Ruairi O'Connell

Kosovo's image

A year after I arrived in Kosovo, a Kosovo MP asked me about the image of Kosovo in the UK.

I asked her if she wanted a truthful answer. "Of course", she said, expecting that the image of Kosovo in the UK would be the same of the UK amongst Kosovo Albanians (where we are seen as liberators following the 1999 NATO intervention).

She was somewhat taken aback by my reply. I said that, in all probability, most people in the UK would have no idea where Kosovo was, and, if they knew anything about Kosovo, it would be limited to the conflict during the 1990s. We agreed that such an image was hardly likely to draw investors or tourists to Kosovo.

Indeed, Kosovo has only featured on our TV screens when something goes wrong. Even then, the only issues we here are linked to the conflict. There are no Kosovo football teams in the champions league; no Kosovo bands in the charts; Pristina is not yet a destination for weekend breaks (or stag nights). There is a real sense that Kosovo = conflict.

So I was very happy to visit a craft fair at the Ethnological Museum in Pristina over the weekend. This followed a week-long 'artisan in residence' programme at the museum (details on the dardamedia website at http://www.dardamedia.com/muzeuetnologjik/?p=1), supported by a very small grant from the British Office. The event brought artisans from across Kosovo to perform demonstrations in Pristina - and provided the opportunity to sell their work.

Pleasingly, this included artisans and visitors from all of Kosovo's ethnic communities. This was not, in the memorable words of a friend, just 'multiethnicity for food'. The artisans and visitors came because they wanted to - not because someone had paid them to. This is the natural consequence of representing Kosovo's craft heritage; Kosovo culture, like that of the UK, involves many different traditions, and an exhibition of Kosovo crafts should draw them all in. But most importantly, the event gave people a way to interact, and to think about Kosovo, in a way that did not involve politics or 'The Conflict', and without being staged or artificial . As I said to the young and committed volunteer staff at the museum, since the war, Kosovo has seen itself, and we have seen Kosovo, through the prism of conflict. Work such as theirs promises to give us a new perspective.

Posted at 15:28 30 January 2008 by Ruairi O'Connell  |  Comments[1]