of the Albanian People, their Language and Culture

The National Conference on the Formation of the Albanian People, their Language and Culture was organized in Tirana on July 2-5, 1982, by the Academy of Sciences of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania in collaboration with the University of Tirana and the other higher institutes and scientific associations of the country.

The Conference, which was opened by the Director of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences, Prof. Stefanaq Pollo, heard three reports and 45 papers. It was attended by historians, linguists, archaeologists, ethnographers, working people of scientific and cultural institutions of the country and foreign scholars from various countries.

Present in the proceedings of the Conference were also leaders of the Party of Labour of Albania and our state.

The Conference treated one of the most important problems of our social sciences, that of the genesis of the Albanian people and its fundamental aspects, the Illyrian-Albanian continuity, the autochthony of the Albanians on their territories, and the formation of the Albanian nation with its language, culture and territory in the Middle Ages.

Our sciences, like all other fields of life in our country, have always found support, inspiration and encouragement in the teachings of the PLA and the leader of the Party and Albanian people, Comrade Enver Hoxha, which have put the students of our country on the right road of the materialist treatment of the problems of history and social phenomena, opening up new paths for them.

Powerfully assisted by our socialist state, Albanian science has achieved notable results, becoming an important active factor for the building of the socialist culture in the country. Today it has its say especially in the solution of the problems of Albanology and makes its valuable contribution to the Balkan and European studies.

The Conference marked a new step forward in the studies in this field. It evaluated the results achieved hitherto by Albanian and foreign students and scholars, throwing light on the difficult and complex problem of the genesis of the Albanians. It summed up the studies and interdisciplinary treatment of this problem, to which historiography, archaeology, linguistics, onomastics, ethnography, folklore studies, anthropology, and the history of culture, etc. make their contribution.

At the centre of all this work is the Marxist assessment of the role of the people’s masses as the producers of material and spiritual blessings and makers of their own history. With the level achieved in the economic and social development, with their resistance in the centuries to the assimilating pressure exerted by the empires of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and with their ceaseless struggles against social and national oppression, the Albanian people have been the decisive factor for historical progress, and have preserved and further developed their identity, have created their Albanian nationality with common cultural features and have developed into a modern nation.

The problems treated at the Conference cover both the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. However, their study has not only historical importance, but also present political importance, because the problems of the formation of nationalities and of their ethnic-cultural features are in the centre of attention in the struggle of nations for identity and the right to self-determination. From this point of view, the work of this Conference stands in opposition to the imperialist ideology which denies the peoples their great national traditions and negates the active and positive role of the ethnic factors, labeling them as “anachronistic,” “myths of the past,” etc. Our historiography has been opposed to all those tendentious and chauvinist anti-scientific views which, created for ulterior anti-Albanian political aims, contradicting or even distorting historical facts, negate the Illyrian-Albanian continuity and the autochthonous character of the Albanians on their historical territories, as well as the unitary and original character and the ancient roots of their national culture.

Led by the Party of Labour of Albania and carrying out its teachings, the Albanian people make a high assessment of their positive historical traditions, the national and popular culture and art, which have been preserved and developed against the innumerable storms of the time, and constitute their contribution to the treasury of world culture. These traditions have become part of our new socialist life and a source of inspiration to build it.

After the analysis and summing up of the achievements made, the Conference outlined the main directions for research in the future to take up problems that have not been treated until today.

The closing speech of the Conference was held by the President of the Academy of Sciences, Prof. Aleks Buda.

This volume comprises three reports and 19 papers. A summary of each of the papers not included in the volume is added at the end of the book.

---

Published in: