Children and Childhood in the Ottoman Empire - (Edinburgh Studies on the Ottoman Empire) by Gülay Yilmaz & Fruma Zachs (Paperback)

About the Book

Explores 5 centuries of changing attitudes toward children and childhood in the Ottoman Empire

Book Synopsis

How did adults, religious institutions and the state view children during the Ottoman Empire? This volume gathers specialists in the social history of the Ottoman Empire as a whole - in regions ranging from Anatolia through the Arab provinces to the Balkans, and from the 15th to the early 20th century - to respond to recent theoretical calls to recognise children as active agents in history. Divided into five thematic sections (concepts of childhood, family interrelationships, children outside family circles, children's bodies, and education), the volume covers the social and political structure of the Ottoman Empire. It uses the innovative prism of children as social agents who are not only shaped by but also shape society, rather than being the passive recipients of their social environment.

From the Back Cover

'This volume will encourage young scholars to develop projects in the area of Ottoman and MENA childhood. The choice of themes for the five sections is well-thought-out and marks for future contributions the contours of the field. The involvement of young scholars (young PhDs mostly) alongside more established ones is an excellent recipe for pushing ahead the study of this all-important sub-field of socio-cultural history.' Ehud R. Toledano, Professor of Middle East History, Tel Aviv University Explores five centuries of changing attitudes toward children and childhood in the Ottoman Empire Ottoman attitudes towards children - on the part of adults, religious institutions and the state - from the 15th to the early 20th century are explored in this volume. Specialists in the social history of the Ottoman Empire as a whole, in regions ranging from Anatolia, through the Arab provinces to the Balkans, respond to recent theoretical calls to recognise children as active agents in history. Key Features - Includes data on Christian, Jewish and Muslim children that shed light on differences and commonalities in family structures and communities - Covers a broad geographic area including Ottoman Romania, Bulgaria, Crimea, Greece, Bosnia, Syria, Palestine and Istanbul - Paves the way for new directions in research on the history of children and childhood in the Ottoman Empire - Features a Preface by Suraiya Faroqhi, an introductory chapter by Colin Heywood, and includes 8 tables, 8 graphs, 9 illustrations and a glossary of key terms Gülay Yılmaz is Associate Professor at Akdeniz University. She published articles and book chapters on the recruitment process of devşirmes, the janissary involvement on the urban culture, and economy of seventeenth-century Istanbul. Fruma Zachs is Professor at the University of Haifa. She is the author of The Making of a Syrian Identity: Intellectuals and Merchants in 19th-Century Beirut (2005). She published several articles on cultural and social history of the nahda in Greater Syria. Cover image: 'Greek schoolboy and little girl from Athens', Gerasimos Pitzamanos, 1818/20 (c) National Historical Museum, Athens, Greece Cover design: Stuart Dalziel [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-5538-1 Barcode

Review Quotes

Gülay Yılmaz and Fruma Zachs's edited volume is a welcome contribution to the field of history of children and youth in the Ottoman Empire [...] The prominence of the early modern era (with nine chapters) in the volume's chronological focus is worth stressing, as the research on Ottoman children to date has been confined mostly to the nineteenth century. By the same token, wide geographic coverage of the book, going beyond the Balkans and Anatolia to Wallachia, Crimea, Palestine, and Egypt, has the added value of facilitating comparisons.

--Nazan Maksudyan "The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth"

[A] welcome contribution not only to the history of Ottoman childhoods, but also to children's historiography and childhood history more broadly.--Özkan Bardakçı, University of Lorraine "Diyâr. Journal of Ottoman, Turkish and Middle Eastern Studies."

This volume will encourage young scholars to develop projects in the area of Ottoman and MENA childhood. The choice of themes for the five sections is well-thought-out and marks for future contributions the contours of the field. The involvement of young scholars (young PhDs mostly) alongside more established ones is an excellent recipe for pushing ahead the study of this all-important sub-field of socio-cultural history.

-- "Ehud R. Toledano, Professor of Middle East History, Tel Aviv University"

About the Author

Gülay Yilmaz is Associate Professor at Akdeniz University. She is author of articles in The Journal of Ottoman Studies, Belleten and Studies of the Ottoman Domain and of chapters in Bread from the Lion's Mouth: Artisans Struggling for a Livelihood in Ottoman Cities (Berghahn Books, 2015) and Children in Slavery Through the Ages (Ohio University Press, 2009).

Fruma Zachs is a Professor at the University of Haifa. She is author of The Making of a Syrian Identity: Intellectuals and Merchants in 19th-Century Beirut (Brill, 2005), co-author of Gendering Culture in Greater Syria: Intellectuals and Ideology in the Late Ottoman Period (I.B. Tauris, 2015) and co-editor of Ottoman Reform and Muslim Regeneration: Studies in Honour of Prof. Butrus Abu-Manneh (I.B. Tauris, 2005).