The main purpose of this study is to analyze the image of American women considering Servet-i Fûnun, Musavver Malumat-ı Nafia, Mehasin, Mecmua-yı Ebuziyya, Asar-ı Nisvan, Resimli Kitap, Süs and other journals published during the last era of the Ottoman Empire and the first years of the Republic, among other sources. Starting from the 19th century, Turkish modernization has provided women with a more prominent role in public and social affairs. Starting after the Tanzimat Reform Era, this process has become more organized since the Second Constitutionalist Period. As a result of this, various associations and communities defending women’s rights have emerged, especially among women living in cities. Several media outlets focusing on women’s issues have been founded, in addition to published journals on this topic.
These media outlets informed Ottoman women about women across the globe. In this respect, various writings were written regarding the cultures and rights of women in the USA, France, England, German, Japan, and Africa. This article focuses on publications from this period that examined the lives of women in the USA. The writings in these media outlets also initiated the emergence of an “Image of the American Woman” in the Turkish society. These writings generally evaluated women’s rights in the USA, their fashion, education, their place in society, and their duties.
In the Ottoman Press, examining and evaluating the lives of women in the USA, a multicultural and multi-faith society, is significant in terms of following the changes in international womanhood and their impact on the modernisation of Turkish woman. On the other hand, periodicals published during the last period of the Ottoman Empire and the first years of the Republic contain many articles related to American women that must have stemmed from idea that American women could be an ideal template for Ottoman women with regards to modernization. This research considers all these issues including the Ottoman media’s conception of American women, the authors who helped form this conception, and their evaluations of American women. This will be analyzed from a historical perspective.
Journal Section | Articles |
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Publication Date | May 31, 2017 |
Published in Issue | Year 2017 Issue: 41 |
Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi Creative Commons Atıf-GayriTicari 4.0 Uluslararası Lisansı (CC BY NC) ile lisanslanmıştır.