Albanians and their culture: A study of their defining character and uniqueness.

摘要

World news has generally ignored the Albanian people. The country sits in a forgotten corner of the Balkans, from which it occasionally explodes onto our TV screens, but never stays long enough for people to recognize the strengths of the culture.; This small nation has been overrun by all of its neighbors, occasionally incorporating elements of the occupying people, but essentially maintaining a unique language and cultural identity; an identity maintained in spite of dissection by modern international borders. While this paper considers a number of factors, the most important is the traditional family structure of social and clan interaction that became codified as the Kanon of Lek Dukagjin. This ancient system of laws gives Albania both a cohesive social structure and a systemic "rule of law" which is simultaneously stronger than other formerly communist countries and seemingly non-existent as the country struggles with modern problems.