Mish dhe kocka: Mbi antropologjinë fizike të shqiptarëve
Flesh and bones: On the physical anthropology of Albanians

Summary/Abstract: The American anthropologist Carleton Coon stayed in Albanian from fall 1929 until the spring of 1930. The anthropometric data gathered during his fieldwork in the northern part of the country were published in The mountain of gaints: a racial and cultural study of the North Albanian mountain Ghegs,in 1950. A quarter-century after this publication, the Albanian Academy of Science, employed a young physician, Aleksander Dhima as physical anthropologist in the Institute of Archeology. Until the fall of communism Dhima would carry out anthropometric measurements in order to “verify” the relation betweeen the living Albanians and their dead ancestors in quest to unfold the nation’sethnogenesis. This article further explores the work of both anthropologists and questions the “naturalisation” or “biologisation” of national identities emerging from the discouse of physical anthropology on Albanians during the XX century.

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