Until last spring, Kosovo was virtually unknown to most Americans. However, that was before NATO began a bombing attack on the province. The genocide launched against the ethnic Albanians living in the province had gone too far, in NATO’s mind, and needed to be stopped. Suddenly, the news filled with images of bedraggled Albanian refugees trudging to the border to escape the wars and the attacks on their homes and families. Reporters filed stories about the ethnic cleansing campaign President Silbodan Milsovek imposed on the Albanians living in Kosovo. Suddenly, this summer the NATO campaign was declared finished. NATO withdrew, leaving behind a few peacekeeping forces. The news cameras packed up and went home since there was no story left, in their eyes. Periodically, a story will surface about the refugees’ problems upon returning home, revenge attacks on Serbs committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), or a visit by a diplomatic official to Kosovo. This lack of coverage doesn’t mean a lack of stories to cover. The Kosovar Albanians are still working to either return home to Kosovo, or are settling into new lives in host countries around the world, all while their homeland constantly changes and the future grows more uncertain.

What popular news coverage during the "crisis"—and most certainly currently—fails to even hint at is the much larger population movement of Albanians. This migration spans beyond the single province of Kosovo and the small time frame of spring and summer 1999, contrary to the mainstream media shows.

The country that the persecuted Albanian Kosovars originated from has a history of population disruptions and movements. Currently, Albania has one of the highest emigration rates of all of Europe. The number of those migrating increased sharply in the last ten years since the fall of communism opened borders and allowed for greater ease of movement between countries and across borders.

The Balkans have a history of ethnic disputes and every so often the eye of the world focuses on this troubled area until the problem has been temporarily patched up. But when the world’s attentions have focused on a new problem, we can be sure that the people in the Balkans will still be moving, still be looking for a place which they can feel at home.

Recently, the world’s attention has been focused on the region of the former Yugoslav Republic. Numerous wars and uprisings of the populations have continually drawn global attention to this troubled region. Most recently, the conflict in Kosovo between Serbs and Albanians has been the focus. We have all seen images of refugees traveling across the desolate landscape trying to make their way to freedom from persecution by the Serbs, spurned on the President Slobodan Milosevic. However, there have been numerous movements across borders and constant migration ever since the beginning of recorded history. In light of these movements, combined with a study of the current feelings of the Albanians, it is important to learn about the people who live in the area and what their movement can mean to the rest of the world. Already, policies are implemented that alter the nature of Albanian movements. How immigrants are sent and received will have a profound impact for all the counties involved. I will examine the nature of the current movements and try to understand how the Albanians and the Kosovars work to maintain ties to their homelands.

The Albanian Diaspora is one with a lengthy history that shows no signs of stopping, or even of slowing down. We can better understand the nature of the Albanian Diaspora by looking at the historical and contemporary migrations, and by viewing case studies of the countries where many Albanians have moved. We can also gain insights to the Diaspora by looking at specific aspects of it: the unique experiences of the Kosovar Albanians, women and children, and how contacts are maintained between people once they leave Albania.

Albanians are a people that are mobile and constantly seeking opportunities to leave Albania. Once they leave, though, they encounter many difficulties resettling because of hostilities in the countries they settle in, combined with their own strong sense of nationalism.

As I analyze the Albanian Diaspora, my interpretation of their movements will be filtered through the model as proposed by Nina Glick Schiller. Glick Schiller describes the movements in terms of economics, politics, and the migrant’s own personal struggles. Her thesis draws form six ideas central to the idea of transnationalism: 1) the people are bound by their tribe 2) their experience is linked to capitalism 3) experiences are also grounded in daily lives 4) it is necessary to focus in migrants ethnic constraints 5) we need to readdress personal ideas of ethnicity, and 6) migrants deal with a variety of issues (Glick Schiller 1998:5). Basing the Albanian Diaspora on these constructs is sound, since many of the reasons Albanians migrate relate to the political aspects and lack of economic opportunities in Albania. In addition, the Albanians are extremely nationalistic and feel strongly about their sense of ethnic heritage. The politics of Albania have caused many of the movements as a result of their policies.

Glick Schiller’s six tenants lack in that they do not address the issues of experiences common to most migrants (meaning too often the elite are focused on with this mode) and potential political and economic benefits of the home country are not considered. I attempt to remedy these obstacles in my research. First, there are very few affluent Albanians, and most of the recent Albanian movements have involved impoverished refugees. Thus, by default, most of the information about migration included here is on the non-elite. I will not be addressing the potential political and economic benefits of remaining in Albania. The country is in huge economic and political crises, and it seems there are no positives. Clearly, for most Albanians, the way to get ahead is to leave Albania behind.

Using Glick Schiller’s model, I hope to explain the reasons Albanians move and how their past plays an important role in the lives they choose for themselves after emigrating.

In light if Albania’s history, it is not surprising they are experiencing chaos in their current political and economic situation. Albania has difficulty moving beyond their contemporary impoverished state because of their geography and history.

Geographically, Albania is isolated by mountainous land. Because of difficulties in crossing the land, Albania has been in rigid political, cultural, and economic isolation for much of its history. In addition, numerous foreign invasions and subsequent occupations have left the Albanians able only to focus on basic survival, leaving little time to develop themselves technologically further. As a result of this, Albania still remains primarily an agrarian state. Even so, this is not a secure or dependable occupation as 70% of the total land is barren. Despite these disadvantages, Albanians still remain very proud and protective of their country. An important reason for the staunch sense of nationalism is because of these frequent foreign invasions. The constant threat against Albanian identity makes the Albanians all the more protective of what heritage they have developed.

