Returning to Lukova

The Third International Autumn School in Social and Cultural Anthropology is now accepting applications

Autumn school illustration

Situated along the Ionian Sea, as part of the Albanian Riviera, Lukova is a village marked by its centuries-old olive groves, terraced hillsides, and layered histories of movement and change. During communism, it experienced internal migration as part of national efforts to expand olive cultivation and strengthen rural production. In the decades following the regime’s collapse, it was again reshaped, this time by mass emigration.

Today, as Albania rapidly becomes a prime tourist destination, the entire Riviera, including Lukova, faces profound natural, political, and socio-economic transformations. Here, questions of identity, belonging, and future directions intertwine, forming a complex cosystem of relationships between people, nature, and place.

A seasonal school in Lukova

Aiming to study and document the ongoing changes in Lukovë, the Tirana office, in collaboration with the House of Anthropology - Centre for Research in Social and Cultural Anthropology (QSASK), organizes an annual seasonal school dedicated to the anthropological study of the region’s social, economic, ecological, and cultural dynamics.

The first edition of the School focused on touristification, the commons, and protected areas, addressing issues of environmental and social justice. The second edition explored the relationship between social memory, cultural heritage, and lived or imagined landscapes, with a particular emphasis on law and justice as both social and legal frameworks shaping community life in Lukova. Now we are returning for a third edition.

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