Preserving the Legacy of Dr. Ibrahim Krosi: A Family Initiative to Bring Balkan Folklore Back to the Attention of Scholars

This is a guest post by Adrian Krosi, son of the late Albanian folklorist Dr. Ibrahim Krosi.

My name is Adrian Krosi, heir and legal representative of Dr. Ibrahim Krosi. I began this initiative in April 2026 with a very personal goal, to preserve and continue the scholarly work of my father, Dr. Ibrahim Krosi (1942–2012), an Albanian folklorist, Albanologist, philologist, educator and writer whose research focused extensively on Albanian oral tradition and the folklore of the Balkans.

My father was born in Rashçe (Rašče), in the Derven area near Skopje, and began his career as a teacher in 1962. He subsequently completed higher studies in Albanian Language and Literature in Skopje, and in 1983 received his master’s degree in Zagreb with the study Lirika popullore shqipe në Maqedoni (Albanian Folk Lyric Poetry in Macedonia). On 18 April 1996, he defended his doctoral dissertation, Baladat shqiptare dhe maqedonase (Albanian and Macedonian Folk Ballads), at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. His academic work was closely connected to field research. From 1970 onward, he collaborated with the Institute of Folklore “Marko Cepenkov” in Skopje, documenting songs, laments, children’s folklore, rites and customs, tales, proverbs, riddles and other forms of oral tradition among Albanian-speaking communities.

His published work includes Këngë popullore lirike të Dërvenit, Lirika popullore shqiptare në Maqedoni, Folklori shqiptar në kontekst ballkanik, and Proverba dhe thënie popullore nga Derveni i Shkupit. His bibliography contains more than 350 documented writings and contributions, while more than 30 unpublished works and materials are preserved in the family archive.

One of the most important discoveries during this project has been seeing how far his work travelled beyond the place where he lived and worked. We have documented his books and records in important international library and university collections, including the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Stanford University, Yale University, the National and University Library of Croatia, the National Library of Albania, the National and University Library “St. Clement of Ohrid” in Skopje, Vienna, Graz, and other international institutions. Additional bibliographic evidence can be found through Library of Congress, WorldCat/OCLC, K10plus, BVB and Finna. Several institutions have also provided us with direct confirmation of the presence of his works in their collections.

His local legacy is equally significant. In 2021, the City of Skopje officially named Ibrahim Krosi Street in Saraj and Ibrahim Krosi Square in Rashçe, recognizing his contribution to the cultural and intellectual life of the Derven community.

His scholarly work did not end with his death in 2012. It has continued to have a life within academic research, with his publications and research being cited and used as references in subsequent dissertations, theses and scholarly studies, while articles have continued to document and examine his contribution. This continuing scholarly use is important evidence that his research remains relevant beyond his own generation. His fieldwork, documentation of Albanian oral traditions, and comparative study of Albanian and Macedonian folklore continue to provide valuable source material for researchers, particularly in the study of folklore, oral literature and the cultural history of the Balkans. In several areas, his work remains remarkably forward-looking, particularly in its combination of long-term field documentation with comparative research across linguistic and cultural traditions.

For me, this is not simply an initiative to preserve books. It is a continuation of a family tradition of knowledge and scholarship.

My grandfather also placed great importance on education and learning, having been a scholar and teacher of literary language, and this commitment to study continued within our family. I am a history teacher myself, and I grew up with the conviction that research, memory and education are responsibilities passed from one generation to the next.

Since the beginning of the initiative, we have digitised the unpublished articles and seminar materials currently available to us and have begun organizing the wider archive, which includes manuscripts, photographs, academic documents and other materials.

We are building a dedicated website through which we aim to publish unpublished books and writings, present his bibliography and research, and make these materials accessible to researchers, libraries and universities internationally.

The project has also been submitted for the European Heritage Awards / Europa Nostra Awards 2027, in the category Citizens’ Engagement & Awareness-raising, as a family effort to protect, document and reactivate a cultural and scholarly heritage.

I am undertaking this work in honour of my father, but also because I believe that the work of a scholar who devoted his life to collecting, studying and preserving the voices of others should itself be preserved. Our goal is also to send his published works and newly prepared materials to research institutions, so that future generations can continue the study of Albanian folklore and the cultural history of the Balkans.

Mr. Adrian Krosi can be reached at: ibrahimkrosi.archive@gmail.com.