Discourses of Clan/Family Vendetta in Albanian context

This academic paper examines discourses of clan- and family-based revenge in the Albanian context by analyzing their linguistic, ideological, and cultural structures within an interdisciplinary theoretical framework. Blood feuds, as a phenomenon deeply embedded in Albanian customary tradition and codified through the Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini, constitute an important subject of study for sociology, anthropology, critical linguistics, and legal studies. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as its primary methodology, the paper explores how institutional, media, and community discourses construct, reproduce, or challenge practices of revenge. It argues that revenge discourses in Albania are not merely consequences of legal absence, but rather products of complex historical, socio-economic, and cultural processes that shape collective identity, masculinity, and group authority. The findings suggest that modernization and European integration have generated significant discursive tensions between the traditional paradigm of honor and the democratic imperatives of the rule of law.