The Ottoman world of sports : refashioning bodies, men, and communities in late imperial Istanbul /
"In the Ottoman Empire of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Istanbul was a cosmopolitan center with various religions and ethnicities intermingling, including Muslims, Jews, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Christians, and Catholics. Yıldız explores how the concepts of sports and physical cult...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Austin :
University of Texas Press,
[2026]
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| Edition: | First edition. |
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| Summary: | "In the Ottoman Empire of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Istanbul was a cosmopolitan center with various religions and ethnicities intermingling, including Muslims, Jews, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Christians, and Catholics. Yıldız explores how the concepts of sports and physical culture developed over this period and served to bring these different populations together while also hardening the boundaries between them in the growing middle class. Especially as the Empire became part of the global network and the Ottomans desired to appear more modern, activities such as gymnastics, weightlifting, and football became activities that all young men needed to perform regularly in order to develop into moral men, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. Relying on extensive multi-lingual archives in a number of countries, Yıldız examines how the idea of physical culture developed in schools (and the opposition some parents had to their children wasting their time that way) and expanded to sports clubs across the city that were divided by ethnicity/religion but yet would come together to celebrate one another's holidays or festivals. Similarly, sports experts from the different populations of Istanbul collaborated on spreading the importance of physical culture even while instilling the virtues of sport within their own communities. Sports columns in the daily newspapers and specialized sports magazines appeared, bringing sports further into the public arena and creating a shared civic culture around them. Likewise, sports moved from school gymnasia and empty fields to new arenas, further inculcating sporting culture within the civic body and displaying it as legitimate entertainment as people gathered to watch competitions and cheer on their teams. Finally, Yıldız examines how international sporting culture came to Istanbul through such activities as the newly reformed Olympics, even as the divisions between ethnicities grew in how the press covered Ottoman athletes and teams. He concludes by exploring how the First World War and events such as the Armenian genocide sharpened the divisions between groups and ended the idea of heterogeneous sporting areas and shared physical culture"-- Provided by publisher. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource : illustrations |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781477332870 (electronic bk.) 1477332871 |