Navigating Dropull through liminal spaces and thresholds

Abstract

Dropull – a case of “territory in between” The condition in Dropull as an excuse for the study of concepts such as liminality and threshold. Located at the heart of a cross-border macro-region, between Albania and Greece, the area of Dropull represents a space of various potentials, a territory in-between, and a rural threshold, which is constantly challenged. Dropull is a profoundly rural area, located in the threshold between Drinos River valley and the mountain chains of Nëmërçka and Bureto, thus in a very dynamic territory of various landscape features, which tie together a macro-region between Albania and Greece. It is also located along a very important economic corridor that goes in parallel with the river, and in between Gjirokastra and Ioannina, two regional centers of a cross-border macro-region between the two countries. Over years, this very strategic positioning has conditioned a very welcoming climate for businesses and industries as well, giving Dropull yet another potential to explore and make use of, in terms of development of the economy. Nevertheless, albeit its rural character and the potentials that are tied to it, and the welcoming atmosphere that its geographical positioning offers to businesses and industries, Dropull is part of one of the peripheral regions of the country, which over years has suffered the lack of policies to properly address the development of local economy, consequently followed by a critical abandonment and shrinkage, due to very active out-migration flows, manifested in seasonal fluctuations as well.