Gendered Subjects in Ottoman Constitutional Agreements, ca. 1740-1860

This article aims to historicize the notion of honor in the Ottoman legal discourse and practice from the early-modern period to the so-called “reform era”, the era most scholars maintain began with the Tanzimat Edict of 1839. Such a historical approach uses justice as a key to understand honor not...

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Main Author: Başak Tuğ
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association pour la Recherche sur le Moyen-Orient 2014-07-01
Series:European Journal of Turkish Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ejts/4860
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author Başak Tuğ
author_facet Başak Tuğ
author_sort Başak Tuğ
collection DOAJ
description This article aims to historicize the notion of honor in the Ottoman legal discourse and practice from the early-modern period to the so-called “reform era”, the era most scholars maintain began with the Tanzimat Edict of 1839. Such a historical approach uses justice as a key to understand honor not as a value system, but as a rhetoric. Thus, it problematizes an a-historical conception of honor which assumes that honor codes in modern societies are largely the legacy of “traditional” norms of the pre-modern periods. This study argues that the persistent emphasis on honor in the correspondence especially between the central government and the Ottoman subjects in the eighteenth century reflects the development of new parameters between the state and its subjects in moral terms. On the one hand, the motto of “life, honor and property” of the Tanzimat Edict represents a continuation of such discourse of honor as a legitimizing mechanism. Yet, on the other hand, the legal codification of honor in the Criminal Codes of the nineteenth century reflects a novel constitutional construction of gendered citizenship around reproduction in the conjugal family through the partnership of the patriarchal state and the male subjects.
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spelling doaj-art-cd9da19a6d844a908e8a8d1315a30a892024-12-09T13:09:53ZengAssociation pour la Recherche sur le Moyen-OrientEuropean Journal of Turkish Studies1773-05462014-07-011810.4000/ejts.4860Gendered Subjects in Ottoman Constitutional Agreements, ca. 1740-1860Başak TuğThis article aims to historicize the notion of honor in the Ottoman legal discourse and practice from the early-modern period to the so-called “reform era”, the era most scholars maintain began with the Tanzimat Edict of 1839. Such a historical approach uses justice as a key to understand honor not as a value system, but as a rhetoric. Thus, it problematizes an a-historical conception of honor which assumes that honor codes in modern societies are largely the legacy of “traditional” norms of the pre-modern periods. This study argues that the persistent emphasis on honor in the correspondence especially between the central government and the Ottoman subjects in the eighteenth century reflects the development of new parameters between the state and its subjects in moral terms. On the one hand, the motto of “life, honor and property” of the Tanzimat Edict represents a continuation of such discourse of honor as a legitimizing mechanism. Yet, on the other hand, the legal codification of honor in the Criminal Codes of the nineteenth century reflects a novel constitutional construction of gendered citizenship around reproduction in the conjugal family through the partnership of the patriarchal state and the male subjects.https://journals.openedition.org/ejts/4860Ottoman EmpiregenderTanzimathonorsexual violenceviolation of honor
spellingShingle Başak Tuğ
Gendered Subjects in Ottoman Constitutional Agreements, ca. 1740-1860
European Journal of Turkish Studies
Ottoman Empire
gender
Tanzimat
honor
sexual violence
violation of honor
title Gendered Subjects in Ottoman Constitutional Agreements, ca. 1740-1860
title_full Gendered Subjects in Ottoman Constitutional Agreements, ca. 1740-1860
title_fullStr Gendered Subjects in Ottoman Constitutional Agreements, ca. 1740-1860
title_full_unstemmed Gendered Subjects in Ottoman Constitutional Agreements, ca. 1740-1860
title_short Gendered Subjects in Ottoman Constitutional Agreements, ca. 1740-1860
title_sort gendered subjects in ottoman constitutional agreements ca 1740 1860
topic Ottoman Empire
gender
Tanzimat
honor
sexual violence
violation of honor
url https://journals.openedition.org/ejts/4860
work_keys_str_mv AT basaktug genderedsubjectsinottomanconstitutionalagreementsca17401860