Not a Country for Dreams

In 2015 Albanians ranked amongst the top five nationalities attempting to seek asylum in the European Union, where they were summarily sent back to their own country. Although Albania’s Stalinist communist regime fell in the early 1990s, it remains one of Europe’s poorest countries, plagued by corruption, low wages and underdevelopment. It is also one of Europe’s oldest cultures, with Albanians tracing their roots back to the ancient Illyrians. Young people look to Western Europe as the only source of opportunity, while politicians are pushing for a path of EU membership. In the midst of this, a tension exists between the struggle for modernization and a culture still rooted in thousands of years of tradition and honor. This plays out in the midst of decaying symbols of the past; monuments of the former regime, remnants of the Ottoman occupation, religious sites outlawed during communism. For young Albanians this is not a country for dreams, but rather a place to escape from, as they attempt to wrest themselves of their culture in the hopes of achieving the perceived ideal of Western life. After a history involving occupation, war, dictatorship, and isolation, how do people reframe their identity and what will they give up in this push towards the modern?