The Ottoman Empire was an important and influential time in Albanian history. The Empire imposed a heavy rule over Albanians for centuries. One of its lasting legacies was the conversion of a majority of Albanians to the Islamic religion. The Albanians who didn’t convert were people with minds for academics and politics. These people began to immigrating to Turkey. The exodus of intellectual Albanians is an aspect of the Diaspora that will resurface frequently. In 1912, the Ottoman Empire fell, but Albanian independence did not last for long. By 1920, Albania was completely independent. However, the end of their short-lived independence came in 1939, when Mussolini invaded Albania.

Confusion and disorder in Albania grew during the Second World War. The German Nazis replaced Italian occupation. Meanwhile, a civil war ended with declaration of communist government, and one of the most totalitarian governments of Europe was imposed. During this time, fear and suspicion of the outside world compounded Albania’s already isolationist value. In 1990, the communist rule fell across Eastern Europe, the borders opened up, and the Albanian migration began.

As a group, Albanians are anxious to move. Already they have one of the highest dimensions of emigration of Europe. The average age of the emigrant is less than 30 years old and men make up 73% of the emigrants. The desire to migrate spans economic and age groups, and the desired countries of immigration are varied. A 1995 report released by the International Organization for Migration show that 44% of Albanians said it will be very likely that they will go to another country to work, at least for a few years. In the true nature of Diaspora, the move is never seen as being permanent. Albanians wishing to migrate hope to return to Albania eventually. About one third said they would return within three years.

Those people who do return to Albania usually emigrate to Greece or Italy. A majority of those migrants have only been gone three or four years. The reasons for returning vary, but the most common ones given are: the person was forced to leave, expelled, denied asylum, or left for family reasons.

As more Albanians leave Albania, it is logical that a growing number of Albanians remaining behind have relatives living abroad, primarily in Greece and Italy. For some, joining family abroad is a strong influence for moving, but an overwhelming majority moves for economic reasons, specifically to seek employment.

Of course, the countries Albanians wish to go to can’t absorb the number wishing to migrate. The top choices for destination countries are, in order of preference, the USA, Italy, Greece, and Germany. Because of the limits of immigrants set by these countries many Albanian migrants enter illegally. Traffickers offer their services for a price, although Albanians express doubts about the trustworthiness of these people. Even so, many Albanians use a trafficker to help them cross, or are at least know who to contact to obtain this type of help. Traffickers have established routes over the Adriatic Sea to get from Albania to Italy. Motorboats follow these route regularly.

One complication of the large numbers of emigrants from Albania is that Albania is losing its younger, better-educated generation. High skills make these Albanians more marketable and more desirable for the potential receiving countries. The consequence of this is a "brain drain" in Albania. "The real immigration of the intellectuals and of people of young age from Albania . . . is at 35.8%" (Paparizo 1999). The small, agricultural country suffering from high unemployment can’t offer opportunities that educated workers need to want to stay. It is hard to develop more opportunities for the educated when the people with resources for development are the ones migrating. The problem is one that the government will have to address in the coming years to stop further leaving of the intellectuals.

These facts are consistent with my personal experience. I spoke to an 18-year-old Albanian man, Gerard Gjonej, who is attending the University of Nebraska—Lincoln and majoring in math. He is a bright young man (he is in the UNL Honors Program) and he described how all of his friends no longer live in Albania. Rather, a majority of them are studying in Italy, and two are in Greece. As for his own family, his parents remain in Albania while his older brother has lived in France for five years and is working on a degree in accounting. This shows that there are few incentives to staying in Albania for bright young men.

One of the first large recorded migrations occurred from 1689-1690. This is called the "Great Migration" of the Serbian peoples and subsequently is a "Great Migration" of Albanians. Estimates place the number of Serbs leaving at 400,000-500,000. The reason for this migration was the Ottoman-Hapsburg War of 1683-1699. As the war was being fought, the Austrian emperor, Leopold I, offered the Serbs exile in Hapsburg territories. In 1790 alone, 37,000 Serbian families left for Hungary. However, more died of illness and starvation than were living in exile. Many Serbs expected to come back to their homes in Kosovo, but this hope was not fully realized. At this time, the Serbs were living in the valleys and the Albanians were living in the harsher, more mountainous areas. As the Serbs migrated and left behind vacant land, the Albanians came down from the hills to farm the more fertile lowlands the Serbs had once worked. As the Serbs left and the Albanians began to fill their place (both from the mountains and from Albania), the demographic of Serb versus Albanian percentage of the population gradually began to shift toward the Albanian majority we have today. Also, the Ottomans encouraged the Kosovars to take over the lands of the Serbs as a war tactic. The subsequent dispute over who should rightfully have the land put into motion the resentments that began to drive apart the Serbs and Albanians who had lived together more or less peacefully for the earlier 900 years. This first great movement set up the ethnic conflict of present day.

