Some Considerations about the Book of the Albanologist, Robert Elsie, Albanian Tribes, Their History, Society and Culture, Artini Publications, Pristina, 2017

(Artini Publications, Pristina, 2017)

Abstract

Robert Elsie is an accredited albanologist of Canadian origin who has a vast and valuable forty-year experience in several areas of Albanian studies, history, literature, cultural anthropology, folklore, ethnography, linguistics, dictionary compilation and translations.
The book Albanian tribes, their history, society and culture is a very special and multifaceted piece of work for both Albanian and foreign scholars who wish to learn a barely studied aspect of Albanian history and culture.
The book consists of a preface written by the author himself in which he tries to elaborate on issues such as: Who are the Albanians? Who are the Gegs and the Tosks? The Albanian tribal society, When and how was the Albanian tribal society established? Who and how many were the tribes? Are there any Albanian tribes?
It explains in a few words the contents and intentions of the book. Naturally, the most important part of Robert Elsi’s book focuses on the presentation and study of certain tribes of the Northern Highlands. The author’s main goal, as he himself pointed out in the preface, was to seek, find, and collect as much information as possible about northern Albanian tribes and arrange them systematically in a book to make them survive and not fall into oblivion due to the new Albanian social developments.
Around seventy northern Albanian tribes originating from different provinces have been dealt with: Malësia e Madhe, Pulti, Dukagjini, Gjakova ighlands, Puka Highlands, Lezha Highlands, Kruja Highlands, Mirdita Highlands, Mati Highlands, the Upper Drini River Basin, etc.
Each tribe is described basedon its geographic, historical, ethnological, social and religious data. The book elaborates on the geographic location of the tribe, its boundaries with other tribes, the number of inhabitants, their religious affiliation, their historical and oral sources mentioning the tribe’s name for the first time and recalling it later in other sources. For each tribe, biographies of some of the most prominent figures are described.
A glossary is annexed to the book shortly explaining some key tribal notions such as: shire (bayrak), chieftain, family, pledge, norms (kanun), tribal chief, bourgmaster, assembly, etc., together with bibliographic notes for each chapter and a bibliography plentifulof authors and publications used to compile this book.
Robert Elsi’s book Albanian Tribes is undoubtedly a valuable book for scholars, students and intellectuals of many fields of knowledge, especially of social sciences.