Gëzim Alpion
{{Short description|Albanian sociologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox person
|name= Gëzim Alpion
|image =
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|nationality = Albanian/British
|alma_mater = Cairo University BA
Durham University PhD
|occupation =
|notable_works = Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?
}}
Gëzim Alpion is an Albanian academic and civil activist. He is currently based in the Department of Sociology at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Education and career
Alpion earned a B.A. from Cairo University in 1989 and a PhD from Durham University, United Kingdom in 1997.{{cite journal |last1=Oryzysyn |first1=Debra |title=Mother Teresa—The formation of a saint |journal=Death Studies |date=2021 |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=111–113 |doi=10.1080/07481187.2021.2000095 |s2cid=243956743 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07481187.2021.2000095?journalCode=udst20}}
In 2002, he was appointed to the Department of Sociology at the University of Birmingham, after previous lecturing at the University of Huddersfield, Sheffield Hallam University and Newman University. In 2010, he joined Birmingham's Department of Political Science and International Studies and in 2016 the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology.
Alpion's research area deals with the sociology of religion, nationalism, fame, race, media, film and authorship. He has written extensively about Mother Teresa and is considered an expert on her life.{{cite web |title=Gëzim Alpion |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/author/g%C3%ABzim-alpion/ |website=bloomsbury.com |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing}}{{cite journal |last1=Schwartz |first1=Stephen |title=Encounters With Civilizations Review |url=http://www.islamicpluralism.org/1967/encounters-with-civilizations |website=islamicpluralism.org |year=2012}}
Alpion's main publications to date include: Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity? (2007), Foreigner Complex: Essays and Fiction about Egypt (2002), and Encounters with Civilizations: From Alexander the Great to Mother Teresa (2011).{{cite web |title=European launch for 'Encounters with Civilisations' |url=https://indigenouspsych.org/Interest%20Group/Encounters%20with%20Civilisations.pdf |website=indigenouspsych.org |date=31 May 2011}}{{cite web |title=London to host sociological perspective of Mother Teresa study |url=https://mattersindia.com/2016/05/london-to-host-sociological-perspective-of-mother-teresa-study/ |website=mattersindia.com |date=18 May 2016}}
Alpion is also a playwright; his plays Vouchers (2001) and If Only the Dead Could Listen (2008) address the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in the West. Sponsored by Arts Council England, the plays have been successfully performed across the UK.{{cite web |last1=Lipsett |first1=Anthea |title=Gëzim Alpion: Speaking for the refugee in us all |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/gzim-alpion-speaking-for-the-refugee-in-us-all/201106.article |website=timeshighereducation.com |date=3 February 2006}}
Activism
= Construction of the Arbëri Road =
In March 2013, Alpion began an online petition for the Albanian government to complete the construction of the Arbëri Road, a highway linking Albania's capital Tirana with his native Dibra, one of the most impoverished and neglected regions in Albania. The proposal would significantly lessen the travel time between the two areas as well as ensure Macedonia, Kosovo and Bulgaria gain unprecedented access to the Adriatic Sea, contributing further to the EU integration of this area of the Balkans. In May 2014, Alpion was received by the President of Albania, Bujar Nishani, the Speaker of Parliament, Ilir Meta, and the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Edmond Haxhinasto, and hosted a roundtable discussion in Tirana with a number of Albanian MPs where they discussed the Arbëri Road.{{cite news|title=Birmingham academic injects new life in to civil society in Albania |url=http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2014/06/birmingham-academic-injects-new-life-in-to-civil-society-in-Albania.aspx |website=birmingham.ac.uk |date=6 June 2014}} The petition was covered in Albanian and British media,{{cite news|title=There's more to Albania than Mother Teresa and it's screaming change |url=http://www.rashmee.com/theres-more-to-albania-than-mother-teresa-and-its-screaming-change/ |website=rashmee.com |date=22 April 2014}} but the road has since not been constructed yet.
