Dept. of History - Master's degree

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1960s Turkey from the perspective of the Peace Corps volunteers
(Bilkent University, 2023-08) Ünal, Muhammed
This thesis aims to examine the memoirs and interviews of the Peace Corps volunteers who served in Turkey to display their image of Turkey in the 1960s. Peace Corps was active in Turkey from 1962 to 1971. Peace Corps Turkey volunteers served in every region of the country in villages, towns, and cities. They lived and worked with Turkish people for two years. Thus, they had an intimate first-hand experience and interesting observations about various topics. This thesis will argue that the volunteers viewed Turkey with the outlook of modernization theory. They observed a country that needed development and modernization. They noticed the traditional gender roles and gender separation in Turkish society. Turkish women needed to overcome these difficulties to modernize. They also noted the underdevelopment of infrastructure and healthcare system as major hindrances. They commented that the Turkish government worked hard to modernize the country, but there was some resistance to its efforts by the Turkish people.
Open Access
A life above reproach: stylites in Byzantium (5th to 12th centuries)
(Bilkent University, 2023-11) Nergiz, Ayşe
This thesis delves into Byzantine stylites and their ascetic practices within the 'Spatial Turn,' unveiling the interplay of asceticism, religious symbolism, and spatial dynamics in the Byzantine Empire. First, by applying Henri Lefebvre's spatial triad model, this research examines literary spaces through a concentrated analysis of the travel and movement narratives within the hagiographic accounts of three stylites from the fifth to twelfth centuries: Symeon the Elder, Daniel the Stylite, and Lazaros of Mount Galesion. The aim is to illustrate the contribution of literary spatial elements to the formation of the sacred identities of stylites. Subsequently, attention turns to the examination of material remnants, focusing on the spatial arrangements of Qal’at Sim’an and souvenir tokens from the religious site. The goal is to unveil the interconnected relationship between space and stylite. By integrating both literary and material perspectives, this thesis aims to highlight the multifaceted spatial features of Byzantine stylites.
Open Access
"Acta est fabula, plaudite!" : the role of women in late medieval England : the evidence from wills
(Bilkent University, 2009) Mağıltaş, Naile
The purpose of this thesis is to provide an insight into the role and place of women in late medieval England through a qualitative and quantitative examination of 403 women’s wills from 1300 to 1500. The sample used in this thesis is collected from different sources to establish a general profile of women from different regions of England as revealed by their distribution of property to wide range of relations formed within and outside the household. A woman’s right to hold property, and in relation to this, her testamentary behaviour were affected by her marital status, class, and most especially, by her gender. Though disadvantaged under testamentary law, women used an official arena such as wills to control the way their modest wealth and property were distributed after death. Medieval women’s wills were almost the only source in which women directly narrated their life stories, and by means of their iv wills, late medieval English women provided for their souls, their family and also their friends. It is apparent from the evidence of their wills that women not only followed the characteristics attributed to their sex but that the act of will-writing also gave most women an opportunity to be autonomous and assertive. Thus, women distributed freely their personal possessions for the well-being of those who were important and dear to them at least when they were close to death.
Open Access
The administrative, economic and social relations of Sofia in the 18th century: an essay of the spatial analysis
(Bilkent University, 2018-07) Kahraman, Aylin
In this thesis, Sofia which was the pasha sandjaghi of the Rumelian Eyalet in the 18th century is discussed. The administrative, social and economic relations of Sofia are studied within the context of spatial analysis. The interaction of Sofia with its surrounding rural area and other sandjaks are evaluated with regard to distance in order to analyze these relations properly and the surrounding rural area of Sofia is also addressed as a feeding ground. Since the data about population would enlighten our analysis, population forecasts are made through the available avarız hane defteri. The theoretical frame of our topic is constituted being taken the settlement models that belonged to the pre- industrial period as a basis. In addition, the court records of Sofia dating the first half of the 18th century are used with the aim of supporting our argument empirically. While the research conducted until this time only discussed the administrative and social structure of Sofia in the 16th century, in this thesis the question how Sofia maintained its importance as an administrative unit through centuries is tried to be answered and the relation of Sofia with its surrounding rural area is evaluated as an economic integration field.
