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Turkey in Transition from Empire to Nation

Panel 145, 2010 Annual Meeting

On Saturday, November 20 at 02:30 pm

Panel Description
N/A
Disciplines
N/A
Participants
  • Mr. M. Asim Karaomerlioglu -- Presenter
  • Prof. M. Akif Kirecci -- Presenter
  • Mrs. Ebru Kayaalp -- Presenter
  • Dr. Christine Philliou -- Chair
  • Ms. Ekin Enacar -- Presenter
Presentations
  • Prof. M. Akif Kirecci
    This paper analyzes the emergence of modern medical profession in Ottoman Turkey by focusing on institutional transformations. As discussed in the previous papers, traditional medical knowledge was produced within a hirfet system in the classical period and was transmitted from a master to an apprentice in a semi-closed system. The healing was provided on a need base cases and within a systems of layers. Though there were several Sifahanes and dar-al-tibs their numbers did not exceed 20 or 30 the most. Earlier attempts to transfer the new medical sciences into the Empire were witnessed under Selim III by the chief doctor of his court Mustafa Behcet (d. 1834). However the real pressure emerged with the founding of a new army, Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediyye, under Mahmud II (r.1808-1839). When the newly recruited soldiers from different corners of the Empire were put together in military barracks diseases spread among them rapidly thereby urging the administrators to take preventive measures. Ottomans modeled the then biggest hospital in Europe Josephinium in Vienna and invited a young Austrian doctor, Dr. Karl Bernard to head the new Imperial medical Institute Mekteb-i Tibbiye-i Sahane (17 February 1839). The process of founding an Austrian and a French (Le Paix) hospital in Istanbul along with the emergence of Ottoman Medical Society (Cemiyet-i Tibbiye-i Osmaniye) are analyzed to exhibit that the Ottoman were openly interacted with foreign medical professions and competed with them in the process. This paper highlights that during the transition to new medical sciences Ottomans revered the knowledge of European medical doctors and employed them unreservedly in their newly opened medical institutions. The transition to new medical practices was a consciously selected objective although transfer of the knowledge worked for both parties. While Ottomans used French books in the early phase of these medical institutions European doctors who worked in the Ottoman Empire translated traditional medical treaties and manuscripts into European languages. During the process of transforming the traditional hirfet practices the Ottomans successfully established a modern medical profession and the medical corps. Major sources utilized in this article are the Ottoman archival sources, archival sources of these medical institutions as well as works used by early generation of European doctors i.e. Karl Bernard, and several medical journals published in Istanbul during the 19th century.
  • Mrs. Ebru Kayaalp
    This paper is an attempt to retell the history of nationalism in Turkey through the perspective of Oriental tobacco. In other words, the debates that took place around Oriental tobacco from the late nineteenth century up until 1960 will be used to reflect the emergence and rise of nationalism in Turkey. Making Oriental tobacco the central character in analyzing the Turkish nationalism in the late Ottoman Empire and then early Republic might be seen as an eccentric and pointless attempt given the rich literature on this subject. However, by situating a non-human actor at the center of the argument, this paper radically diverges from this literature. It explores understudied themes and events in the construction of Turkish nationalism with a focus on the controversies surrounding Oriental tobacco. The relationship of the Turkish state with Germans, Americans, the Soviets, as well as the minorities living in Turkey is analyzed through the world of Oriental tobacco. The paper explores how an idea of a uniform and homogenous nation-state with its "standardized" citizens was constituted through an historical analysis of Oriental tobacco production and trade in Turkey. This paper grows out of my archival research in Istanbul Beyazet Library as well as the library at the Tobacco Experts Association in Izmir. The tobacco journals I researched are Tark T?trn (1938-1952), T-t9n D,nyast (1959-1963), T1t5n MecmuasT (1938), Tmrk T?t(nleri MecmuasT (1928), Inhisarlar (1937-1938).
  • Ms. Ekin Enacar