= Canonization of Mother Teresa =
In 2014, Alpion led an online campaign for the canonization of Mother Teresa, with an online petition of over 1500 signatures.{{Cite web |title=Klosi - Pope's Albania visit: Vatican silence on Mother Teresa regretted |url=https://www.klosi.com/klosi_news_culture/6959.html |access-date=2022-05-30 |website=www.klosi.com}} Mother Teresa was canonized in 2016.{{Cite news |last=Povoledo |first=Elisabetta |date=2016-09-03 |title=Mother Teresa Is Made a Saint by Pope Francis |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/world/europe/mother-teresa-named-saint-by-pope-francis.html |access-date=2022-05-30 |issn=0362-4331}}
Personal life
Books
- Alpion, G., Vouchers: A Tragedy, Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham CPS, 2001.
- Alpion, G., Foreigner Complex: Essays and Fiction about Egypt, Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham CPS, 2002.{{cite book|title=Foreigner Complex: Essays and Fiction about Egypt |publisher=University of Birmingham CPS|pages=103| id= {{ASIN|0704423170|country=uk}}}}
- Alpion, G., Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity? London and New York: Routledge, 2007 (simultaneously published in the UK, the US and Canada); Indian Edition (in English), New Delhi: Routledge India, 2008; Italian Edition (in Italian), Rome, 2008.{{cite book|title=Madre Teresa: Santa o Celebrità?|url=http://salernoeditrice.it/Scheda_libro.asp?id=1666&categoria=11|year=2008|publisher=Salerno Edirice|pages=XII–396|access-date=5 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304120703/http://salernoeditrice.it/Scheda_libro.asp?id=1666&categoria=11|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}
- Alpion, G., If Only the Dead Could Listen, Chapel Hill, NC, USA: Globic Press, 2008.
- Alpion, G., Encounters with Civilizations: From Alexander the Great to Mother Teresa, New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers, 2011.
- Alpion, G., Mother Teresa: The Saint and Her Nation (reprint ed.), Bloomsbury, 2021.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/nov/01/workinprogress.highereducation Arnot, Chris. 'Sinners and winners'. The Guardian, 1 November 2005.]
- [https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/gzim-alpion-speaking-for-the-refugee-in-us-all/201106.article Lipsett, Anthea. 'Gëzim Alpion: Speaking for the refugee in us all'. Times Higher Education, 3 February 2006.]
- [http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/6th-january-2007/23/kathryn-spink Spink, Kathryn. 'Baffled by enigma of sancity'. The Tablet, 6 January 2007.] {{Archive url|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305092445/http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/6th-january-2007/23/kathryn-spink|date=2016-03-05}}
- [http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/2851#.VcHGhLWncgo Derbyshire, Stuart. 'Mother Teresa and the ‘me, me, me’ culture'. Spiked Magazine, 14 February 2007.]
- [http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2007/02/ts-eliot-mother-teresa-and-the Neuhaus, Richard John. 'T. S. Eliot, Mother Teresa, and the Children of Darkness'. First Things: The Journal of Religion, Culture and Public Life, New York, 23 February 2007.]
- [http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/trashing_the_icon_of_altruism Liaugminas, Sheila. 'Trashing the icon of altruism'. MercatorNet, 27 February 2007.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304065045/http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/trashing_the_icon_of_altruism |date=4 March 2016 }}
- [http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2007/5-april/reviews/book-reviews/famous-by-her-own-design Byrne, Lavinia. 'Famous by her own design'. Church Times, London, 3 April 2007.]
- [http://www.islamicpluralism.org/221/mother-teresa-saint-or-celebrity Schwartz, Stephen 'Review of Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?'. Illyria, New York, 19 September 2007.]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alpion, Gezim}}
Category:20th-century Albanian philosophers
Category:21st-century Albanian philosophers
Category:University of Tirana alumni
Category:Cairo University alumni
Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham
Category:Albanian dramatists and playwrights
Category:People associated with York St John University
Category:Albanian expatriates in the United Kingdom
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)