A chapter on the New German-speaking School of Balkankompetenzen is in print now, included in a regular issue of the journal!
In this paper, some strands of contemporary Western scholarship in Albanian studies (mainly German-speaking and Austrian) are shown to reproduce substantive empirical and methodological flaws and to perpetuate imperial attitudes and othering stereotypes. In particular, a number of criticisms are leveled at what is referred to as the New German-speaking School of Balkankompetenzen that has colonized Albanian and more generally Southeastern European issues. Ii is argued that disregard and patronizing of local scholars, and occasionally over-reliance on essentialized, insufficient or misinterpreted research outcomes, can be shown in the writings of various scholars that are representative of strategic othering, methodological essentialism, dubious deconstructionism and outright misinterpretation of Albanian foundational myths, national history, social structures, and cultural behavior. Arguably, this methodological imperialism reproduces a discourse of Western superiority that serves to legitimate Western political, economic and social control.
Doja, Albert. 2022. "The New German-speaking School of Balkankompetenzen: Knowledge production and truth claims in post-colonial post-communist context." New Perspectives: Interdisciplinary Journal of Central & East European Politics and International Relations 30 (1): 87-118. https://doi.org/10.1177/2336825X211065569.
If interested, please ask for a free eprint.
Categories: Essay or Article
0 Replies