Alex Standish (UK academic)

According the othe University of Durham Alex Standish is:

Alex Standish was based in the southern Balkans for a number of years and is a recognised specialist in the fields of blood feuds within the ethnic Albanian communities and human trafficking from and via the region. A graduate of Durham University, he previously worked for the BBC as a foreign correspondent in Albania, Kosovo, Serbia and Macedonia, as well as being a documentary producer with BBC Panorama. His current research focuses primarily on contemporary mutations of the blood feud concept and the development of strategies for feud resolution within ethnic Albanian communities, although he has also researched and produced two television documentaries for Channel 4 focusing on the payment of ‘blood money’ as an alternative to judicial execution in Saudi Arabia.

His recent publications include Kosovo one year on: the crisis and its consequences (2001); The Kanun: Blood, Honour and Death within the Albania Communities (2005); Ethnography in Albania: a brief introduction (2006) and he is joint author of Albanian Identities: Myth and History (2002). He is currently preparing the first academic biography of Metropolitan Fan S. Noli, founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church, as well as writing a paper on the continuing practice of fraternization (ritual blood brotherhood) among ethnic Albanian males.

Alex Standish is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and Senior Research Fellow and Director of Development at St Chad’s College, Durham University. He is also Editor of Strategic Intelligence Review and he reviews for the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.