Musine Kokalari and the power of images : law, aesthetics and memory regimes in the Albanian experience

Fijalkowski, Agata (2015) Musine Kokalari and the power of images : law, aesthetics and memory regimes in the Albanian experience. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, 28 (3). pp. 577-602. ISSN 0952-8059

[thumbnail of Musine Kokalari and the Power of Images 30 July 2015]
Microsoft Word (Musine Kokalari and the Power of Images 30 July 2015)
Musine_Kokalari_and_the_Power_of_Images_30_July_2015.docx - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (2MB)

Abstract

Tarot cards are one means to unlocking an image. In this article, the image is that of the Albanian writer and political dissident Musine Kokalari at her 1946 trial. Her photograph features in Albanian discourses about its communist past. I argue that the image provides clues as to the manner in which the country has faced up to its own history. For what is certain is that the Albanian account of the Enver Hoxha dictatorship (1944-1991) remains incomplete. Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s notion of ‘here-and-now in a flash’, and Roland Barthes’ and Italo Calvino’s reflections on photography and the power of the visual, we can identify at least two distinct memory regimes in the relevant historical, legal and political narratives.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
International Journal for the Semiotics of Law
Additional Information:
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11196-015-9437-6
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1200/1203
Subjects:
?? law and aestheticstarot cardsphotographmusine kokalarialbaniamemory regimestransitional justicelanguage and linguisticslaw ??
ID Code:
74779
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
30 Jul 2015 10:08
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
17 Dec 2023 01:30