Alcohol between religious deculturation and Sufi heritage amongst Albanian Muslims in the post-socialist period

Amongst Albanians, the consumption of alcohol is a practice that marks different levels of sociability and forms of conviviality, while for certain orders of the mystical Sufi, notably the Bektashis, alcohol takes on ritual and even liturgical connotations framed by regulated forms of sociability. However, half a century of socialist anti-religious repression and the post-socialist re-Islamisation have affected the symbolic and normative portrayal of alcohol consumption, producing narratives and counternarratives about its legality. The debate on alcohol represents a relevant object of study for analysing the evolution of behavioural and religious norms by Albanian Muslims whose individualised religiosity may be shaped by the public discourse of local authorities, as well as by the homogenisation (even deculturation) of values and rules within the global Ummah.