Gëzim Alpion
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.
Gëzim Alpion | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Albanian/British |
| Alma mater | Cairo University BA Durham University PhD |
| Notable work | Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity? |
Education and career
Alpion earned a B.A. from Cairo University in 1989 and a PhD from Durham University, United Kingdom in 1997.[1]
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.[1]
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.[1][2][3]
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).[4][5]
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.[5][6]
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.[7] The petition was covered in Albanian and British media,[8] 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.[9] Mother Teresa was canonized in 2016.[10]
Personal life
Alpion is married and has two children.[5]
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.[11]
- 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.[12]
- 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
- Oryzysyn, Debra (2021). "Mother Teresa—The formation of a saint". Death Studies. 47 (1): 111–113. doi:10.1080/07481187.2021.2000095.
- "Gëzim Alpion". bloomsbury.com. Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Schwartz, Stephen (2012). "Encounters With Civilizations Review". islamicpluralism.org.
- "European launch for 'Encounters with Civilisations'" (PDF). indigenouspsych.org. 31 May 2011.
- "London to host sociological perspective of Mother Teresa study". mattersindia.com. 18 May 2016.
- Lipsett, Anthea (3 February 2006). "Gëzim Alpion: Speaking for the refugee in us all". timeshighereducation.com.
- "Birmingham academic injects new life in to civil society in Albania". birmingham.ac.uk. 6 June 2014.
- "There's more to Albania than Mother Teresa and it's screaming change". rashmee.com. 22 April 2014.
- "Klosi - Pope's Albania visit: Vatican silence on Mother Teresa regretted". www.klosi.com. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
- Povoledo, Elisabetta (3 September 2016). "Mother Teresa Is Made a Saint by Pope Francis". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
- Foreigner Complex: Essays and Fiction about Egypt. University of Birmingham CPS. p. 103. ASIN 0704423170.
- Madre Teresa: Santa o Celebrità?. Salerno Edirice. 2008. pp. XII–396. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
External links
- Arnot, Chris. 'Sinners and winners'. The Guardian, 1 November 2005.
- Lipsett, Anthea. 'Gëzim Alpion: Speaking for the refugee in us all'. Times Higher Education, 3 February 2006.
- Spink, Kathryn. 'Baffled by enigma of sancity'. The Tablet, 6 January 2007.
- Derbyshire, Stuart. 'Mother Teresa and the ‘me, me, me’ culture'. Spiked Magazine, 14 February 2007.
- 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.
- Liaugminas, Sheila. 'Trashing the icon of altruism'. MercatorNet, 27 February 2007.
- Byrne, Lavinia. 'Famous by her own design'. Church Times, London, 3 April 2007.
- Schwartz, Stephen 'Review of Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?'. Illyria, New York, 19 September 2007.