As an English speaker, it's pretty easy to find extensively detailed accounts of most European's experiences of the Rennaissance. Everything from the political (like the plagues and decline of Serfdom) to the mundane (clothing, diet, customs and religious beleifs.)
When googling the Ottoman experience, however, I'm mostly getting broad, shallow overviews that simply collapse these details in summary, covering the 14th to 19th century in one go.
I'd love to find some sources or research material on what the average Ottoman lower-class person experienced. The more granular the better, covering food, clothing, family strucutre.
The summaries often portray a mostly positive experience, reflecting on the broader religious tolerance of the Empire, and the larger leniency for conquered people to keep their customs and language. I was curious if that broader tolerance also translated to other areas of life. Were women as policed on modesty? Did men have more class mobility? Did the Ottoman empire also see a lot of lower-class workers transition away from agrarian agriculture and move to tradelabor within cities?
In general, I'd love to learn more about the day to day life in the Ottoman empire. But I understand that unless I search for more academic and vetted sources, I'm likely to encounter stuff that's breif, and potentially a little rose-colored or marred by orientalism. Are there books to seek, and books to avoid?
Thanks in advance.
I took a handful of Ottoman classes getting my undergrad in history. I ran into a wall a lot in finding English-written sources—primary or secondary—for stuff in some areas. They do exist. Depending on what—you listed quite a few disparate topics—it’ll be easier or harder to find English material. My senior thesis was on, somewhat, functionality of Topkapi Palace’s layout and dining norms. My professor ended up having to translate the most important stuff for me because there simply weren’t sources in English, especially translated primary sources. You may find more in German if you don’t speak Turkish, etc.
Having said that, Jateen Lad has written a few articles and book chapters on the layout of homes, including Topkapi Palace that are great. He’s an architect, but I was able to verify his sources, (and he did great work for what I needed, anyway). With
Priscilla Isin’s book you must fact check everything because she’s a little free with what she allows as a good source. Nevertheless, I did find some good sources from her bibliography.
Some other good English-speaking Ottomanists off the top of my head include:
Marc David Baer
Caroline Finkel
Cornell Fleisher
Halil Inalcik
Colin Imber
Jane Hathaway
…..
Alan Mikhail used to be legit, but with his last book, God’s Shadow, he took a turn, so careful with that one.