    This paper analyzes the education of Ottoman girls during the Second Constitutional Era, and examines the "ideal female citizen" model, which is described in the primary and secondary school textbooks. For this purpose, I analyze twenty-four textbooks that were printed between 1909-1918, together with the official school curricula and laws and regulations regarding educational policies. The aim of the Young Turk Revolution was to realize "Ottomanism", which united all ethnic and religious communities in the Empire under a common civic identity. The Second Constitution vitalized discussions of citizenship, and a number of social, institutional and political reforms were initiated to this end. The education system was also transformed according to the principle of Ottomanism. In order to secure the future of the Constitutional regime, the political elite targeted to inculcate the new generations with the revolutionary ideals of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and Justice". Therefore, citizenship education gained importance and a vast number of schoolbooks were printed. On the other hand, Balkan Wars and the political turmoil in their aftermath had considerable social and political effects. Due to wars, drastic territorial losses, and waves of migrations that shifted the ethnic composition towards the Turkish demographic majority, Turkish nationalism became the dominant political doctrine, surpassing Ottomanism. This ideological shift was reflected in the education system, as well. Ottoman intellectuals explained the success of the Balkan peoples in wars with the nationalist education they received in their schools, and proposed to adopt similar pedagogical policies in citizenship education. In my paper, I argue that the traditional concepts of motherhood and womanhood were re-defined in this nationalist atmosphere, and female citizens were given the duty of constructing the nationalist generations of the future. The textbooks printed for school girls during this period describe the virtues of an ideal "mother citizen", and focus on the role of women in the development of the whole society. Issues like marriage, divorce, abortion, suicide, child rearing, hygiene, basic tips of husband selection, fashion and luxury were discussed; and girls were inculcated with a sense of responsibility for their homeland. These textbooks emphasize the importance of creating nationalist, healthy generations, and argue that Ottoman women can become good citizens by raising children who are useful for their homeland. Textbooks are crucial in analyzing the state's attitude towards women's education and emancipation, as well as the changes in the "ideal female citizen" model that the ruling elite aimed to create.
  • Mr. M. Asim Karaomerlioglu
    This paper intends to focus on the Turkish eugenics movement in Turkey in the 1920s and 1930s within a comparative perspective. As an international movement of the turn of the 20th century, eugenic movements turned out to be very influential and widespread especially in North America and Europe. Turkey was not an exception and the rise of eugenics in Turkey was in part a response to the young Republic's problem of population after the long wars of World War I and the War of Independence. The need to increase the population and the biological "quality" of the population became a central theme in Turkey as well as in many other countries. However, eugenics encompasses many other important themes such as the role of science and values in the making of nationalism, the "governing" of the population, social engineering and welfare state, the question of nature vs nurture, the hegemony of the middle class values and the so-called racial degeneration. Within this wider context, this paper aims to focus on some of the central themes and practices concerning eugenics in Turkey of the single-party regime (1923-1946). My goal is not to offer simply a presentation of the characteristics of the Turkish case, but to contextualize it within a comparative perspective. By so doing, I aim to look at Turkish nationalism on the basis of a much more "material" basis and to contribute to the understanding of nationalism beyond simple discoursive models mostly based on the elite perceptions. The Turkish case is interesting in the sense that eugenics, though it existed, was not pushed into the extremes. To support my arguments, I use many primary sources such as the conferences held by the governing Republican People's Party, the Party reports and publications such as Ulku, many journals and conference proceedings of Turkish doctors such as Milli Tip Kongreleri (Annual National Congresses of Medicine), memoirs of doctors and the political elite and many journals from the era such as Yeni Adam, Kadro and Resimli Ay. Benefiting from these primary sources and from the huge literature on eugenics in the world, this paper aims to contribute a comparative perspective using the Turkish case. Taking into consideration the rise of hereditary ideas and practises based on genetics of our contemporary world, such comparative perspectives can be useful not only to understand the past, but the present as well.