A comparative study on the reputational trajectories of Turkish women intellectuals from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic

Abstract

How do woman intellectuals go beyond the sexism of intellectual field and achieve fame? To answer this question, this thesis examines the reputational trajectories of Turkish woman intellectuals from the late nineteenth century Ottoman Empire to the early Republican era through biographical and archival material. It focuses on five intellectual women who have been called the Great Women: Fatma Aliye, Emine Semiye, Nigar bint-i Osman, Halide Edib and Nezihe Muhiddin. Analysing women’s reputational trajectories in three periods -the Hamidian Era, the Second Constitutional Era and the Early Republican Era-, this study identifies four strategies the Great Women employed while negotiating patriarchal practices in intellectual milieus: collaboration, acquiescence, subversion and defiance. The findings show a) that strategy is indeed decisive in fighting patriarchy and what determines success is one’s resources and how she puts them into use and b) that the proper evaluation of changing resources in historical and political transitions is crucial both in making reputations and furthering them.