As long as the politics of the nation has allowed it, Albanians have been dispersing from their original home of Albania. Historically, the movements have been in the area of the Balkans. In the eighteenth century, Albanian movement into Macedonia increased. To escape Ottoman rule, Albanians moved to start new communities in Italy, Greece, and along the Dalmatian Coast. Migrations into Kosovo were also common, partly because the Serbs moving out left land to farm, and partly because a plague swept through the area and killed many people who hadn’t left for migration. The Albanians found completely abandoned villages and fertile farmland with a sparse population density. At this particular time in the Diaspora, the Albanians let their contacts back home lapse and assimilated into the Slavic culture that had been dominant. These areas of settlement for the Albanians were familial units dispersed into small groups over a wide area. They lost the cultural security of tight-knit clans, but adopted the Southern Slav system of large family cooperatives in its place. This is one example of how Albanians assimilated into the culture of the area where they moved.

Between 1690 and the outbreak of the First World War migrations continued, but no population movements of the scope of the Great Migration were recorded. Emigration was still a role in Albanian culture, though. This was mostly instigated by religious leaders and government officials who expelled populations from various areas, and Albanians who continued to move into Kosovo and neighboring countries at a steady rate. We know this since in 1815, many village populations were the size they had been before 1690 (and the migrations and plague).

Prior to World War I, Austria annexed Bosnia-Hertzogovenia. Serbs continued to trickle out of Kosovo and Albanians continued to trickle out of Albania, in part because of this annexation. Other factors for Serbian emigration include hostilities from the Albanians, economic stagnation, poor administration, and the desire to live in free Serbia. From 1876-1912, estimates place the number of Serbian emigrants at 60,000. It is important to know about the Serbian migration, since it directly fuels the Albanian migration. The leaving of Serbs left openings Albanians could move into. We can see the beginnings of ethnic conflict as the Albanians flocked to Kosovo. These movements combined to result in the percentage of Serbs living in Kosovo dropping to 21-25% of the total population. More Albanians found themselves involuntarily displaced by the Protocol of Florence of 1913. This agreement completely redrew the borders of Albania, and suddenly more than half the total Albanian population was outside the Albanian state in all the surrounding countries and provinces. The aftermath of the border redrawing was disastrous for the Albanians. The Serb government quickly prohibited Albanians from crossing borders, and many Albanians were cut off from their markets where they sold their goods. Small fights broke out along the borders between Albanians and other ethnic groups.

Post World War I brought additional movements and upheavals. The collapse of the Austrio-Hungary Empire caused Kosovo to become part of the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Ten years later, in 1929 the Kingdom changed its government to that of an absolute monarchy and its name to Yugoslavia. During this change of government, the borders of Yugoslavia were once again redrawn with complete disregard to the racial or ethnic composition of the regions. The new government wished to rid Yugoslavia of the entire ethnic population. To accomplish this goal, plans between the Turkish and Yugoslav governments for mass deportation were drafted. The specific plans that were drawn up would force 200,000 Albanians into exile to the Turkish government. This proposed time frame for completion of the program was six years. However, these plans were never implemented because the Second World War broke out and hampered the completion. The desire to expel Albanians does not mean that Albanians weren’t moving across the borders anyway during the interwar period. Indeed, from 1919 to 1940, 215,412 Albanians were forcefully expatriated, without the right to return.

Post World War II was another period in the history of Albania that migrations were frequent and tensions were high. There are many movements between the Yugoslavs and Albanians between 1945 and 1966. However, there is unreliable data in the numbers of migrant movements since during this time the Serbian government was persecuting the Albanians. Records show that approximately 246,000 Yugoslavs left for Turkey; of this, 100,000 were Serbs from Kosovo. At this time, the government conducted a surveys to track the reasons why people were leaving. The official government survey showed that 95% of the Serbs who left cited economic or family reasons, while less than .1% cited pressures from Albanians. However, a survey commissioned by the Serbian Academy of Sciences shows that 41% of those emigrating cited "indirect" pressure from Albanians and 21% cited "direct" pressure. However, this survey should be interpreted slightly skeptically, since the Serbian Academy of Sciences was running a propaganda campaign of the "atrocities" against Serbs in Kosovo. At the same time, we can s the escalating ethnic conflicts between the two groups that have resulted in the troubles of today.

Although it is possible to find Albanians in every part of the world, a majority tend not to migrate far from their homeland of Albania. There exist certain lands where most of the Albanians emigrate. After 45 years of minimal migration of migration of ethnic Albanians, the collapse of communism gave people the freedom to move around as they chose, and a huge number of people seized this opportunity and ventured out into the world. Most of them left for neighboring countries, and the Balkan countries were confronted with hundreds of thousand of Albanians claiming asylum and looking for entry into the country.

One of the lands that gets a high percentage of Albanian emigrants is Greece. One has to be careful in talking about "Albanian" emigrants in Greece since a border change incorporated what used to be a part of Greece into Albania. At first, mostly ethnic Greeks were emigrating from Albania back to Greece. Even so, the Greek government estimates that up to 1,000,000 primarily ethnic immigrants have arrived at Greek borders looking for entry (Van Hear 1998: 122). What this statistic doesn’t show is the number of emigrants that have been denied entry into Greece. When considering the numbers turned away at the Greek border, it is important to realize that the actual number of Albanian migrants in Greece drops to around 300,000.

For Greece to be accepting these immigrants new policies had to be created. Greece has typically been a country of emigration, not immigration. Therefore, Greece is experiencing a new role when it has to deal with Albanian immigrants.

