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Revised and Updated with a New Introduction During the 19th century
the Balkan countries became the subject of a rather romantic
fascination for the public at large. This vision of the area has
been created in large measure by the writing of women travelers
such as those represented in this volume. The achievements of these
women are quite remarkable: in many cases their travels were
adventurous, and even dangerous, reaching into parts of the
countryside which were remote and hardly known to outsiders. Not
only as travelers but also in the fields of medical and military
service, scholarship and education, journalism and literature, did
these women contribute in very significant ways to the expansion of
women's horizons and to the attempt to gain greater freedom for
women in society in general. Contents: Editorial Introduction:
Black Lambs and Grey Falcons: Outward and Inward Frontiers - Two
Victorian Ladies and Bosnian Realities, 1861-1875: G.M. MacKenzie
and A.P. Irby - Edith Durham, Traveller and Publicist - Edith
Durham as a Collector - Emily Balch: Balkan Traveller, Peace Worker
and Nobel Laureate - The Work of British Medical Women in Serbia
during and after the First World War - Captain Flora Sandes: A Case
Study in the Social Construction of Gender in a Serbian Context -
Rose Wilder Lane: 1886-1968 - Rebecca West, Gerda and the Sense of
Process - Margaret Masson Hasluck - Louisa Rayner: An
Englishwoman's Experiences in Wartime Yugoslavia - Mercia
MacDermott: A Woman of the Frontier - An Anthropologist in the
Village - Bucks, Brides and Useless Baggage: Women's Quest for a
Role in their Balkan Travels - Constructing 'the Balkans' - Women
Travellers in the Balkans: A Bibliographical Guide. John B. Allcock
is head of the Research Unit in South East European Studies and is
based in the Interdisciplinary Human Studies department at the
University of Bradford; Antonia Young is a member of the Department
for Sociology and Anthropology at Colgate University, New York
Most people conceive of gender as a culturally informed response to
a biological imperative. But such rigid notions are overturned by
certain women in remote regions of Albania who elect to 'become'
men simply for the advantages that accrue to them as a result. They
crop their hair, wear men's clothes, roll their own cigarettes,
drink brandy and carry guns. In short, their lives are much freer
and less regimented than other members of their sex - but at a
cost. These women must foreswear sexual relationships, marriage and
children. They have been dubbed 'Sworn Virgins'.
What is interesting is that in this region of the Balkans, simply
to dress as a man and to behave as a man will earn these women the
same respect accorded a man. This is no mean advantage in an area
known for sexual inequality and where so many men have suffered
violent, premature deaths, thereby heightening the need for more
household heads. Traditionally as heads of household, men are
revered and the women who attend them utterly subservient. But
unlike 'normal' women, Sworn Virgins can inherit and manage
property, and, in fact, may even be raised to assume the male role
by parents who have no male heirs.
Based on extensive interviews, this book tells the frank and
engrossing stories of these women, but also sets their lives within
the wider context of a country undergoing radical upheaval and
social transformation.
Most people conceive of gender as a culturally informed response to
a biological imperative. But such rigid notions are overturned by
certain women in remote regions of Albania who elect to 'become'
men simply for the advantages that accrue to them as a result. They
crop their hair, wear men's clothes, roll their own cigarettes,
drink brandy and carry guns. In short, their lives are much freer
and less regimented than other members of their sex - but at a
cost. These women must foreswear sexual relationships, marriage and
children. They have been dubbed 'Sworn Virgins'. What is
interesting is that in this region of the Balkans, simply to dress
as a man and to behave as a man will earn these women the same
respect accorded a man. This is no mean advantage in an area known
for sexual inequality and where so many men have suffered violent,
premature deaths, thereby heightening the need for more household
heads. Traditionally as heads of household, men are revered and the
women who attend them utterly subservient. But unlike 'normal'
women, Sworn Virgins can inherit and manage property, and, in fact,
may even be raised to assume the male role by parents who have no
male heirs. Based on extensive interviews, this book tells the
frank and engrossing stories of these women, but also sets their
lives within the wider context of a country undergoing radical
upheaval and social transformation.
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