ETHNO-CONFESSIONAL DIFFERENCES IN OTTOMAN SOCIETY IN THE MID-NINETEENTH CENTURY AS SEEN BY PRINCESS CRISTINA DI BELGIOJOSO

The article focuses on the emigration experience of Italian princess Cristina Trivulzio di Belgiojoso from the perspective of her perception of the ethnocultural and religious characteristics of the Ottoman Empire’s population in the midnineteenth century. Based on an analysis of the princess’s autobiographical narrative devoted to life in the foreign cultural environment of Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine, the author interprets her observations on Ottoman society in the context of a departure from the European Orientalism discourse. The article focuses on the categories of ethnicity and religion, through which С. T. di Belgiojoso’s ideas about the ethnoconfessional differentiation of society in the Ottoman Empire are revealed, and defines a list of local communities described by the Princess, as well as the features of specific images of ‘Others’ as representatives of ethnic groups and religious confessions. Along with the characteristics of large communities, the author also pays special attention to the specifics of ethnic and ethno-confessional minorities representation, and syncretic religious beliefs and cults manifestations. C. T. di Belgiojoso’s narrative also reveals the use of other principles of division - according to adherence to a nomadic or sedentary lifestyle and to a person’s linguistic affiliation. The dynamics of interethnic and interfaith relations in Ottoman society are analysed separately, with a note on the variability of contacts, ranging from peaceful relations and mixed marriages to conflicts and latent hostility. In conclusion, the author notes that C. T. di Belgiojoso provides a highly detailed account of the ethno-confessional differences among the population of the Ottoman Empire in the midnineteenth century, which allowed her to present the complexity and heterogeneity of this society. This approach allowed the author to convey a realistic ethnocultural situation in the region and thus confirm the departure from the Orientalist view of the Middle East.