Entertainment among the Ottomans

"Approaching Ottoman social history through the lens of entertainment, this volume considers the multi-faceted roles of entertainment within society. At its most basic level entertainment could be all about pleasure, leisure and fun. But it also played a role in socialisation, gender divisions, social stratification and the establishment of moral norms, political loyalties and social, ethnic or religious identities. By addressing the ways in which entertainment was employed and enjoyed in Ottoman society, Entertainment Among the Ottomans introduces the reader to a new way of understanding the Ottoman world. Contributors are: Antonis Anastasopoulos, Tülay Artan, Ebru Boyar, Palmira Brummett, Kate Fleet, James Grehan, Svetla Ianeva, Yavuz Köse, William Kynan-Wilson, Milena Methodieva and Yücel Yanikdag"--

Ottoman society through the lens of entertainment / Ebru Boyar and Kate Fleet -- Contemplation or amusement? The light shed by Ruznames on an Ottoman spectacle of 1740-1750 / Tulay Artan -- Caravans and voyages, story and song : entertaining the traveler in/to Ottoman space / Palmira Brummett -- Play and performance in Ottoman costume albums / William Kynan-Wilson -- Fun and games in Ottoman Aleppo : the life and times of a local schoolteacher (1835-1865) / James Grehan -- Between tradition and modernity : entertainment in late Ottoman Ruscuk / Svetla Ianeva -- Public celebrations and ceremonies in the late Ottoman Cretan press : building a collective identity among the Christian population / Antonis Anastasopoulos -- The late Ottoman brothel in Istanbul : a heterosexual social space for homosocial entertainment? / Ebru Boyar -- Bicycling into modernity in the late Ottoman Empire : Ahmed Tevfik and his bicycle travelogue / Yavuz Kose -- Muslim culture, reform and patriotism : staging Namik Kemal in post-Ottoman Bulgaria (1878-1908) / Milena B. Methodieva -- Warriors in drag : performing gender and remaking men in prisoner of war theater / Yucel Yanikdag.