At first migrants were welcomed into Greece, partly since many were ethnic Greeks who had been living behind Albanian borders. However, just a few years later the tables had turned and the Greeks were no longer willing to accept any more migrants. This is not surprising as Greece does not have a long history of welcoming foreigners into the country, and this feeling combined with a poor human rights record created a hostile environment for Albanians living in Greece. Greece’s weak human rights tradition stems partly from history: traditionally, Greece as a nation has not guaranteed positive human rights through the government’s actions. Also, Orthodox Christianity plays an important role in the creation of governmental policies, and this affects human rights standing of minorities. Finally, there has been a surge of Greek nationalism since 1991. These three factors combined with Greece’s political crisis, and it is not surprising that the Albanians face difficult times as they move to Greece and attempt to co-exist between Greek and Albanian cultures.

There were other difficulties for the Albanian minority living in Greece. The threat of a Greek-Serbian alliance loomed over the migrants, which could mean Albanians would still be facing ethnic conflicts similar to the ones they fled in Albania. Relations between Albania and Greece were strained, to say the least. Ethnic Albanians were angry with the ethnic Greeks living in Albania. The Albanians claimed that the Greeks received better employment opportunities, land privatization, and medical care from Greece based on their ethnicity. Simultaneously, the Greeks were increasing their ethnic nationalistic feelings and Serbs were squeezing the Albanians in Kosovo and Macedonia. Both of these are dangerous for the Albanians. Albania feared an increase of displaced ethnic Albanians returning to Albania and the formation of a Greek-Serbian alliance to further persecute ethnic Albanians. As a result of these suspicions and hostilities, neither Albania nor Greece was willing to accept any number of the other country’s ethnic citizens. This strained the immigration and emigration movements. Greece’s policies in the past had leaned more toward Serbian feelings of Albanians. If the Greeks were unhappy at housing the numbers of Albanian migrants showing up at their borders, and the potential to form a powerful alliance with enemies of the Albanians, the potential consequences could be devastating for Albanians.

The threat of an alliance or deportation did not stop the flow of Albanian emigrants to Greece, though. A well-organized illegal immigration movement exists, and Albanians are not afraid to utilize this. One of the more common ways for migrants to get to another country clandestinely is by traffickers, who organize transportation for a price. If the attempt to cross the border illegally fails, the Albanians go home for a week or so and try again once a period of time passes.

The effects of the large Albanian migration are very noticeable in the Greek social and economic structure. Illegal Albanian emigrants in Greece account for up to 75% of Greece’s total immigration and 8% of the workforce (Van Hear [quoting Glytzos 1995] 1998: 123). Although Albanian immigrants work primarily in low paying, low skill work such as domestic help or as seasonal agricultural workers, they earn up to 20% more than what they could earn in Albanian for comparable work (Van Hear [quoting de Waal 1995] 1998: 123).

However, the Greek government has been cracking down on the ethnic Albanian emigrants. First occurring in 1991, large deportation methods, collectively known as "Operation Broom" have expelled hundreds of thousands of Albanians. These efforts are launched every few years, rather than operating on a continual basis. In addition, Greece has set up a task force consisting of members of the police, army, navy, and coast guard to patrol the borders, and solicited the help of the European Union with the monitoring of the borders. These efforts have resulted in turning away 2,000 illegal Albanian emigrants daily, claims the Greek government.

Currently, efforts are underway to keep relations between the countries cordial. In March 1996, an agreement was signed between Greece and Albania: if Albania offered Greek schools in Albania for its ethnic Greek population, Greece would offer amnesty to the illegal Albanian immigrants living in Greece.

There will never be a time when relations between Greece and Albania are seamless. The potential for ethnic conflict and bitterness will always remain but so too will Albanian communities in Greece. The best hope lies in the realization that the ethnic Albanians will not disappear, and that—undesirable or not—the have established a place in Greek economy and society.

Albanians in Macedonia are another area where people live with volatile ethnic relations. There are currently about 800,000 ethnic Albanians living in Macedonia, mostly residing in the western part of the country. Macedonia was created in 1945 when borders were redrawn and an area that was ethnic Albanian became Macedonia. Here, too Albanians are having a difficult time settling into a new life after migrating. Because of the differences between dominant religions of Albanians and Macedonians, there have been many conflicts between the policies of the Macedonian government and the practices and customs of the Albanian immigrants.

The main conflict between the Macedonian government and the Albanian immigrants is that their immigration into Macedonia is upsetting the delicate balance between ethnic groups. Albanians have been boycotting the Macedonian census for political reasons, but the last reliable figures show approximately 20% of the Macedonian population is ethnic Albanian (Pettifer 1994: 25). Related to this and resulting in more conflicts with the Macedonians is the extremely high birthrate of the Albanians. The balance between ethnic groups is so crucial, that too many Albanian babies could increase the percentage of the population that is Albanian. To combat this, the Macedonian government began imposing fines on families who have more that the preferred limit of two children. These governmental actions have angered the Albanians, since Albanians feel they have the ethnic and historical claim to the land that constitutes Macedonia. They allege it was only when the Albanians moved to their lands that the Macedonians came, settled, and claimed the land as their own.

Another reason for the tense conditions between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians is the fact that Albanians in Macedonia are overwhelmingly Muslim (Pettifer 1994: 26). Because of this religious tradition, many Albanians educate their children using Islamic teachings and the Arabic language. The Macedonian government saw this as a way of propagating the Albanian government and unsuccessfully trying to stop the education of Albanians in this manner.

