Children and Childhood in the Ottoman Empire

This volume characterizes the changing attitudes in the Ottoman Empire (on the part of adults, religious institutions and the state) toward children from the 15th to the early 20th centuries in a broad geographic area including Ottoman Romania, Bulgaria, Crimea, Greece, Bosnia, Syria, Palestine and Istanbul. It sheds light on Ottoman childhood in five main sections: concepts of childhood, family interrelationships, children living outside family circles (slaves, child labourers and orphans), children’s bodies, and education. These sections acquaint the reader with the social and political structure of the Ottoman Empire through the innovative prism of children (Muslims, Christians and Jews) as social agents who are shaped by but also shape society rather than being the passive recipients of their social environment. Each section dealing with the early modern and modern periods to encourage comparison of features of childhood and experiences of children over time. The volume also paves the way for new directions in research on the history of children and constitutes the first of its kind on Ottoman children that covers both pre-modern and modern times.