Open Access
The agricultural structure of the Foça region in the mid-nineteenth century : an examination of the çift-hane system and the big farms in the light of the temettü defters, 1844-45 (H 1260-61)
(Bilkent University, 1997) Bulmuş, Birsen
This thesis hopes to examine the agricultural structure of the Foca region (near Izmir)in the mid nineteenth century in the light of the temettu defters, until now a largely unexploited source. The aim of this thesis in general is, first, to concentrate on the cifthane, which Professor Halil Inalcik has emphasized as the basic unit of the Ottoman rural economy. Second, this thesis will concentrate on the big farms, which have been argued by some historians as also dominating the rural economy, acting as a vehicle for commercialization and integration into the world economy. This thesis, in order to better achieve this aim has been divided into three chapters. The first chapter discusses the definition of the temettu defters, or "income registers" as a primary source and its historical and statistical value as a registration of land and income during the Tanzimat period (specifically 1844-45). The second chapter discusses the classical Ottoman land regime and focuses both on Inalcik's explanations of the cift-hane unit as well as describing and analyzing Inalcik's ideas about the big farms. In the final chapter, I have tried to use the data in the temettu defters for the Foca region to investigate the possible remains of the cift-hane units at the time as well as to examine the character of the big farms; in other words were the big farms western oriented or not? We have found in our study that there were possible traces of the cift-hane units, especially as a measurement of land and oxen. In addition, we also confirm Inalcik's idea that the big farms appear to have a conservative character, that is, they did not act as agents of liberal economic change.
Open Access
Ahmet Cevdet Paşa and Islamic modernism
(Bilkent University, 2002) Yavuz, M. Sait
The ideas to introduce an Islamic Modernization in the political and social realms of the Ottoman Empire started as a reaction to the westernization attempts of the Tanzimat bureaucrats. It was not a quick response to the 1839 reforms, but a gradual development of opposition that started as of the 1856 decree, then reached its peak after the promulgation of the first constitution. The main purpose of this study is to find out the seeds of the attempts to give the Tazminat reforms and Islamic character in Ahmet Cevdet Paşa's thoughts, who was one of the leading Islamic scholars, as well as the statesmen, of the time. Since his life and his works have the most useful clues, which give us the best information about his struggles, I tended to organize my discussions around his ideas on various issues of the time. In the first part of my work, I will provide the biography of Cevdet Paşa in order to enable the reader to understand the following discusssions. In the second part, Cevdet's understanding of Islam and 'Islamıc Modernısm' will be discussed. In this part, I will make comparisons between his ideas and the contemporary Islamic thinkers' works in order to determine his standing among the Islamic intellectuals. The topic of the next section will be "how he opposed the 1856 decree and to the 1876 constitution despite the fact that he had been a fervent advocate of the 1839 Tanzimat Reforms?" In this section, I will also focus on his pro-Shari'a perspective, and discuss how he tolerated the establishment of the courts other than the Shari'a courts and the enforcement of the French codes in these courts. In this way I hope to show all the ambiguities inherent in the moderate Islamic position in a reforming Ottoman Empire.
