This talk, based on an ongoing research project at the Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz, explores the phenomenon of Yugoslav Albanian labour migration during socialism. We seek to unpack the case of an ethnised and racialised category of workers and small business owners – Yugoslav Albanians – who were particularly visible in the legal but morally suspect private sector. As the historiography prioritises mutually exclusive Serb-Albanian (and Macedonian-Albanian) historical claims and antagonisms ad naseam, our focus is on labour migration in the northwest of the country – Slovenia, Croatia and Vojvodina. Methodologically, the research relies on the analysis of library and archival documents and extensive oral history interviews. We engage with recent scholarly innovations in SEE studies of race, ethnicity, class, gender, kinship and the interaction of these categories of identification in a research paradigm of intersectionality.

Rory Archer is a social historian of 20th century Southeast Europe whose research focuses on labour history and gender history in socialism and includes work on topics like housing, everyday life, popular culture, and the workplace. Methodologically, he works through oral history, grounded theory and other qualitative, interpretive methods which link social science approaches to social history research. Rory’s current research project explores the history of intra-Yugoslav Albanian migration during socialism, and he works at the Centre for Southeast European Studies in Graz as the PI. Recent publications include “Albanian labor migration, the Yugoslav private sector, and its Cold War context”, forthcoming (2023) in a special section of Labor History of which he is co-editor, “The Cold War of labor migrants: Opportunities, struggles and adaptations across the Iron Curtain and beyond”.

Mladen Zobec is a doctoral student at the University of Graz and a researcher on the project “To the Northwest! Intra-Yugoslav Albanian migration (1953-1989)”. In his dissertation, he explores the phenomenon of Albanian crafts and businesses in socialist Slovenia in the context of Yugoslav socialist modernity. He holds a BA and MA in Sociology from the University of Ljubljana, and his research interests lie in the social and political history of the Socialist Yugoslavia. Methodologically, his work relies mostly on qualitative research methods. He is the moderator of the Balkan Academic News mailing list and has been a regular author of broadcasts at Radio Študent (Ljubljana) specializing in topics related to Southeastern Europe.

The event will be photographed and recorded due to publishing on social networks, the website and other information channels for the purpose of promoting the event and activities of the Institute.