On Revenge and Death: The Laws of the Highlanders and the Institution of Honor among Albanians in the Balkans

Abstract

The article employs an anthropological approach to analyze the custom of blood feud in Albania in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Customary laws that developed during the Ottoman period, regulating life in areas remote from Turkish administration, entrenched the archaic principle of blood feud as the most effective means of combating violations of accepted rules and behavioral stereotypes. Having emerged as one of the main antidotes to delinquent practices back in the ancient era, the institution of blood feud received an almost legislative status in the Western Balkans (albeit at the level of social agreements) under the rule of the sultans (15th – early 20th centuries), then lost its force for a relatively short period during the years of the totalitarian regime (1944–1991) and was revived again in recent times. The study focuses on the persistence of the phenomenon of ceremoniously staged deaths inflicted on individuals for various real, and sometimes imaginary, offenses: a carelessly thrown word, a curse, a provocative look, and especially a crime against the property, honor, or life of another member of the collective. In traditional society, the main actors in the social institution of blood feud were men: they acted as avengers, revenge was directed towards them, and they were held responsible for violating the rules and regulations of the unwritten ancient eves. However, in reality, it was women who played, and in many ways continue to play, the role of coordinator of revenge: as a rule, a mother, wife, or sister encourages a man to fulfill a duty of honor – for the sake of the good name of the family, clan, or community.