Open Access
"Alasse, whatte Truste Ys in this world?" : Lancastrian and Yorkist history writing in and English chronicle
(Bilkent University, 2005) Güzel, İlknur
At the National Library of Wales a manuscript (MS 21608) has been found recently which contains a text that is identical with what John S. Davies published in 1856 under the title of the Davies Chronicle and Davies’s Chronicle. Davies made use of the text that he had found in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Lyell 34, which was damaged for the reigns Richard II and Henry IV. An English Chronicle 1377- 1461, which is based on the recently found text, covers the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI and for the reigns of Richard II and Henry IV the text has not been damaged. As a crucial source for the vernacular history writing and the Brut tradition in the late Middle Ages, the Chronicle contains two different parts: the first part of the Chronicle, that is 1377-1422/37 version was written by a Lancastrian compiler and the second part, that is the Continuation 1440-1461, was written by a Yorkist author. Undoubtedly, they had contrasting approaches to the politics of the late medieval period and the Chronicle offers its readers an opportunity to explore Lancastrian and Yorkist history writing. This dissertation discusses both contrasting approaches to the politics of the period in the Chronicle. While doing this, history writing in the late medieval period, and especially Lancastrian and Yorkist history writing has been analyzed. Broadly, the general structure of the Chronicle has been examined. In each subsequent chapter, the Lancastrian and Yorkist perspectives about the politics and how these viewpoints were reflected in their writings have been explored. Accordingly, this dissertation investigates the Chronicle, which offers both an insight to the politics and history writing of the late medieval period.
Open Access
Ambassador at war: John J. Muccio and the Korean War (1948-1952)
(Bilkent University, 2019-08) Kubat, Muhammed Cihad
The United States of America sent eight ministers to Korea’s Chosŏn Dynasty and Korean Empire from 1883 until 1905. John J. Muccio was the first Ambassador that the U.S. dispatched to the Republic of Korea. What made Muccio different from the other eight representatives was his country’s changing place in world politics after World War I and World War II. After World War II, the U.S. became a key player in the decision making process with regard to the Korean Peninsula’s fate along with the Soviet Union. The dissertation explores the salient aspirations, dilemmas and experiences of the “dean of diplomatic corps” in the Republic of Korea. Relying extensively on the American and Korean declassified archival materials, this dissertation reconstructs the Korean War from the point of view of John J. Muccio. Muccio was one of the primary proponents of the idea of delaying the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from the Republic of Korea. Immediately after the outbreak of the Korean War, Muccio had to overstep his bounds as an envoy of a foreign nation mainly because of the lack of leadership shown by Syngman Rhee. Muccio became the de facto leader of the civilian opposition against the North Korean onslaught, a position he kept until the relocation of the Republic of Korea to Seoul on September 29, 1950. The political crisis of 1952 was when Muccio yielded to Rhee’s manipulation tactics and it set a precedent for the U.S. to align itself with authoritative figures in Korea instead of supporting democratic processes.
Open Access
American cinema and popular representations of women in early Republican Turkey
(Bilkent University, 2013) Karabağ, Müzeyyen
This thesis focuses on the relationship between American cinema and Turkish woman in the 1930s. Along with political reforms, there were cultural transformations in the society in the 1930s in Turkey. One of the dimension of it was movies. It was the American movies which dominated the Turkish screens in the 1930s. I aim to show that American movies and the Turkish movie fan magazines Holivut, Holivut İstanbul Magazin, Yıldız contributed in depicting a new type of woman which represented a role model for Turkish women; through this American cinema discourse, American cinema stars were promoted as a role model for women in terms of beauty, sports, personality traits, gender relations and consumerism. Current historiography focuses on the Americanization of Turkish popular culture and underlining cultural influence of America in the 1940s, especially after Marshall Plan. Examining influence of American movies, American cinema stars, the movie fan magazines Holivut, Holivut İstanbul Magazin, Yıldız, the Turkish press' construction of women in the 1930s, I argue that Turkish popular culture was already becoming Americanized before the Marshall plan. This thesis also explores the discourse of Turkish movie fan magazines construction of women and compare it with "the ideal woman image" presented by Kemalist ideology.