One of the most controversial aspects of the Islamic schooling is how young girls are treated. Albanian and Islamic culture is very paternalistic. Islamic girls are not required to go to school and the older girls who do go and sometimes chaperoned. While the government sees denying education as oppressive to women, the Albanians perceive the Macedonian compulsory education of girls as a governmental way of undermining the traditional paternal family structure.

Other areas of schooling cause strife between the Macedonians and ethnic Albanians. When Albanians pressed to have Albanian language instruction in classes, Macedonians responded with a law that Albanian students must attend mixed language classes, unless a minimum number of Albanian students enroll in one class. This caused a huge conflict between the two cultures and Albanians held boycotts protesting the policy. The result was secondary school attendance among ethnic Albanian students dropped by half.

Controversy about schooling unfortunately only succeeded in feeding a viscous cycle. With the fewer ethnic Albanians attending secondary school, the number of Albanians attending some form of college also declined drastically. Therefore, many Albanians are unemployed, and the jobs the ethnic Albanians in Macedonia do secure are low-skill. Many work in agricultural areas or do factory work. Again, though, Albanians do not always succeed in finding a job, even if there is one to be had. Macedonians are reluctant to hire Albanians and in some cases resort to "bussing in" labor. One of the clearest cases of this is a clothing factory in the area of Tetovo. With 20,000 Albanian women in the area around Tetovo unemployed, the company chose instead to hire 200 non-Albanian women workers from Skojpe, necessitating a commute for the workers. These types of action are perceived by many Albanians as yet another way to deny ethnic Albanian migrants an increased role in Macedonia. Ethnic Albanian workers are consistently underrepresented in other careers, holding very small percentages of top positions in governmental, military, and business work. Many Albanians believe the lack of top ethnic Albanian officials is a deliberate effort on behalf of the Macedonians to keep the Albanians out of the positions of power. Lack of good jobs has led many Albanians to earn a living in the black market, by working as street vendors or moneychangers. Currently, though, Albanians have been gathering support and recent elections have resulted in better representation for Albanians in government.

The ethnic Albanians continue to try to preserve their culture, but find it increasingly hard in Macedonia. There have been protests trying to get better availability of Albanian language television and newspapers. Some forms of media are available, but there is not enough to meet the demand. Albanians protested in an effort to get better coverage and greater availability, and some improvements were made. For example, there is now more Albanian language news on the radio, and a newspaper in Albanian is published daily, whereas earlier, it was published just three times per week. Even with these changes, newspapers from Albania are still not allowed.

Furthering this rift between the Albanians and the Macedonians is the issue of nationalism. When the Albanians wanted to participate in Macedonian politics they started their own political party, the Party for Democratic Prosperity of Macedonia (PDP). Given the previous feelings between Macedonians and Albanians, though, it is not suprosing that this new party was greeted with controversy. Since the PDP is primarily an ethnic Albanian party, the Macedonian government has accused the PDP of being merely an extension of the Ethnic Albanian Democratic Alliance of Kosovo. Albanians deny this accusation, but it is impossible to ignore the obvious Albanian-nationalistic feeling harbored by the people in the party. At the August 1990 session of government, the Albanian delegates of the PDP refused to speak Turkish or Macedonian, and instead conversed almost exclusively in Albanian. By behaving in such a manner, the rifts between ethnic Albanian migrants and the Macedonian culture widened and the hope for solving these conflicts grows more distant.

What the Albanians hope to accomplish in Macedonia is still unknown. "How far the Albanians of Macedonian see their future in the new state remains a moot point. What is certain is that if there is no appreciable improvement in the position of Albanians in Macedonia, radicalization, which has already begun, will grow" (Pettifer 1994:30). When studying the situation of ethnic Albanian immigrants in Macedonia, it is apparent that although they may have moved there, they have not assimilated into the culture. Rather, these immigrants are attempting so strike a balance between retaining their Albanian culture, yet also have a role in the Macedonian government and society.

Although I have detailed the experiences of ethnic Albanians when they emigrate to nearby countries, that does not mean that their movements are exclusively to neighboring countries. Albanians disperse to many countries around the world and Albanian communities are established in many of the areas where they live.

The first large gesture of reaching beyond the Balkans occurred during the 1970;s while Albania was still under communist rule. Albanians first made efforts to reach out to Canada and establish diplomatic relations between the two countries. Although it may seem like a strange choice, Albania had reasons for choosing Canada. First, there were no outstanding grievances between Albania and Canada, as there were between Albania and Britain, the United States, or West Germany. Canada was also perceived as being less hostile to communist states than the other countries, and this was an important aspect the Albanian government had to consider. Although Canada did not pick up on these first tentative gestures and lost the opportunity to make contacts with Albania, these first tentative negotiations opened up the lines of immigration.

There is also an established Albanian community in New York. Mostly, the Albanians who come to North America come to meet up with family, or have some other type of pre-established connection, such as being an exchange student. It is less common for Albanians to move over to North America without previous contact, although the US remains the most popular destination choice.

Another country that receives a large number of ethnic Albanian immigrants is Italy. There exist established routes across the sea and traffickers have an excellent market in helping Albanians get from Albania to Italy. The situation for Albanians in Italy is similar to those in other countries. There are not many opportunities for Albanian emigrants, especially when they are illegal and it costs a large part of one’s savings to make the journey. However, Albanians who go to Italy will find a pre-existing community, since Italy is a popular destination country.

