In the Ottoman Empire, novels not only symbolize modernization but also serve as significant mediums, offering perspectives on Ottoman society, its diverse groups, and the individuals within it. In so doing, they play a crucial role in grasping the portrayal and understanding of modern subjectivities. Essentially, drawing on novels published in the Ottoman Empire between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, my paper examines the various representations and conceptualizations of childhood and intertwines them with the concepts of sexuality and gender. It addresses key questions: How do novels construct modern childhood? In what ways and to what extent are sexuality and gender incorporated into this construction? What are the affective ties that novels unravel in this construction? What are the various representations of ideal childhood as well as boyhood and girlhood? How do novels interweave components of gender and sexuality with different emotions in their narratives? Central to my analysis is the exploration of affect within novels. Specifically, I investigate the affective connections between children and parents, as well as children and their social and physical environments. I also examine how these affective ties intersect with the representation of childhood and the conceptualization of sexuality and gender. Moreover, the paper explores how gendered emotions are associated with narratives featuring child subjects. My paper will primarily argue that through the promotion of heterosociality, heteronormativity, a binary gender structure, and associated roles and norms for males and females, novels have discursively contributed to the shifting and evolving landscape of sexuality and gender influenced by modernization, religion, and nationalism. Through the examination of different novels, I aim to trace shifts in discourses on childhood and gendered emotions in narratives. I also aim to highlight the changes in mentality and perspectives in intellectual circles. Furthermore, the paper aims to highlight the diversity in narrative construction among authors concerning modern childhood and associated emotions. In this way, my paper contributes to the existing scholarship on the history of Ottoman childhood and the literary history of the late Ottoman Empire. Regarding the former, my paper underlines the roles of novels in the conceptualization and representation of childhood by incorporating affect into its analysis. Regarding the latter, my paper focuses on the children, positioning them as subjects of analysis within the historical backdrop of the late Ottoman Empire. By doing so, it explores the ways in which modernity, nationalism, and religion influence their portrayals and experiences.

This paper focuses on the complex relationship between the physical and emotional landscapes of the Children’s Palace in the capital city, Ankara, in the late 1920s. The Children’s Palace, the headquarters and administrative center of the Children’s Protection Society (CPS), acted as a complex. It included a daycare center, an outdoor playground, a swimming pool, dormitory, soup kitchen, public and private baths, a library for children, a dispensary for children, dental clinic, a milk center, and a conference room. The Children’s Palace was an experimental and exceptional architectural structure. It borrowed elements from Ottoman charity institutions, yet it was more a product of its time. It was deeply connected with the rising hygiene movement in the interwar era, imagined and designed to be in conversation with French puericulture, eugenics, and reflected the Turkish state’s concerns about population (and depopulation) in the late 1920s. This research first observes the physical landscape where the Children’s Palace was located, and secondly, it questions the symbolic architecture, and its emotional landscape. The Children’s Palace, with its architectural grandeur, was placed in a spatial hierarchy and acquired a political mission – it displayed the success and the national pride of the new Turkish Republic in keeping pace with European institutions of child welfare and health. Ironically, the profile of the children who enjoyed this space was different from the profile of children for whom this space was designed for; orphans, destitute, and sick children. For children whose paths crossed with the Children’s Protection Society, the building offered a different emotional landscape, defined by loss, pain, trauma, and helplessness. For the mothers who had to leave their babies in the care of the Children’s Protection Society, this was a space associated with pain, shame, and desperation. This paper focuses on the discrepancies between the physical and emotional landscapes of the Children’s Palace. It aims to offer a fresh perspective using emotions and oral history to interpret the spatial hierarchy of charity, welfare, and nationalism in Turkey in the late 1920s.

In the early years of the Turkish Republic, discussions on scientific childcare led to the implementation of preventive healthcare principles in school environments. Meanwhile, critiques of Ottoman-era school buildings highlighted their unhygienic conditions as both a consequence and a catalyst for the authoritarian dynamics and religious teachings present in these institutions. These conditions were contrasted with the supposedly healthier and more progressive Republican-era schools. Reflecting on their childhood experiences during the Late Ottoman period, many authors wrote about an uncanny adjacency of their school environments to religious settings such as graveyards. Laden with terms like dust, mold, cobwebs, and foul smells, these narratives often evoked imagery of decay and darkness alongside memories of punitive teaching methods and religious instruction, aiming to instill fear and anxiety towards the former schooling environments. This underscored perceived deficiencies of the former education system and validated the republic's modernization efforts, metaphorically and literally utilizing school architecture. This paper explores the intricate intersection of modernizing school-building activities with cultural metaphors and material changes. It analyzes a prevalent narrative constructed by early republican intellectuals that blended scientific knowledge with political discourse to critique Ottoman-era schools while reflecting the cultural transformations of the period. Examining textual and visual representations from popular periodicals, the paper elucidates how perceptions of school environments shaped broader discussions surrounding modernization, secularization, and national identity in early republican Turkey.

This research delves into the changing dynamics of child labor at Hereke Factory during the transition from the late Ottoman Empire to the early years of the Republic of Turkey. Hereke Factory originally started as a private broadcloth facility in 1842. After its transformation into an imperial factory (Hereke Fabrika-yı Hümayun) in 1845, it played a significant role in modernization initiatives of the late Ottoman Empire, producing textiles and carpets for both local and international markets. In 1925, the factory came under the ownership of the Industry and Metal Bank (Sanayi ve Maadin Bankası), later transferring to Sümerbank in 1933 as a state economic enterprise. The Hereke campus served not only as a factory but also as a philanthropic institution where those in need were employed. The factory launched darüleytam (ottoman orphanage) in 1915 sheltering the needy orphans during First World War. In 1921, during Armistice period, a group of male and female immigrants and refugees (muhacir ve mülteciler) were directed to Hereke Imperial Factory, having sought the directorate's assistance for protection and suitable employment. Among these refugees there were also children and youth. Following Hereke's transition to the Industry and Metal Bank, and particularly after its transfer to Sümerbank, the construction of housing for both civil servants and workers persisted at the factory. The Republic introduces a new concept of labor, shaping this understanding around the family. However, the utilization of orphaned children as laborers also endured post-war. This investigation zeroes in on a distinct cohort of eighty to ninety orphan girls who were introduced to the factory in 1926. These girls lived in a residence with two spacious wards and occupied four rooms within the factory premises. They not only engaged in factory production but also took part in daily training activities that adhered to a specific approach to health and the body. Areas designated for public recreation and collective sports played a pivotal role in molding the nascent national workforce. These activities encompassed a variety of disciplines such as football, volleyball, swimming, wrestling, and running. This research illuminates the evolving dynamics of recreational facilities at Hereke Factory in the closing years of the Ottoman Empire and the initial years of the Republic of Turkey. This research explores the impact of the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey on the profile of workers, specifically children, and the health programs implemented for them.