Vasiliki Neofotistos

This project examines the social and political processes through which Macedonians and Albanians construe their memories of the 2001 conflict between government forces and the Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA). It relies on fieldwork in the villages of Aracinovo, Matejce, and Semsevo, where Albanians have erected memorials to honor NLA soldiers who died in the fighting, and where Macedonians have returned to houses were burned down by the NLA and rebuilt with international assistance. This project explores the larger question of whether and how it is possible for communities with different collective memories to live in reconciliation, and contributes to policy-making geared toward promoting multiculturalism in the wake of violent conflict in the Balkans and the rest of the world today.