Cybernetics on the margins: computer science in Albanian higher education during the Cold War
Arjan Shahini · Cold War History · 2024
This article offers a multilayered examination of knowledge circulation and technology transfer in a peripheral country by tracing the development of computer science in Albanian higher education. It highlights the impact of foreign policy, and the influence of international factors on the discipline during a period when Albania was considered isolated and affected by various waves of anti-technocratic sentiments. Due to transcultural influences, the Albanian academic community adopted the cybernetic spirit of the 1950s early on. However, the establishment of computer science as a discipline at the University of Tirana did not occur until the 1980s.