Austrian-Hungarian Albanology 1867-1918 - a case of cultural imperialism?

Kurt Gostentschniggs dissertation Die österreichisch-ungarische Albanologie 1867-1918. Zwischen Wissenschaft und Politik / Austrian-Hungarian Albanology 1867-1918: Between Science and Politics (1996) is the first comprehensive study of the history of Austrian-Hungarians Albanology in the context of the general relations between the Dual Monarchy and the later Albania. However, it ended up with an outlook of still open questions related to the concrete relationship between academia and politics, which shall be answered by the submitted research project. Whereas the relationship to the Monarchy in the case of Bosnia-Herzegovina the (post-) colonial debate is relevant, in the case of Albania imperialism has been discussed. With regard to the Austrian- Hungarian Albanian relations three elements are indicative of cultural imperialism: the Kultusprotektorat / Cultus protectorate over the Catholics of North Albania, the Austrian Committee for Albania, and the Austrian-Hungarian military administration of Albania 1916-18. The primary aim of the project is to give a clear answer to the question whether Austrian-Hungarian Albanologists let themselves being instrumentalised by Austrian-Hungarian politics and military or was it a mutual exertion of influence between the academic, political and military field with a multitude of players? In addition, there are some detailed questions to be answered such as the formation and history of the field of Albanian studies, its relationship with the field of power or the problem of the belonging of several famous Albanologists to various fields. For the resolution of the mentioned research questions a combination of Johan Galtungs concept of cultural imperialism and Pierre Bourdieus field theory in relation to individual and institutional social actors. Whereas Galtungs concept constitutes an instrument for the analysis of the asymmetric relations between Austria-Hungary and the emerging Albania, Bourdieus field theory offers a significant potential for the analysis of the relationship between the Austrian-Hungarian field of foreign policy on the one hand and the military and the academic field on the other hand. Research on the social actors will be conducted in the Viennese Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv and Kriegsarchiv as well as in the State Archives in Sarajevo and Tirana. The evaluation of the relevant material will be guided by Bourdieus field theory, just as the analysis of the internal structures of the fields of Albanian studies, politics and military, the reconstruction of the historical genesis of the field of Albanian studies, the determination of the intersections between the field of Albanian studies as well as the political and military field, and the exposure of the field of Albanian studies to the field of power.

The main question of the research project was, if, regarding the creation of the Austro-Hungarian albanology and its support by the public sector in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, it was about a neutral research support or an interlinking with imperialistic interests? The result of the research project is that the second supposition clearly predominated, becauseindividual and collective/institutional actors shaped Austro-Hungarian-Albanian relations in the fields of albanology, politics, military, and Albanian austrophiles, who put their property, connections, education, career and prestige as capital in the rivalry for the most influential positions in the respective field;the interest of Austro-Hungarian albanology was to cast light on yet unknown aspects of Albanian history, culture and language, believing naturally that the Dual Monarchy had to pioneer them, which influenced in turn the selection of their research topics;the interest of the Austro-Hungarian politics and diplomacy was to gain Albania as a political ally against pan-Slavism and Italian imperialism;the interest of the Austro-Hungarian military was to arm Albania and to integrate it, for the case of war, in the own tactics and strategy;the interest of the Albanian austrophiles was always in accordance with their own nationalist interests to act as agents of Austro-Hungarian interests in Albania;the interconnected main individual and collective actors of these fields formed the field of power, which was the motor for cultural imperialism by means of structural and cultural violence;the political program of the Foreign Ministry to instrumentalize Albanian Studies for political, commercial and military aims was only achieved in part but, nevertheless, albanology was supported in generous manner by subsidies and permission of research projects and research expeditions so that it would willingly devote itself in case of emergency to the service of politics and military;Austro-Hungarian albanology had three different types of actors the pure scientific type, the mixed political-scientific type with proximity to or involvement in the political field, the mixed military-scientific type with proximity to or involvement in the military field , by which the interweaving of science, politics and military can be linked to persons.Dr. Kurt Gostentschniggs relevant monograph Wissenschaft im Spannungsfeld von Politik und Militär. Die österreichisch-ungarische Albanologie 1867-1918 will be published probably still in 2017 in the publishing house Springer-VS (828 p., print-on-demand and e-book).