Open Access
American foreign missions to the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire: fashioning the model of educated christian womanhood in the East in the second half of the nineteenth century
(Bilkent University, 2018-01) Güven, Sarah Zeynep
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was one of the first establishments to introduce a Western-style educational system to the peoples of the Ottoman Empire. This thesis is an examination of the emergence of interest in foreign missions among American women in particular, and the latter’s contribution to missionary activities. It seeks to determine how and why educational facilities for Armenian females were established and their social and religious impact, largely from the perspective of the missionaries themselves. It looks at how contact with Armenians prompted adjustments in missionary approaches and policies towards educational missions. The notion of educated Christian womanhood entailed the championing of female education and a re-imaging of the role of women as wives and mothers. The promotion of female education facilitated new opportunities for Armenian women via teaching and evangelism. The central argument of this thesis is that American missionary activity significantly contributed to the increased interest in female education among the Armenian communities of the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Open Access
The American perception of the Ottomans in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries
(Bilkent University, 1998) Demir, Zennure (Köseman)
The objective of this thesis is to present the American perceptions of the Ottomans in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries and to explain the origin of the images of Turkey in the United States. Sources include newspapers, magazines, journals, diaries and memoirs. The material is organized chronologically into four parts: early missionary activity, 1820- 1877; American perceptions during the Armenian crisis, 1877-1900; the latter stages of Abdulhamit H’s reign and the Young Turk period, 1900-1914; and the origins of the Republic, 1921-23. Some of the old negative Turkish images of the different American groups who had philantrophic aims changed when they arrived to the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries because of the social, political and constitutional changes in the Ottoman government. However, some of the negative images of the American groups did not change because of working on the attitudes of the Ottoman governors towards the millets living in the Ottoman Empire. They expressed their negative and positive images of Turkey in American newspapers, journals, and magazines. While some Americans carried negative images of the Turkey and the East dating back to the Middle Ages forward into the twentieth century, others formed positive impressions of Turks and the East as a result of their experiences in the Ottoman Empire.
Open Access
American propaganda in Turkey as economic military and cultural warfare against Germany during the Second World War
(Bilkent University, 2009) Avcı, Ayşegül
This thesis analyzes American propaganda in Turkey during the Second World War through the increasing economic, military and cultural relations between the two countries. Germany was very influential in Turkey’s economic, military and cultural development before the war. This kind of affiliation could have an influence in Turkey’s foreign policy. Turkish leaders, on the other hand, attached utmost importance to Turkey’s integrity and independence. They thought that entering the war would damage Turkey’s sovereignty. Therefore they wanted to keep Turkey out of war. When the war started Turkey wanted to limit Germany’s influence. For this reason Turkey turned to Britain and France which could not satisfy Turkey’s needs. iv America began to increase its economic, military and cultural relations with Turkey through Lend-Lease aid, chrome sales, sending military experts to and inviting students from Turkey, etc. The improvement of the relations between Turkey and America in those fields aimed to break Germany’s influence in Turkey, and to prevent Turkey’s entrance to the war on the side of the Axis. In this respect strengthening Turkey in the economic and military fields so that it could fight against the Axis forces was not the main aim. Therefore American efforts during the war should be analyzed as propaganda against German propaganda.
Open Access
American Turkish relations 1945-1960 : the roots of a long-term alliance
(Bilkent University, 2003) Arıoğul, İpek
The United States and Turkey made an important alliance during the early Cold War and their alliance had an important role in the course of the Cold War. By the end of World War II, the United States felt the need to contain the Communist expansion led by the Soviet Union since it posed a threat to the American economic and security interests. On the other hand, the Soviet Union threatened Turkey’s territorial integrity denouncing the Turkish-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, dated November 17,1925. Turkey also needed economic aid to overcome its serious economic problems that increased by the end of the war. In the face of the common threat, Turkey and the United States formed an alliance, which would continue throughout the Cold War and has stretched until today. The 1950s has often been referred as the “golden age” of American-Turkish relations, however, it witnessed some disagreements and problems between the two countries, which damaged their relationship to some extent and formed the basis of their greater problems in the period after 1960. This is a chronological study, which aims to illuminate the history of AmericanTurkish relations between 1945-1960, using U.S. government documents, journal articles, memoirs and secondary sources when necessary. The material is organized chronologically into three parts: the early American-Turkish relations by the end of World War II; the period between the Truman Doctrine and Turkey’s entry into NATO; and finally the American-Turkish relations during the Eisenhower Presidency.
