This panel was held in the framework of the 3rd annual international conference “Albanian Studies Days 2016”, 30th April 2016, organized by the European University of Tirana.
Recent global events and the current crises raise questions on identity issues, religion and their importance. Therefore, UET and UET Centre organized this year a special panel discussion, which addressed religious and identity issues in Albania by building an interdisciplinary public discussion at a high academic quality in the Albanian Academia. Some of the panelists were Albanian and foreign experts on religious studies, as well as imams and representatives of civil society. The panel was moderated by Dr. Arolda Elbasani, European University Institute Florence with a wide participation of Albanian professors and civil society representatives. During the event Mr. Derand Krasniqi, Mr. Besfort Lamallari, Dr. Enis Sulstarova, Dr. Enri Hide, Ermir Gjinishi, PhD (c) presented their papers focused on religious radicalism, enfringement of laicite in Albania and recent developments related to current events in national and international arena. The discussion was followed by a vivid debate on how the academic world in Albania should focus more on identity issues and religious studies. It was also emphasized the importance of following scientific approaches and carefully organized methodologies in order not to come up with misperceptions and wrong doing conclusions to certain group members of the society. The papers presented during the panel have publishing perspective and the participants agreed unanimously that now it is time to widen and deepen research on this field.

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