Stavro Skëndi (born 1905 in

Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau som ...

; d. August 17, 1989 in Long Island) was an

Albanian American Albanian Americans ( sq, shqiptaro-amerikanët) are Americans of full or partial Albanian ancestry and heritage in the United States. They trace their ancestry to the territories with a large Albanian population in the Balkans among others to ...

linguist and historian.

Career

Skendi studied at Robert College in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, graduating in 1928. He continued his studies at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

and returned to

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, where he taught in Commerce schools. In 1946, he emigrated to the U.S. He enrolled at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

as a Ph.D. candidate, graduating in 1951. He joined the faculty as a lecturer in a program on East-Central Europe, specializing in Balkan language studies. He succeeded Nelo Drizari as lecturer and taught courses in Albanian and South Slavic at Columbia from 1954 until his retirement in 1972. Throughout this period, he cultivated his interest in Albanian studies, writing and publishing frequently. Skendi was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the a ...

and a visiting fellow at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent schola ...

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

Selected works

* ''Gjendja e Shqiperise sot dhe detyra e Shqiptarvet.'' (The situation of Albania today and the duty of the Albanians.) Konference e dhene ne Detroit, me 19 prill, 1953. Detroit 1953. * ''Albanian political thought and revolutionary activity, 1881–1912.'' München 1954. * ''Albanian and South Slavic oral epic poetry.'' American Folklore Society, Philadelphia 1954. *
The Political Evolution of Albania, 1912-1944
'' Mid-European Studies Center, New York 1954. *
Albania
'' (With Mehmet Beqiraj, George Bossy, Robert F. Byrnes.) Atlantic Pr., London 1957. * ''Mendimi politik dhe veprimtarija kryengritese shqiptare, 1881–1912.'' (Political opinion and the activities of the Albanian uprising, 1881–1912) New York 1958. * ''The history of the Albanian alphabet: a case of complex cultural and political development.'' R. Oldenbourg, München 1960. * ''The emergence of the modern Balkan literary languages: a comparative approach.'' Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1964. * ''Crypto-Christianity in the Balkan area under the Ottomans.'' American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, 1967. * ''The Albanian national awakening, 1878-1912.'' Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1967. * ''Kačić's "Razgovor" and Fishta's "Lahuta e Malcís".'' Wiesbaden 1968. * ''Language as a factor of national identity in the Balkans of the nineteenth century.'' American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia 1975. * ''Balkan cultural studies.'' East European Monographs, Boulder, olo. distributed by Columbia University Press, New York 1980. * ''Zgjimi kombëtar shqiptar: 1878-1912.'' (The awakening of the Albanian nation: 1878-1912.) Tirana/Phoenix 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skendi, Stavro 20th-century Albanian historians 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Albanian emigrants to the United States Albanologists 1905 births 1989 deaths Robert College alumni University of Geneva alumni Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Albanian schoolteachers Balli Kombëtar People from Korçë People from Manastir vilayet Eastern Orthodox Christians from Albania 20th-century American male writers