|
|
|
Ottoman Jerusalem |
- Distinctively
Different Portrayals of Women in Western and Arab Sources of the
Ottoman Period
By Dr. Hala Fattah
|
(This is the first of a
two-part article on Women during the Ottoman period)
One of the more interesting aspects of history in any part of the
world is the shifting reality exhibited in the textual sources of
any one period.
It has become obvious over the years that the historian is as prone
to making mistakes and misjudgments as any other human observer, and
that biases and overt prejudice frequently mar many historical
narratives, whether these concern foreign countries or those closer
to the historian's home region. This is because "objective" history
is a misnomer; life is riddled with inconsistencies,
misunderstandings and flawed perceptions, which routinely show up in
the most scrupulous chronicles of times past.
It is therefore interesting to compare and contrast foreign and
local sources with regard to one of the most misrepresented sectors
of humanity, women. Traditionally, women in the Islamic world have
been given short shrift throughout history; along with the
peasantry, they are among the least visible members of
Arab-Islamic-Ottoman society.
But all this is changing; the new Middle Eastern scholarship is
focusing on a number of issues heretofore considered of marginal
interest, of which women take pride of place.
One of the most fascinating articles on this subject is that by Dror
Ze'vi, entitled "Women in 17th Century Jerusalem: Western and
Indigenous Perspectives". In it, the author compares male European
perspectives on women in Jerusalem to those of male Arab-Ottoman
perspectives found in Islamic court records.
The first, superficial and frequently tinged with contempt, exhibits
a profoundly ignorant view of women and their role in the family and
society at large. The second shows women as active -- if separate --
members of a society in the throes of constant change brought on by
the social, economic and political constraints of the moment.
Whereas Europeans note the strict segregation of Ottoman Palestinian
life, which secludes women from the company of all but their closest
male relatives and women in general, the judges of the Islamic court
in Jerusalem record the many instances in which women not only
abrogated their marriages (if undertaken without their consent) but
also bought, sold and mortgaged property.
Thus, in contrast to European society, in which women had few, if
any property rights, Arab Muslim women not only actively engaged in
buying and selling land but also employed men as agents to pursue
their transactions.
Moreover, women often showed up in court arguing in their own
defense, a far cry from the image projected by European travelers of
women living in total isolation from social interaction.
Another article supporting Ze'vi's thesis, albeit from another part
of Ottoman Palestine, shows the variety of ways in which women
negotiated (and renegotiated) their positions in society. Far from
being passive creatures dependent on their menfolk for assistance in
everyday affairs, Iris Agmon's article proves that women in early
20th century Haifa and Jaffa knew how to enhance the relationships
that mattered most to them, which were those between them and their
children and those between them and their natal families, or the
households in which they were born.
Because men were responsible for their children's upkeep, they
exerted more say in the way that children were brought up and
eventually married off. But, as Agmon's research shows, women used
subtle strategies to enhance both their children’s and natal
families' socioeconomic benefits, in part because the women in
question could be easily divorced.
In that case, a woman's assets were better protected by her natal
family, to which she often returned after being repudiated by her
husband. Thus, contrary to the distorted picture painted in Western
sources, women in Ottoman Palestine knew how to take advantage of
their "secondary" status, partly because they were adept at securing
their rights within Islam in open court.
May 23, 1999
Of Iraqi origin, Dr. Hala Fattah is a historian of the Arab
provinces of the Ottoman empire, especially Iraq. She is the author
of The Politics of Regional Trade of Iraq, Arabia and the Gulf,
1745-1900 (S.U.N.Y Press, 1996). Presently, she is an Independent
Scholar.
References :
Ze'vi, Dror, "Women in 17th Century Jerusalem : Western and
Indigenous Perspectives", International Journal of Middle East
Studies, vol.27, no.2, May 1995.
Agmon, Iris, "Women, Class and Gender: Muslim Jaffa and Haifa at the
Turn of the 20th Century", International Journal of Middle East
Studies, vol.30, no.4, November 1998.
|
| |
| |
|
