Reconstruction of women identity by positivist and materialist Ottoman intellectuals through press activities (1908-1912)

This thesis aims to examine the developments in the context of modernization by centering the woman as a result of the relations of the Ottoman Empire with the West. In particular, it focused on the influence of Ottoman intellectuals who shaped their views with positivism and materialism which one of the most important movements of Western thought. Four journals were selected as samples for this study. They have been published by intellectuals who are mentioned above in the period between the declaration of the Second Constitution in 1908 with the Balkan Wars broke out at the end of 1912. In this thesis, within the framework of the interpretative understanding of social science, one of the qualitative research techniques, Siegfried Jäger's dispositive analysis method was used and discourse analysis of written and visual indicators were performed. Thus, it was questioned wheter positivist and materialist Ottoman intellectuals engaged in the reconstruction activities of women identity in the Ottoman society. As the result of the research, it has been determined that in this four journals, published by mentioned intellectuals, have been made publications that can be accepted as a reconstruction activity with both written and visual materials.