In recent months, Albanians can be found in nations all over the world due to the resettlement of Kosovar Albanians refugees. Although their plight received a lot of attention, to some extent this resettlement pattern is unnatural, since many countries felt pressured to take in refugees, and most countries took in a greater number of refugees than they would have under different circumstances. The exact numbers and experiences of the Kosovars will be discussed in more detail in the section below.

Knowledge of Kosovo’s geography and history is helpful in understanding the current events. This province used to be a part of the former Serbia. However, in 1989, President Slobodan Milosevic stripped the province of Kosovo of its autonomy. The resettlement of ethnic Albanians makes sense when one looks at the countries bordering Kosovo. Serbia surrounds it in the north and northeast, Montenegro in the northwest, Albania and the Federal Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the south. Two million inhabitants live in Kosovo, 90% of whom are ethnic Albanian. This is the primary contributor to the dispute raging between the Serbs and the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo. The issue is which group has rights to the land. Geographically, Kosovo is a plateau ringed with mountains, and a series of hills divide the province into two almost equal halves. It has rich mineral deposits (the most precious is silver), and has two main roads that serve as trading routes. Kosovo is important to the Serbs since its location enables the ethnic group that controls it the ability to regulate access to Bosnia and northern Albania. Additionally, control of Kosovo could cut the link between the Serbian and Macedonian areas (Malcom 1998:7), which is very important in a military sense.

In early years then Serbs and the Albanians managed to live together in relative peace. Serbs lived in the valleys of Kosovo, while the Albanians lived in the highlands, and before the rise of nationalism religious differences were about the only way to tell the two ethnic groups apart. Living in such close proximity resulted in mixing of the two ethnicities and Serbs were gradually converted to the Islamic religion that many Albanians practiced. The first generation of the "Islamized Serbs" kept their language and traditions, but used them only in secret. Subsequent generations, though, were living in a more and more Albanian environment, and gradually started adopting other Albanian customs, like dress and speaking the Albanian language when outside their family units. "Eventually these Islmized Serbs married unto Albanian families and were thus assimilated into the Albanian community" (Vickers 1998:27). This delicate balance was fine for a while, but resentments began growing between the Serbs and Albanians. After the Great Migration the peace that existed was lost, and the foundations for today’s conflicts were laid.

The conflict that is occurring in Kosovo today has been simmering for some time. In 1974, the Yugoslavia constitution was revised and granted autonomy to Kosovo. As a result of this autonomy the ethnic Albanians, who were largely Muslim, inhabited Kosovo and set up Albanian-language schools and observed Islamic holidays. In 1987, Slobodan Milosevic became President of the Yugoslav Republic. His rhetoric of Serbian nationalism incited Serb feelings, and the civil rights of ethnic Albanians continued to decline. These upheavals came to a head in 1989, when Kosovo was stripped of its autonomy. Ethnic Albanians living there reacted violently and the army and police were sent into Kosovo to maintain order. Meanwhile, wars are raging in other areas of Yugoslavia, like Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence. In 1992, the ethnic Albanian majority of Kosovo voted to secede from Serbia and return under the jurisdiction of Albania. This action increased the Muslim ethnic cleansing campaign, and non-Serbs were expelled from areas under Bosnian Serb control. At the same time that the rebellions of the Kosovo Albanians intensified. The Kosovo Liberation Army, or KLA, worked to free all the Serbs from the area. They targeted Serb policemen and those who collaborated with Serbs.

Because of the Serbian campaign against the ethnic Albanians and subsequent actions of the NATO forces to combat Serbia 850,000 people from Kosovo have been displaced to over 25 countries around the world. Usually, governments see this resettlement as temporary, and the ethnic Albanian refugees are treated as such. Attempts to gain establishment of the Albanians in their host communities are not serious, and therefore not very successful. Many Kosovars assume that they will soon return to their homes in Kosovo. Different countries around the world accepted different numbers of refugees; the amount accepted is not necessarily proportional to the size of the country. For example, Macedonia accepted huge numbers of refugees, even if somewhat reluctantly, partly because of their close proximity to the Kosovo border. The US, on the other hand, took in very few compared to the much smaller and poorer Balkan nations. The US took in 14,129 after much pressure for the slow acceptance at the beginning of the conflict. Begrudgingly, Germany accepted large number of refugees, and Britain has absorbed 4,346. However, many of the refugees are returning as they expected and as of July 13, 1999, over 650,000 had returned. From the US, 2,462 have returned and 809 have left Britain voluntarily.

However, there are complications for returning home. Serbia is not readily accepting the return of the people they tried so hard to drive out, and in many places the homes and villages of the ethnic Albanians have been completely wiped out. Disease and lack of food are prevalent. Relief workers are doing all they can to help out the people attempting to live in the war-ravaged region, but there are problems in maintaining supply routes and helping all those who need it. Although conditions in Kosovo seem deplorable, the ethnic Albanians feel strongly that Kosovo is home. The reasons why the Kosovars-Albanians fell this way echo those of the ethnic Albanians’ feelings about Albania. Albanians are a majority of the population, there is an ancestral claim to the land, and it is the hub of nationalist movements for a majority of Kosovar Albanians.

