The Politics of Reproduction in Ottoman Society, 1838–1900
Gülhan Balsoy
The Body, Gender and Culture
978 1 84893 325 5: 234x156mm: £60.00/$99.00
978 1 84893 326 2
Epidemics, migration and territorial losses led to population decline in early nineteenth-century Turkey. In response, Ottoman elites began a programme of population growth, based on increased birth rate and reduced infant mortality. Three policies were initiated to achieve this: the professionalization of midwives, a ban on abortion and greater medical care during pregnancy. Balsoy uses previously untapped archival sources to examine these developments, arguing that these changes caused reproduction to become a political experience.
Readership
Nineteenth-Century, Ottoman Empire, History of Medicine and Gender Studies
Contents
Introduction
1 Historicizing the Scholarship: Besim Ömer and the Foundations of Writing the History of Midwifery and Childbirth
2 Transformation and Professionalization of Midwifery
3 The Criminalization of Abortion and the Politicization of Reproduction
4 Medicalization of Pregnancy and Childbirth and the Discipline of the Female Body
Conclusion: Gendering Nineteenth-Century Ottoman History