This paper is a rather personal story about what doing research on Ottoman women used to look like nog that long ago. As such this is a rather personal story of my own experiences over the many... Show moreThis paper is a rather personal story about what doing research on Ottoman women used to look like nog that long ago. As such this is a rather personal story of my own experiences over the many years of research into the topic. Show less
In the second decade of the twentieth century, the Unionists aimed at establishing a national economy with an Ottoman Muslim elite of commercial and industrial entrepreneurs. One of the means to... Show moreIn the second decade of the twentieth century, the Unionists aimed at establishing a national economy with an Ottoman Muslim elite of commercial and industrial entrepreneurs. One of the means to stimulate the development of a national economy was the promotion of the consumption of national products. This article discusses how Ottoman Muslim women actively participated in the campaigns to promote the consumption of these goods by the public through not only the publication of articles in the (women’s) press, but also by establishing organizations to this aim. It also shows how, within the context of the development of a national economy, the meaning of “national” (milli) shifted over the years from “not coming from outside the Ottoman Empire” to “produced by Muslims.” It does so by focusing on one particular women’s organization: the Mamulat-ı Dahiliye İstihlakı Kadınlar Cemiyet-i Hayriyesi (Charitable Women’s Organization for the Consumption of Local Products). Show less
This article explores the interactions between Ottoman (Muslim) women and the extending international women’s movement of the “first wave.” While historians of the three large international women’s... Show moreThis article explores the interactions between Ottoman (Muslim) women and the extending international women’s movement of the “first wave.” While historians of the three large international women’s organizations—the International Council of Women, International Woman Suffrage Alliance, and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom—date the first contacts between the international women’s movement and women in the Middle East in the 1920s, this article shows that they actually started well before the turn of the century. Show less
This work aimed at providing a better understanding of the involvement of Ottoman (Muslim) women, both as object and as subject, in the regeneration of nationalism through their activities as... Show moreThis work aimed at providing a better understanding of the involvement of Ottoman (Muslim) women, both as object and as subject, in the regeneration of nationalism through their activities as individuals and in female associational life. By describing and analyzing the feminist, philanthropic/charitable, and patriotic/nationalist activities of Ottoman Muslim women during the period 1908-1918, the study sought to get a better understanding of the identity claims which are part of the particular form of discourse which nationalism is and to show how the processes of community and/or nation building and the creation of state indentity/identities in the late Ottoman Empire were gendered. It shows that Ottoman Muslim women with their organizations and activities not only reflected the multi-tier identities prevailing in late Ottoman society, but actively took part in shaping, shifting and reshuffling them and that knowledge of the activities of Ottoman (Muslim) women in the many feminist, philanthropic and patriotic organizations which existed during the last decades of the Ottoman Empire is indispensible for a better understanding of the development of nationalism(s) in the late Ottoman era and the identity claims involved in it. Show less
