Mary Edith Durham and the Balkans, 1900-1914

This thesis is an exposition on the British traveller Mary Edith Durham and her various activities in the Balkans from 1900 to 1914. Durham earned a reputation as an ethnographer, traveller, reporter, political activist and relief worker. First, the thesis documents her experiences between 1900-1908 as a traveller in the Balkans. In this period Durham developed a keen interest for the history and cultures of the peoples of the Balkans. She also gained a solid knowledge of Balkan politics and became a familiar face in Montenegro and the Albanian territories of the Ottoman Empire. The study then describes her relief work in Albania and her efforts to lobby for the Albanian cause from 1910 to 1914, when she returned to England.The research consists of both published works and unpublished sources, some of which have not been used for studying Durham. These include Durham's personal manuscripts, correspondence from other personal papers, and documents from the British Foreign Office archives. (Abstract shortened by UMI.