With the recent news about the crisis in Kosovo, it is important to consider how the Albanians and the Kosovar-Albanians interact. Generally, Albanians feel strongly about Kosovo and offer the Kosovars support. Albanians perceive Kosovo as a rightful part of Albania that has been unjustly taken from the country. Albania and Kosovo have a close relationship and when war broke out in Kosovo, the Albanians did all they could to help the people living there. At first Albanians felt alarmed when the rest of the world did not do anything to help the cause; indeed, the rest of the world did not even seem to care about the human rights abused happening in the province, and this angered the Albanians. Many Albanians opened their homes to refugees’ families or donated money, food, clothing, or land to assist the refugees. Albanians also offered "help" in the form of radical militant movements, which the government had little to do with and did not wholeheartedly endorse. Gerard told me that is was not possible to anywhere in Albania and not see refugees. They were housed in any available public and private space. During the day, the refugees congregated in public spaces like the town square.

One interesting sidebar is that the refugees who were resettled in the Prinzen area did not experience an aggressive reaction on the part of the Serbs as was feared. Some solidarity was shown, partly because the towns in that area are more tolerant than the more rural towns in Kosovo.

The close relations between Albania and Kosovo is linked back to the intense nationalism Albanians feel for one another and also that which they perceive to be rightfully theirs. Also, the strong historical ties between Albanians and Kosovo serve as a basis for nationalism. The support shown united Albanians around the world and some Albanians who had migrated returned to fight alongside the KLA, during the war since even those living abroad felt a strong sense of nationalism. These efforts prove that the ties between homeland and migrants remain strong.

There are many concerns that are specific to women and children in the Kosovar refugee situation. The refugees are almost exclusively women, children, and the elderly. The reasons for this is that many men have been killed by the war, and if they haven’t been killed they are still fighting in the war, since there is a required draft for all men between ages 18 and 50. As a result if this lack of men, there has been a drop in both birth and marriage. There is also the problem of war widows. Because of the strong patriarchal society present in Albania, many women are having problems are coping after the war. Traditionally in Albanian society, women do not work outside the home and without a man around to help with finances and other daily business dealings, these women are at a loss as to how to afford their families. Women frequently have a hard time getting jobs and are not familiar with many of the everyday tasks of life, such as obtaining land for a house. Also, in many cases, the social customs are biased against them, so even if a women did posses the necessary skills for a job, she would bot be able to be hired as a worker.

Consider one example of Kosovar women bucking the societal norms to make a difference: a team of housewives formed a mine clearing team. Every day these women don protective gear in an attempt to clear dangerous land mines. While to women see this as a necessary job and try not to dwell on the danger of it, many others see this as women overstepping their boundaries. Most men consider this as women overstepping their boundaries. Most Albanian men consider this job is much too dangerous for a woman to do, and should therefore never attempt to work in this area and leave the mine sweeping up to the men.

Socially, women also need help in beginning the healing process. Many women suffer from stress or shock at the horrors they witnessed from the war. Many Albanian women were raped during the Serbian attacks, but are afraid to come forward because they fear their assailants will retaliate if the woman reports the attack.

Efforts have started to be made to help women overcome these obstacles, both from relief organizations and on the grass roots level. As a result of the problems of Kosovar women, the United Nations Refugees Agency has spent $10 million putting together a Kosovo Women’s Initiative which will help the women with social services, psychological counseling, job training, education in legal rights, and in income providing projects. These projects could have lasting impact for the rights and position of women in the province in the future. Hopefully as the women become better educated, they will have a better idea of what opportunities the have and also rise in the social standing in the family and professionally.

Some women are already starting to strike out independently. An Albanian woman, Flora Podgorica, organized the League of Albanian Women with 30 other women. This group worked to provide aid to the refugees. However, the challenges of independent women in a patriarchal society are apparent. Ms. Podgorica was put on trial by Serbians. The trial concluded that she was guilty of participating in terrorist acts, like knitting sweaters for Albanian refugees, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Although this is not a desirable outcome, at least the woman had started to make an effort to play a role in society.

With children, there are other concerns. Generally, children are able to recover from traumatic events, such as wars, more quickly than adults are. However, many children are still experiencing episodes of post traumatic stress and anxiety such as nightmares. Many children are war orphans and relief agencies are not sure how to help the children, with all their other resources stretched so thin.

One of the biggest concerns for children is how to break the cycle of ethnic hatred. The UN is launching a concerted effort to eliminate centuries of ethnic animosity. The problem is many children can not forget the atrocities they witnessed. Some children saw their parents killed in front of them, and this is not a memory that can be easily forgiven. Plus, working to eliminate hatred after this act is extremely difficult. Without caring children, the future of the Balkans doesn’t bode well. Between the ethnic cleansing campaign, and later the revenge killing from the KLA, children will probably continue the tradition of violence, rather than work on developing positive feelings. I do not see this generation as solving the problems we witness today.

Some Albanians have started a new life for themselves in the country that they have resettled in, and thus created a network that helps them stay in contact with others in the Diaspora. For example, many refugees use the Internet, when access is available, to locate missing friends, relatives, and neighbors. Databases maintained by the US Information Agency or by Albanian students allow people to search for lost relatives by simply plugging in a name and a hometown. The "Kosovo Crisis Center" webpage uses the motto, "The world divided us, the net brought us together, therefore the future will keep us together," which summarizes the way many Albanians feel about their migration experiences. Similar to these search engines on the web, Albanian TV stations did their part to help reunite families by scrolling the names of people along the bottom of the screen during all programming, like subtitles. Radio stations that participated did so by listing names of people looking for their families during the radio’s broadcast program.

