Echoes of Conflict: Memories of Oppression and Conflict in Kosovo-Albanian Families in Denmark
Author
Lushaku, Aroma
Term
4. semester
Education
Publication year
2025
Pages
45
Abstract
This thesis examines how memories of the Kosovo conflict are transmitted across generations in Kosovo-Albanian families living in Denmark. Using a qualitative, interpretive design, it combines semi-structured interviews conducted in family homes, participant observation of everyday practices, and informal conversations during and beyond fieldwork. The sample, recruited through purposive and snowball strategies in community networks, includes parents with direct or indirect experiences of oppression and war and their Denmark-raised children. Drawing on theories of postmemory, ruination, diaspora and cultural identity, as well as work on objects, symbols and forgetting, the study investigates the channels through which the past travels, including spoken narratives, material objects, rituals, emotional atmospheres, and strategic silences, and how these shape intergenerational identity and belonging in the aftermath of displacement. The analysis highlights everyday, often non-verbal and embodied forms of transmission and discusses how protective silence can both enable and limit forgetting. Overall, the thesis sheds light on the ongoing afterlife of conflict in family life and offers an empirically grounded account of memory as a lived, negotiated process rather than a fixed story.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan minder om Kosovo-konflikten overføres på tværs af generationer i kosovoalbanske familier bosat i Danmark. Med et kvalitativt, fortolkende design kombinerer studiet semistrukturerede interviews i familiernes hjem, deltagerobservation af hverdagspraksisser og uformelle samtaler under og efter feltarbejdet. Deltagerne, rekrutteret via målrettet og sneboldsampling i fællesskabsnetværk, omfatter forældre med direkte eller indirekte erfaringer med undertrykkelse og krig samt deres børn opvokset i Danmark. Med afsæt i teorier om postmemory, ruination, diaspora og kulturel identitet samt arbejde om objekter, symboler og glemsel undersøges de kanaler, hvormed fortiden bevæger sig, herunder fortalte fortællinger, materielle genstande, ritualer, følelsesmæssige atmosfærer og strategiske tavsheder, og hvordan de former intergenerationel identitet og tilhørsforhold i fordrivelsens efterliv. Analysen fremhæver hverdagens ofte nonverbale og kropslige transmissionsformer og diskuterer, hvordan beskyttende tavshed både kan muliggøre og begrænse glemsel. Samlet kaster specialet lys over konflikters fortsatte efterliv i familielivet og bidrager med en empirisk forankret forståelse af hukommelse som en levet, forhandlet proces snarere end en fast fortælling.
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