Open Access
American women's foreign mission movement : "cooperation of eve with the redeemer" in evangelical missions
(Bilkent University, 2006) Tokay, Melike
This thesis aims to depict American women’s “indispensable” participation in the United States’ foreign mission movement. The emphasis in this thesis is on missionary wives and single missionary women both in mission fields and in the missionary societies controlled in the United States. The concept of separate spheres of male and female influence forms the center point of this thesis and the participation of women in the foreign mission movement is discussed from this perspective. It was the divine sanction, the religious service that stimulated American women to enter the mission work in the 19th century. Although the starting point did not embrace a feminist frame, the process of implementation did lead American women into public roles independent of male influence. In the name of this accomplishment, this thesis aims to explore what many historians have neglected to analyze. American missionary women, in the United States or in the foreign mission lands, created a new professional career for educated women, broke the bondage of the domestic sphere, expanded the involvement of women in cultural and political interaction, and represented the American woman to the whole world.
Open Access
American Zion?: The spiritual currents of the agricultural settlement at Jaffa, 1850-1858
(Bilkent University, 2022-08) Alıcı, Fatih
Placing the colony founded by Clorinda S.Minor, the American agricultural initiative in the Holy Land, at the center, this thesis meticulously traces answers to three questions: What prompted these Americans to settle in the Holy Land? How did an American millennialist group led by Minor, a former zealous member of the Millerite sect, challenge the realities of 19th-century Ottoman Palestine? Why did they have to leave the region in 1858? The second chapter discusses the 19th-century American religious milieu, in which "Millennialism" swept the United States. It strives to portray the historical baggage that settlers carried to the region with them. The third chapter focuses on the journey of the American group in the Holy Land. Gleaning information from the archival materials, the chapter tries to shed light on how the settlers interacted with the local population. The fourth chapter elucidates the event known as "Outrages at Jaffa", which paved the way for the destruction of the colony and which also created a small-scale international crisis between Ottoman, American, British and Prussian consulates.
Open Access
An analysis of African American intellectuals, 1900-1972
(Bilkent University, 2001) Çalışkan, Mutlu
The United States in the twentieth century experienced a series of changes in terms of culture, economics, population and social movements. The black civil rights movement was one of the most important social movements in the country during the century. The struggle of African-Americans for equal rights was the main agenda of the 1960s. But, what happened before the 1960s? Why did blacks have to wait until the 1960s to achieve gains in equal rights with whites? This thesis aims at answering this question. The thesis analyzes this delay from the beginning of the twentieth century to the end of the 1960s from one point of view: The discussions and disagreements between the African-American intellectuals. The thesis shows those discussions and disagreements as one of the reasons for the delay. In doing this, the thesis details the ideas of prominent black intellectuals Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, A. Philip Randolph, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Stokely Carmichael. The disagreements of these people in different periods contributed to the delay concerning the gains of equal rights in the black civil rights movement.
Open Access
An analysis of African American, feminist, and native American movements in the 1960s and 1970s
(Bilkent University, 2001) Ertürk, Sibel
The purpose of the theses is to illustrate the analogy among African American, feminist, and Native American protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, and particularly to examine the division between nonviolent/legal and militant/cultural approaches within each movement. The thesis uses primary and secondary sources to examine to what extent the black protest movement ideologically influenced feminism and Native American activism. Published document collections of the black civil rights movement, women’s movement, and Native American activism of the 1960s and 1970s, memoirs of participants, and movement manifestos comprise the bulk of the primary sources. An examination of the emergence of modern feminism and Native American activism against the backdrop of the black civil rights movement reveals that the resurgence of feminism and Indian activism in the 1960s and 1970s coincided with the black civil rights movement and reflected certain intersections with it as well as divergences from it. The black civil rights movement altered and expanded American politics by providing American women and American Indians with organizational and tactical models, along with ideas, inspiration, and confidence. The protests of these three groups are uniquely important because by protesting for a society in which the quality of human spirit is measured by standards of personal dignity, potential and performance rather than by arbitrary culturally imposed standards of place and role they helped America to live up to its democratic ideals.