Culturally, too, ways of establishing and maintaining contact have been devised. Kosovar Albanians have a saying that wishes each family six sons: "Two to go abroad and work, two to stay home and care for the family, and two to die for the country, fighting for freedom." To me, this suggests that the Albanians realize Diaspora will be a part of life, and they should prepare for it from the beginning. The preparation is apparent: the Albanians in other countries have a bank account set up in Switzerland. Each Albanian who lives outside of Albania is encouraged to put 3% of his or her income into the bank account to save, to help pay for the fight for freedom. If one is not able to put money in the account, it is expected he return and fight for the country.

Bujar Dukoshi, a 51-year-old urologist living in Germany and the Prime Minister of the Kosovo Government-In-Exile, administers the bank account. Dukoshi acts as a figurehead to the Albanians, and he has participated in some of the peace talks. The government-in-exile’s job primarily is channeling funds back to Kosovo to help the refugees. However, the government-in-exile is not popular among the ethnic Albanians. After the election of the leader of the KLA to the position of Kosovar Prime Minister, the two men did not get along. Also, many Albanians perceive Dukoshi as a traitor to Albania since he is not in the country helping fight the war. It will be interesting to see what will develop with the government-in-exile, since relations are at a time when it’s both important to have leadership focused on developing networks outside of Albania, while at the same time have strong leadership inside Albania to help them make it through the problems facing the country. This situation is even more complex in that the outside leadership is seen as not being true to the country and is engaged in a struggle to show who the "true" leader is.

The ways of maintaining connections are important since it helps to tie all the ethnic Albanians together. Considering how nationalistic Albanians are, these ties are all the more crucial to maintain. From learning how the Albanians network in the Diaspora, we realize one thing is certain: once a person leaves Albania, the person does not forget about the country that is their heritage and homeland.

After looking at different areas if the Albanian Diaspora, one must answer the theoretical questions Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller pose in their book The Age if Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World. The questions serve to show that a movement of a people can be called a "Diaspora." Aspects of all types combine to create the Albanian Diaspora. Economic factors that instigate movement include the lack of fertile farmland, extraordinary high unemployment rates, and no development of technology or industry common to Albania. Demography has also played a large role in the moves. It is easy to trace the fluctuating population ratios throughout the Balkans, and as one ethnicity increased or decreased in an area, other groups moved in accordance of that change. Political changes have had the most effect on the movements. The Albanians have been persecuted through out history for their ethnicity and have either voluntarily or forcefully moved to escape this persecution. When a government cracks down on Albanians, the need to flee to safer areas results in the abandonment of their traditional homeland.

The social networks that exist between a new country and the homeland are extensive. These include the Internet and the government-in-exile as outlined above, plus the communities of established Albanians in other areas of the world. Strong family ties as valued by the Albanians help to encourage others to cross borders and start a home in a new area. Of course, many countries have complex immigration policies, and the Albanians have to work within these confines before they move all over the world. In addition, a migrant must deal with the idea that a country has a real or imagined "quota" of the migrant's ethnicity, and if this has been met, there is likely to be little room for him inside the country. However, determination, money, and luck usually can get someone into a country, at least for a short-term stay.

Occasionally, Albanian migrants turn into settlers. Communities exist throughout Europe and the Americas of Albanians. Often, Albanians battle discrimination where they settle because many of the citizens of the destination country see the migrants as nuisances that take advantage of the host government. Albanian refugees must battle a host of negative stereotypes, including both those of the Balkans and those as poor refugees. It is no surprise that citizens of a country could harbor negative stereotypes about the Albanian emigrants, resulting in racist feelings and actions.

Social structure of the Albanians has been greatly altered by migration. Historically, a much tighter familial network existed, but this has been discounted by the dispersal of families, and Albanians reorganized their clans into smaller familiar units. I believe that further altering the family unit will occur as Albanians migrate further, and women will find themselves with the roles they traditional play of greater importance.

The emigration has also changed the nature of Albania. There is a greater dependence on Albania as a touchstone in the midst of all the political upheaval in nearby areas, since it provides a national rallying point for ethnic Albanians. No matter how far scattered the Albanians become, they always remember their roots as an Albanian people.

Finally, the migrations have led to the creation of many new links between Albania and the rest of the world. Previously, most of the world didn’t even know that Albania existed and the Albanians could not leave because of an isolationist government. The media tracking of the Kosovar refugees has helped people at least have a vague idea of what these geographical regions are, narrow as the coverage may be. However, the movements of the Kosovar refugees did not create lasting links between sending and receiving countries. It will take a full effort of the Albanians and migration with the intent to stay in the destination country, at least for a short period of time that will create a tie between the two countries.

By briefly considering the Albanians in the context of Castles and Miller’s questions, we can see that the Albanians do indeed participate in a Diaspora. It may be a fledgling one, but it is a Diaspora nonetheless.

In conclusion, it is apparent that the Albanians have dispersed all over the globe. Historically, the movement of the Albanians was more towards the north and east to neighboring lands. However, as the politics of these regions became more and more hostile to the Albanians, their movements have spread to all corners of the globe.

As for the future of the Diaspora, I think the Albanian migration will continue to move, but will grow stronger as the people become more vocal as a migrant group. There is already evidence of this happening in Macedonia, and I feel that the rest of the communities around the world will also become a strong and expressive presence in daily life. This summer, the world watched as Albanians were forced from their homes and took to the road as migrants and refugees. Now, the image has faded and we don’t see the pictures on TV anymore. But the movements of the Albanians continue, and they will only grow stronger with each migration.