Osmanlı halı sanayisinin bir analizi, 1843 - 1914: İşçiler, tüccarlar ve devlet

This study examines the carpet industry across Asia Minor during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It shows that various Central and Western Anatolian towns such as Uşak, Kayseri, Isparta, Niğde, Nevşehir and Sivas were significant carpet production centers working in close cooperation with each other. It also reveals that beginning in the mid-19th century, demand for the Ottoman Empire's carpets thrived in the foreign markets and this sparked various transformations in the industry. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the industry became increasingly export-oriented and this development caused significant changes in the carpet production industry, altered traditional production methods and existing relations of productions. It examines how workers and local merchants reacted to these changes and how they took part in this restructuring. This study also demonstrates that the Ottoman state also played a role in the transformations that took place in the carpet industry. Last, the present analysis aims to make the experiences of female carpet workers visible, who constituted the majority of the carpet industry's work force. It investigates what kinds of gender ideologies were at play in regulating the female carpet workers' relationship with the state and how these ideologies influenced female workers' daily and work experiences. It argues that, especially during the reign of Abdülhamid II (r. 1876-1909), the Ottoman government demonstrated a patriarchal attitude towards female workers, in which a father-daughter kind of a relationship was established between the female workers and the state. Keywords: Ottoman Empire, carpet industry, gender and labor, Uşak, Kayseri, the Hereke Imperial Factory, labor activism