A World in Flux: The Politics of Space in 19th-Century Izmir

FAIN: FB-53100-07

Sibel Zandi-Sayek
College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA 23186-0002)

This book analyzes the modernizing efforts in Izmir/Smyrna as a reflection of the larger drive to modernize in the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century. It is the first study that sets aside the “sick man of Europe” stereotype along with narrowly constructed nationalist or colonial interpretations. Using a new interpretive framework and a wide variety of sources, it examines the actual processes by which social, political, and economic life in the city were transformed, as its physical structure and visual appearance changed. In doing so, it brings to light dynamic public spheres that radically challenges the neatly defined ethnic, national, and religious categories heretofore used to analyze Ottoman cities.

Associated Products

Ottoman Izmir: The Rise of Cosmopolitan Port, 1840-1880 (Book)
Title: Ottoman Izmir: The Rise of Cosmopolitan Port, 1840-1880
Author: Sibel Zandi-Sayek
Abstract: Ottoman Izmir examines how urban space, institutional structures, and everyday practices shaped one another in the thriving Eastern Mediterranean seaport of Izmir between 1840 and 1880. Sibel Zandi-Sayek investigates local populations who were actively engaged in restructuring the city and shows how Izmir’s various stakeholders contested its built environment, offering a new view of the dynamics of urban modernization.
Year: 2012
Primary URL: http://www.worldcat.org.proxy.wm.edu/title/ottoman-izmir-the-rise-of-a-cosmopolitan-port-18401880/oclc/785783077&referer=brief_results
Primary URL Description: Worldcat
Secondary URL: http://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/ottoman-izmir
Secondary URL Description: University of Minnesota Press
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978081667845
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

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