Photographic Practices among Albanian Families in Kosovo

Abstract

Photography records “the cultural inventory” not only of material culture but also of relationships between people. As John Collier Jr. wrote, “the photographic inventory can record not only the range of artifacts in a home but also their relationship to each other, the style of their placement in space, all the aspects that define and express the way in which people use and order their space and possessions” (Collier, John, Jr., and Malcolm Collier. 1986. Visual Anthropology, Photography as a Research Method. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 45). In this paper the family photography practices among Albanian families in Kosovo will be discussed. The paper will focus on the practices about (a) what they do with photography, (b) what it offers them, (c) how they treat it, (d) how attitudes toward photography have changed through generations, (e) how family photography presents the Kosovar family, (f) intergenerational connection, power and the idea of an ideal family, and so on. I analyze the differences between generations in family photographic practices from 1950 till 2014, and will look into the importance that photography has for family continuity and communion, based on stories collected about the deportation of families and their separation during the 1999 war in Kosovo. How did Albanian people try to hide family photos during that war, and how did their photos survive during it? How are people linked through family photography? What is compensated through photographs?