Call for papers for a volume on Ottoman Women’s Movements and Print Cultures
We are soliciting papers on the relationship between the development of women’s
movements and the expansion of print culture in the Ottoman Empire from the
Tanzimat period to the early years of the Turkish republic, with a particular
focus on the Ottoman women’s movement(s) from the period of Tanzimat to the
1908 constitutional reform, the 1909 Adana massacre, to the 1911 loss in the
Balkan wars and its continuation in 1912-1913, the 1915 Metz Yerghern/
Genocide, the formative period that led to the 1923 Republic of Turkey [with a
loss of plural vision…].
Given the multi-ethnic and multi-religious heritage of the Ottoman Empire, the
proposed collection aims to highlight women’s movements and print cultures in
the diverse religious and linguistic communities or Millets of the Ottoman
Empire including the Ottoman Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Kurdish, Arab and Turkish
communities.
We hope that these articles will analyze aspects of the social, economic,
cultural and political contexts in which Ottoman women engaged in cultural
production and participated in public life.
The collection aims to stimulate discussion on the impact of changing
ideologies and political circumstances on the women’s movements within the
Empire. We would also welcome comparative studies of women
and women’s organizations among the Ottoman Millets.
Suggested topics or questions might include, but are not limited to, the
following:
* The relationship between print culture, Ottoman women’s writing and the
development of women’s movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
* The conditions and institutions which facilitated or hindered Ottoman women’s
access to print culture. Women’s attitudes to writing. Was writing viewed as a
means of advancing a cause or as a source of employment? Were women restricted
in terms of content or genre?
*Did Ottoman women form alliances or organizations across communal lines? Is
there evidence that women of the different communities were aware of each
other’s activities and writing?
* Transformations in women’s movements and print cultures at the end of the
Ottoman Empire and in the first decade of the Turkish Republic.
* The changing ideologies within the late Ottoman Empire and platforms of
women’s movements within the Empire and its millets.
Please submit a 200 word proposal by January 31, 2008 to the co-editors:
Dr. Sima Aprahamian Dr. Victoria Rowe
aprhsma@alcor.concordia.ca vrowe@fps.chuo-u.ac.jp
Authors of selected proposals for inclusion in the up-coming publication will
be contacted in mid-February. Final papers need to be submitted by June 1,
2008.
The Publishers, University of Texas Press, require the final papers to be 40
pages maximum double spaced, typed in Times Roman font size 12, following the
citation guide of the Chicago Manual of style for manuscripts.