To the northwest!

Intra-Yugoslav Albanian migration (1953-1989).

To the northwest!

About the project


The Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz, is pleased to announce the launch of a new research project “To the Northwest! Intra Yugoslav Albanian migration (1953-1989)” supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) P 32345 from April 2020 and led by Rory Archer.

Researchers have explored many aspects of Albanian migration – so much so that one renowned scholar of the field, Russel King, described Albania as a ‘laboratory’ for the study of migration and development. Despite the large number of studies examining the experience of Albanian migrants in countries like Greece, Italy and Switzerland (and the impact of migration in the towns and villages in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia) one crucial part of the story is missing. What about the many Albanians from Kosovo (and Macedonia) who migrated within Yugoslavia during the socialist period in considerable numbers?

Albanians were the largest non-Slavic population in Yugoslavia, reaching up to 8 per cent of the population by the 1980s. Predominantly rural in origin, Albanian labour migrants gravitated to industrial centres around the country in search of work. This project explores the case of Albanian labour migration from the Southeast of Yugoslavia to the country’s northwest (Croatia and Slovenia) between 1953 and 1989 through historical and historical-anthropological methods.

Our Team


Rory Archer

Project researcher

Dr. Rory Archer is a social historian of 20th century Southeast Europe. He is the project PI and will explore Albanian migration to Croatia.

Mladen Zobec

project researcher

Mladen Zobec is a Law and Politics doctoral student at University of Graz and works as a researcher on this research project.

News & Events


Workshop: Towards a social history of Albanians in Socialist Yugoslavia (Graz, 9-10 February 2024)

Photo: Prishtina, 1984 (Croatian State Archives, f.2031, Kosovo) About the workshop: Jointly organis…

CfP: Towards a social history of Albanians in socialist Yugoslavia

Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz, 9-10 February 2024 This workshop, jointly…

The not-so-sweet saga of Redžep Redžepović: The chronicle of an Albanian confectioner in Kamnik, Slovenia

In May 2021, I began archival research in Ljubljana. Thus far, I have focused on Albanian confection…

“Ice-creams are made of this.” Traces of (Macedonian) Albanian migration to Slovenia

Polog is a densely populated stretch of flat land in the western part of North Macedonia. Inhabited …

The entrepreneurial spirit of Poreč’s old town in the 1980s (notes from the field)

For the month of May 2021 I am finally able to undertake oral history interviews with Albanians livi…

Reflections of an Albanian migrant in Ljubljana on experiencing the end of Yugoslavia

Besnik is an Albanian migrant from Macedonia living in Slovenia for more than 30 years. I had the op…

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