The ottoman women’s transformative agency: from traditional to modern interiors

Abstract

While scholars have studied the significance of the press in the process of modernization of the Ottoman Empire in general terms, the effects of women’s periodicals on domestic architecture and design have not been adequately investigated. In the Tanzimat period (Reorganization) (1839–1876), some two thousand weekly and monthly newspapers and periodicals were published. Affordable press and the rise of literacy – particularly female literacy were the two driving forces of modernization. Readership expanded further in the Hamidian era (1876–1909). Later, perhaps emboldened by the Constitutionalist Revolution of 1908, Ottoman women published opinion pieces, designating themselves as authors. Operating as advice literature, women’s periodicals offered information on the latest European fashions in dress, music, crafts, the arts, family life, and etiquette. Some authors advocated for reforming residential interiors to reflect a more modern world view, while traditionalists opposed it. Ironically, even when traditionalist authors were warning their readers against the ill effects of Westernization to evoke fear in hearts and minds, they were still exposing them to a forbidden world; a world in which women had roles beyond wifehood and motherhood. The public discourse on the role of women in society, dress, and public etiquette led to the questioning of traditional gendered domestic spaces. The new Ottoman woman had to dwell in a modern domestic interior that reflected her newly-found values.

KEYWORDS: :

• ottoman
• women
• modernization
• interior
• harem
• home
• orientalism

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For more on this topic, please see Monica M. Ringer and Etienne E. Charrière (eds.), Ottoman Culture and the Project of Modernity, New York, I. B. Tauris, 2020; Fatma Melek Arıkan, Modernization in the Late Ottoman Era, New York, Taylor & Francis, 2020; Michael Provence, The Last Ottoman Generation and the Making of the Modern Middle East, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017; Zeynep Çelik & Edhem Eldem (eds.), Camera Ottomana: Photography and Modernity in the Ottoman Empire, 1840–1914, Istanbul, Koç University Press, 2015.

2 Before uncovering the process of modernization of domestic Ottoman space, a brief overview of significant concepts and terms such as “modern,” “alafranga,” and “Westernization” is in order. The word “modern” has its roots in Latin “modo” meaning “just now.” In the 1580s, the word meant “of or pertaining to present or recent times.” The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “designed and made using the most recent ideas and methods.”

3 https://www.etimolojiturkce.com/kelime/alafranga (accessed February 2022).

4 https://www.etimolojiturkce.com/kelime/modern (accessed February 2022).

5 For more on this topic, please see Beshara B. Doumani, Family Life in the Ottoman Mediterranean, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017; Duygu Köksal, Anastasia Falierou (eds.), A Social History of Late Ottoman Women, Leiden, Brill, 2013; Reina Lewis, Nancy Micklewright (eds.), Gender, Modernity, and Liberty, London, I.B. Tauris, 2006; Madeline C. Zilfi (ed.), Women in the Ottoman Empire, Leiden, Brill, 1997.

6 For more on this topic, please see, Burhan Çağlar, Anglophone Press in Constantinople: The Levant Herald & Eastern Express (1859–1878), Istanbul, Libra, 2020; Börte Sagaster, Theoharis Stavrides, and Birgitt Hoffmann (eds.), Press and Mass Communication in the Middle East, Bamberg, University of Bamberg Press; Rıfat N. Bali, Jewish Journalism and Press in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, Istanbul, Libra, 2016; Olga Borovaya, “The Emergence of the Ladino Press: The First Attempt at Westernization of Ottoman Jews (1842–1846),” in European Judaism, 43, (2), Autumn 2010: 63–75; Victoria Rowe, A History of Armenian Women’s Writing, 1880–1922, London, Gomidas Institute, 2009; Sarah Abrevaya Stein, Making Jews Modern: The Yiddish and Ladino Press in the Russian and Ottoman Empires, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2003.

7 For more please see, Alexander Safarian, “On the History of Turkish Feminism,” in Iran & the Caucasus, 11, (1), 2007: 141–151.

8 All translations from Turkish and Ottoman Turkish sources into English are done by the author. Some clarification about significant words may be helpful. For example, “feminizm” in Ottoman Turkish sources was translated as “feminism.” The author translated “alafrangalılaşmak” as “Westernization.” “Erkekleşme” was translated as “becoming man-like, masculinization.”

9 In his book Eyewitnessing: The Uses of Images as Historical Evidence (2001), Peter Burke recognizes that “images are particularly valuable in the reconstruction of the material culture of the past” but also reminds that “engaging in source criticism” is vital.

10 Regardless of authorship, writing women’s history in itself is challenging; i.e. until 1882, Ottoman women were not included in census data. Women were first included in industrial statistical data in 1913. Serpil Çakır, Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi, Istanbul, Metis, 1994, pp. 13 and 261.

11 https://www.etymonline.com/word/salon (accessed February 2022).

12 https://www.etymonline.com/word/salon (accessed February 2022).

13 Insaniyet 2 (1883): 49–53, Cited in Ömer Deliköz and Nazmi Ziya Şehit, “Impact of Women Letters to the Modernization and Individualization Process of Ottoman Women,” in Fatma Türe and Birsen Talay Keşoğlu, (eds.), Women’s Memory, New Castle, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, p. 72.

14 Similar to the abaya, a charshaf is a loose, sheet-like garment worn to hide indoor outfits for purposes of modesty. Covering the colorful indoor outfits with standardized garments rendered Ottoman women invisible in public spaces.

15 Mustafa Asım Bey, Kadınlar Dünyası, July 1913, (83), p. 1, cited in Serpil Çakır, Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi, Istanbul, Metis, 1994, pp. 163–4.

16 Bint-i Pertev Hatice, “Maddi-Manevi Kuvvetler,” in Kadınlar Dünyası, June 1918, (179), p. 10–12 cited in Serpil Çakır, Osmanlı Kadın Hareketi, Istanbul, Metis, 1994, p. 168.

17 Between 1853 and 1906 Istanbul experienced 229 fires. Zeynep Çelik identifies 1856 Aksaray and 1865 Hocapaşa fires as turning points in reshaping the urban fabric of Istanbul. Zeynep Çelik, The Remaking of Istanbul, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1993, p. 53.

18 http://www.istanbulkadinmuzesi.org/en/mufide-kadri (accessed March 2022).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gülen Çevik

Gülen Çevik, PhD, is a professor of architecture and interior design at Miami University, Ohio, where she teaches research and programming, interior design studios, and history of interiors. She holds a BS in Interior Architecture degree from Mimar Sinan University (Istanbul), MS and PhD in Architecture degrees from the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include the history and theory of interior design, cultural history and Orientalism. Previously she has published articles about the process of modernization and its influences on domestic spaces in Turkey, and the reciprocal reception and transformation of the concept of comfort and material culture within Occidental and Oriental discourses. [email protected]