Open Access
An analysis study on the implementations of gedik, esham and muzara’a
(Bilkent University, 2019-08) Sök, Kadir Sarp
This thesis examines there economic practices (gedik, esham and muzara’a) that emerged in the Ottoman Empire in the modern period (18th and 19th centuries) and the relationship between them. This study claims that these practices, which emerged or finalized during the same periods, were shaped in line with the needs of the Ottoman Empire and strengthened monetarization and commercialization at the borders of the empire, but they did not lead to a transformation in terms of capitalist classes and social power relations. In order to reinforce these arguments, the kethuda record of the barbers of Galata referring to a decree as well as the Istanbul and Konya court registers were used as primary sources. Secondary sources were used to understand the change and transformation of these practices and the period. Although these practices emerged in line with the needs of the age, it was concluded that they were far from responding to these needs at certain points and left their places to modern applications imported from Europe.
Open Access
“And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heaven and to everything that creeps on the earth”: animals in Byzantium
(Bilkent University, 2022-05) Mulla, Ayşenur
This thesis examines the relationship between the Byzantines and animals (in particular small ones like worms and bees) in terms of practical, socio-economic, and religious terms mainly using the written sources (hagiographies, ancient scientific sources, miracle stories, or legal documents), archaeological, zooarchaeological, and architectural remains from different areas of the Byzantine Empire. The main idea of the thesis stems from socio-cultural and religious studies of the Byzantine society, which (with the exception of a few scholars like Sophia Germanidou, Henrietta Kroll, Nancy Sevcenko, and Tristan Schmidt, who have studied the Byzantine animals and their mentality about the world of bestiary), has mostly focused on the economics of animals and their rearing. In fact, and contrary to the mainstream historiography, this study tries to bridge a gap between the role of the animals, especially the smallest ones like worms, bees, insects, and silkworms, as they have tended to be forgotten when examining the socio-cultural and economic dynamics of Byzantine society at large. Bearing in mind the limits and the problems of sources, both primary and secondary, the main goal of this thesis is to scrutinize the Byzantine narrative about these animals, to recreate the Byzantine perception and utilization of the other living beings as well as to understand the multi-faceted benefits of the presence of animals in the daily life of the Byzantines.
Open Access
The Annals of change : a comparative study of two fourteenth-century English chronicles
(Bilkent University, 2003) Baykan, Ferişte
In the late fourteenth century, history writing in England was in the process of change.There was a shift from the monastic chronicles in Latin to secular chronicles in the vernacular.This historiographical transition was accompanied by the turbulent years of Richard II's reign, famous for the deposition of this king at the end of this century.Richard II's reign was also remarkable because of the number of chronicles written during that time.This thesis examines two of these chronicles, Adam Usk's Chronicon and the Westminster Chronicle, with a comparative approach.In the first place, the tradition of historical writing especially in the late medieval period is examined, looking at the stylistic features and the content characteristics of the chronicles.Secondly, the thesis deals with Adam Usk's chronicle and analyses its significant features.Thirdly, a similar approach is applied to the Westminster Chronicle.Finally, these two chronicles are compared.The conclusion of this thesis is that, the transition from the monastic chronicles to the secular chronicles can be exemplified by these two late fourteenth century chronicles and that an analysis of features in terms of style and content enables historians to reach a better evaluation and understanding of them.