Edith Durham honoured on 110th anniversary of Shkodra visit

TIRANA, Dec. 20 – British writer and researcher Edith Durham has been honoured by the city council of Shkodra on the 110th anniversary of her visit to Albania’s biggest northern city. The “Citizen of Honour” title was awarded this week to the British Ambassador to Albania, Fiona McIlwham in a ceremony held in the local Marin Barleti library, where some materials featuring Edith Durham’s contribution to the Albanian independence cause in the early 20th century were video-projected.
“I feel extraordinarily honoured to receive this award. Like many of you, I read Edith Durham’s writings on Albania avidly, before I began my work here and as I have travelled around your beautiful country. As a woman, I am extraordinarily proud of her legacy as an intrepid explorer and highly regarded writer, adventurous by any standards but particularly for a woman of her generation,” said Ambassador McIlwham after receiving the award by Shkodra Mayor Lorenc Luka.
“Edith Durham defied stereotypes. It’s my firm belief that it’s up to each and every one of us to continue to challenge stereotypes. Most are borne of ignorance or fear or both; and they limit our thinking. Women – in the UK but more acutely in Albania – continue to be constrained by prejudice and out-dated attitudes. That’s damaging for women; more importantly it’s harmful for the prosperity, democracy and security of our societies,” added the Ambassador.
Robert Elsie, an Albanian studies specialist, describes the British writer and traveller, Edith Durham (1863-1944) as primarily remembered for her seminal book publications, in particular her volume ‘High Albania’ but also as the author of countless articles and ‘letters to the editor,’ in which she endeavored to present Albania’s cause to the British public and to correct erroneous views. Many of these articles and letters have been published recently in the volume ‘Albania and the Albanians: Selected Articles and Letters, 1903-1944.’
In 1941, following the Italian occupation of Albania, Durham published an overview of Albania in the ‘Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain,’ typical of her passionate involvement in Albania’s fate. As the most renowned figure of Albanian studies in twentieth-century Britain, she died at her home in London on 15 November 1944, two weeks before the Communist takeover of Albania.