In pursuit of ideal children and childhood: Children, childhood and gender in the morals and manners books in Late Ottoman Empire

This study deals with the perceptions of childhood, children and gender in the morals and manners books written in the Ottoman Empire from the Tanzimat to the end of the empire. The textbook called Risâle-i Ahlâk, written by Sadık Rıfat Pasha, the intellectual leader of the Tanzimat, forms the framework of this thesis. Risâle-i Ahlâk is one of the works that best reflects the perception of childhood that started to change with the Tanzimat. The book, which aims to advise children on good and bad habits and to make them adults with good morals, actually intends to build an ideal society. Most morals and manners books written during the 19th century continued to be published in the context of this ideology. The social, political and cultural refractions and transformations created by the reforms made in the last period of the empire were reflected in these books and paved the way for their transformation in terms of content. However, this change, which took place with the reforms of the 19th century, is not a refractions from the period before the Tanzimat. Many teachings and traditions belonging to the pre-19th century, which were in line with the interests of the state and thought to be beneficial to society, continued to exist in books written for both children and parents on child education. As a matter of fact, the works contain western and eastern concepts together and in harmony. For this reason, this study does not ignore the continuities as well as the refractions, that is change, and focuses on them es well. Keywords: Morals and Manners books, childhood, 19th century reforms, continuity, change and transformation