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Setting the limits of the Greek nation : preconditions and possibilities of Albanian participation in Greek networks and institutions in Egypt (late 19th – early 20th centuries)

Articles

• Παπακυριακού, Μάριος
• ΠΑΠΑΚΥΡΙΑΚΟΥ, ΜΑΡΙΟΣ

The present essay deals with the setting of the limits of the Greek nation atthe turn of the 20th century by contrasting the preconditions under whichAlbanians could form a part of the Greek perceptions of nation and the waysAlbanians were actually excluded from various Greek networks and institutions. Although the limits of the national community were set in order to specifythe future state boundaries of the Balkans, people living or acting in differentplaces but maintaining a dense network of communication were engaged inthe process of setting the limits. The emphasis of this paper is on Egypt, animportant destination for migrants from the Balkans during the late 19th andearly 20th centuries. Through the examination of the participation in networksand institutions there, it is examined whether it might have been easy to forma relatively homogeneous part of the Greek nation in Egypt, consisting of migrants of different origins. The role of the Greek state was important in theprocess, but migrants had their own ideas and proposals which did not alwayscoincide with the strategies and priorities of Greek diplomats. A community ofblood as well as one of interests, interpretations allowing the bypassing of the“problem” of different religions, the downgrading of the Albanian languageto a mere dialect and the understanding of the practical use of the Greek language among many Albanians as a political choice were all arguments tryingto make the cooperation with, if not absorption of, Albanians possible for theGreeks. On the other hand, although the involvement of third parties was certainly not of minor importance, it is argued that the failure of various plans ofGreek-Albanian unity at the beginning of the 20th century should be primarilyascribed to other factors, such as a different understanding of the relationshipof Albanians to Greeks, mutual prejudices and fears, as well as the growingpriority of a specific approach to the nation by both Greeks and Albanians.All these factors enforced the process of understanding Greeks and Albaniansas two separate and exclusive notions of a community, a process taking placein the large migrant communities and their institutions in Egypt parallel to theaccelerating evolutions in the early 20th century Balkans.

• History and Archaeology

• Ιστορία

• http://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/mnimon/article/view/7755
• http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/mnimon.47