Book Description

This volume is a local history, focusing on the experiences of people and communities as they navigated and enacted institutions and transformations associated with modernization in the late Ottoman era. Focusing on the local political arena of a relatively small, predominantly rural and ordinary setting, this book examines two neighboring Western Anatolian towns: Yenişehir and İznik. Utilizing rigorous historiographical inquiry and in-depth use of archival materials, this book sketches a dynamic picture of late Ottoman imperial political belonging with the agendas and priorities of the countryside, where the majority of Ottomans lived. The monograph contributes to understanding of modernization from different local perspectives by excavating the provincial hinterland of the imperial capital. It uses a narrative technique of analyzing certain local events to address larger structures and transformations pertaining to the long 19th century in general and Ottoman history in particular. As a “micro” study, it argues for the significance of individuals’ and social groups’ agencies, strategies and conceptions of their world in the unfolding of Ottoman modernization. Offering a vivid picture of local communities and their engagements with modern political, social and judicial structures in the late Ottoman era, this book will appeal to scholars and advanced graduate students interested in comparative imperial history, Ottoman history and Middle Eastern studies.