Revisiting Homosociality and Homosocial Spaces in Pre-Modern Ottoman Society
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v17i4.2Keywords:
homosociality, homosocial space, public/private, heterotopia, functionalityAbstract
This paper examines diverse conceptions of homosociality in pre-modern and modern societies, and discusses how these conceptions are politically, socially, culturally and spatially constructed and transformed throughout history, particularly during the modernization processes of the mid-19thcentury. Concentrating on two significant homosocial spaces, men’s coffeehouse and women’s section of the Ottoman-Turkish baths, it aims to demonstrate how homosociality is spatialized through the dissolution of the public/private dichotomy, as well as constructions of functionality in pre-modern Ottoman society. The paper follows a historical interpretative research methodology. Based on data derived from the second-hand sources available in the literature, the privatized public, complex, homoerotic and multi-functional characteristics of these homosocial spaces and their extensions towards and reflections on the Ottoman urban neighborhoods are critically analyzed and interpreted. The dissolution of the public/private dichotomy in these spaces also exemplifies the Foucaultian concept of heterotopia. The paper concludes that these traditional spaces and their modern versions demonstrate the constructedness of both gender categories and patriarchal structures.
Downloads
References
Akşit, Elif Ekin. 2011. “The women’s quarters in the historical hammam.” Gender, Place and Culture 18(2): 277–293. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2011.552321.
Ammann, Ludwig. 2006. “Private and Public in Muslim Civilization.” In Islam in Public: Turkey, Iran and Europe, edited by Ludwig Ammann and Nilüfer Göle, 77-125. Istanbul: Bilgi University Press.
Bech, Henning. 1997. When men meet: Homosexuality and modernity. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Boyar, Ebru and Kate Fleet. 2010. “The Hamam.” In A Social History of Ottoman Istanbul, 249-270. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Buitelaar, Marjo. 1998. “Public Baths as Private Places.” In Women and Islamization: Contemporary Dimensions of Discourse on Gender Relations, edited by Karin Ask and Marin Tjornsland, 103-123. Oxford, New York: Berg.
Çaksu, Ali. 2014. “Janissary Coffee Houses in Late Eighteenth-Century Istanbul.” In Ottoman Tulips, Ottoman Coffee: Leisure and Lifestyle in the Eighteenth Century, edited by Dana Sajdi, 117-132. London: I. B. Tauris.
Dufour, Philippe Sylvestre. 1685. The Manner of Making of Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate as It Is Used in Most Parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, with Their Vertues. London: Printed for William Crook.
Durmaz, Gülay. 2010. “Examining coffe and coffe houses in the Divan poetry.” Uludağ Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 11(19): 253-267, https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/214362.
Foucault, Michel. 1986. “Of other spaces.” Translated by Jay Miskowiec. Diacritics 16(1): 22-27, https://doi.org/10.2307/464648.
Foucault, Michel. "Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias." In Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, edited by Neil Leach, 330-336. New York: Routledge.
Foucault, Michel. 2014. Özne ve İktidar. Translated by İşık Ergüden and Osman Akınhay. İstanbul: Ayrıntı Publications.
Hammarén, Nils & Thomas Johansson. 2014. “Homosociality: In Between Power and Intimacy.” SAGE Open, https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244013518057.
Işın, Ekrem. 1990. “Turkish Hamams: Public Baths as Social Venues.” In Everyday Life in Istanbul. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
Karababa, Eminegül and Güliz Ger. 2011. “Early Modern Ottoman Coffeehouse Culture and the Formation of the Consumer Subject.” Journal Consumer Research (37): 737-760, http://doi.org/10.1086/656422.
Kızılkan, Nurhayat. 2009. “Spaces of Masculinities: Bachelor Rooms in Süleymaniye.” Unpublished MA Thesis, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. Ankara: Middle East Technical University.
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Accessed June 27, 2022. http://www.merriam-webster.com.
Michelle Z. Rosaldo. 1974. “Woman, Culture and Society.” In Woman, Culture and Society, edited by Michelle Z. Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere, 17-42. California: Stanford University Press.
Mikhail, Alan. 2014. “The Heart’s Desire: Gender, Urban Space and the Ottoman Coffee House.” In Ottoman Tulips, Ottoman Coffee: Leisure and Lifestyle in the Eighteenth Century, edited by Dana Sajdi, 133-170. London: I. B. Tauris.
Özgören Kinli, İ. 2013. “Reconfiguring Ottoman Gender Boundaries and Sexual Categories by the mid-19th century.” Política y Sociedad 50(2): 381-395, https://doi.org/10.5209/rev_POSO.2013.v50.n2.40017.
Pasin, Burkay. 2012. “Femaleness, Femininity and Feminotopia: Females’ Hamam as a Homosocial Space.” Kadın/Woman 2000 Women Research Journal, edited by Türkan Ulusu Uraz, 55-77. North Cyprus: Eastern Mediterranean University Press.
Sedgwick, Eve K. 1990. The Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Yalur, Tolga. 2013. “Osmanlı’da Bir Cinsel Kimlik Olarak Köçek.” In Başkaldıran Bedenler Türkiye’de Transgender, Aktivizm ve Altkültürel Pratikler, edited by Berfu Şeker, 67-85. İstanbul: Metis Publications.
Yılmazlı, Elif. 2020. “Osmanlı’da Homososyal Mekanlar ve Cinsel Yönelimler.” Eğitim Bilim Toplum Dergisi 18 (70): 38-63.
Ze’evi, Dror. 2005. “Hiding Sexuality: The Disappearance of Sexual Discourse in the Late Ottoman Middle East.” Social Analysis (49): 34-53, https://doi.org/10.3167/015597705780886211.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
ERIH PLUS - European Reference Index for the Humanities
World Cat
AnthroSerbia
