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Katerina Dalakoura




Female Social Activities: Norms and Exceptions in Greek Women’s Press

Abstract:

The proposed paper will try to present the norms and the deviations from norms concerning women’s role in society, as they appear in the Greek women’s press published within the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century. More particularly the paper will focus on the women’s social activities presented by female contributors (journalists, pedagogues, literary women) as ‘normal’ or, on the contrary, pointed out as inappropriate for them (harmful to their physical and/or mental health and disorganizing the societies).

The paper will be based on the texts of five women, among the most productive ones, in regard with their contribution to Greek women’s press edited in the 19th century within the aforementioned geographical area. Those are: Cornelia Preveziotou, editor of the female journal Bosporis (1899), Virginia Evaggelidou, poet and story writer, Sappho Leontias, a celebrated pedagogue, Efrosyni Samartzidou, editor of the journal Kypseli (1845) and headmistress of girls schools, and Alexandra Papadopoulou, a well-known short-story writer and co-director of the literary journal Philologiki Echo. The journals studied are: Kypseli (1845), Eurydice (1870-1873), Women’s Diary (1888-1889), Vosporis (1899-1906) (from the last one the first year of its circulation is studied) and Philologiki Echo (1893-1897).

The particular sub-periods of time, and the sub-categories of the women writers (journalists, pedagogues, literary figures) will be taken into account in regard with the comparison of the norms. As far as reception is concerned, readers’ reactions to the proposed norms (such as letters to the editors, ‘answering’ articles etc.), as well as quantitative data concerning the journal’s circulation will be considered.




AsK, September 2012




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