Paraskevi Kyrias, Albania, and the US at the Paris Peace Conference

Streaming Media

Document Type

Podcast

Publication Date

1-21-2021

Publication Title

Ottoman History Podcast

Abstract

In 1919, Paraskevi Kyrias went to Paris to advocate for Albanian independence. As a woman in the overwhelmingly masculine space of international diplomacy, she faced sexism and unwanted romantic overtures. Nevertheless, she called on her connections within a global Protestant community, her life in diaspora in the United States, and her experiences at the elite Constantinople Girls' School to play a unique role in the Albanian campaign for independence after World War I. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Nevila Pahumi about Kyrias' story, her leadership of the early Albanian women's movement, and the diary of her experiences in Paris she left behind. We also trace the history of this remarkable woman after 1919, as she and her family were repudiated by a secularizing Albanian state determined to excise Protestant activism from their national history--until she was once again remade as a feminist icon in the last years of her life.

Keywords

Albania, Colonialism, Gender, History, League of Nations, Nationalism, OHP Episodes, Ottoman Empire, Women

Volume

Episode No. 490

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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