Exploring women's narratives in Ottoman and Post-Ottoman spaces

This thesis explores the unique lives women lead in Ottoman and post-Ottoman spaces as represented across six different works of modern and contemporary literature. The cultural, economic, and socio-political impacts of the Ottoman Empire are central to the various lifestyles women lead across post-Ottoman societies today. Nevertheless, due to factors such as orientalism, feminism, and ongoing political affairs, the Ottoman era has not been examined from a postcolonial perspective. As such, the era's influences on post-Ottoman cultures and in turn on women's status are under-researched. The interest I found in creating Ottoman fiction has not yet received adequate or necessary attention from critics. On the one hand, this poses a challenge to the ideas explored in this thesis in that academic interest in this area is rather low and thus research about the Ottoman era around culture and social dynamics is also limited. Through this project, I attempt to initiate conversations around post-Ottoman women and post-Ottoman societies by studying the multiple influences of the Ottoman era historically, politically, and socially. Additionally, this project aims to shed light on the elements affecting women's roles, their rights, and their empowerment. This analysis is done by reading and examining literary works that produce cultural experiences and deliver the private and individual conditions affecting women's daily lives. In terms of literary works, the Ottoman Empire seems to be of great interest to authors. There are numerous popular perceptions of Ottoman spaces and of Ottoman women in particular, and these are evident across the six novels studied in this thesis. Although the worlds in these texts are fictional, in their own distinct ways these six books challenge the exotic and erotic narratives that often characterise the portrayal of Ottoman woman and spaces. In fact, some of the novels utilize this orientalist framework to challenge mainstream perception and reconstruct Ottoman women's stories.