The Power of Rumours in the Making of History: The Case of the Adana Incident of 1909 in the Ottoman Empire

Belleten ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 76 (277) ◽  
pp. 951-972
Author(s):  
Kemal Çi̇çek

The Adana Incident of 1909 is one of the local events of the Armeno-Muslim relations during the final decades of the history of the Ottoman Empire. A good amount of works has been hitherto done by the historians of the Middle East about the communal conflict in Adana in April 1909. Historians have so far heavily focused on the political, economic and social dimensions and/or reasons of the conflict. In spite of the proliferation of writings, however, very few have touched upon the power of rumours in the escalation of violence between the two communities. Indeed, my work on the archival sources of the incident have produced enormous documentation which indicate that the rumours circulated around the city had played unquestionable role in building distrust between the peoples and led to the rise of numerous conspiracy theories. According to one rumour the Armenians were organizing themselves against the Muslims in order to separate from the Empire. Another rumour was that a group of Armenian rebels were about to attack Muslim villages around the city, which stirred up the fears of Muslims. There were also rumours circulating among the Muslim community that Armenians had dug up an underground tunnel in order to reach the weapons depot, which was to aid them in their quest for independence. One major rumour was that Armenians placed human faeces at the door of the Great Mosque. Indeed it was through such rumours that suspicions were piqued and people sought to acquire weapons as a means of protecting themselves. Thus when the killings began on April 14, 1909 in Adana, people attacked each other under the influence of the psychology built by such rumours. Therefore I am of the opinion that it is important to deal with rumour and its affinity to communal violence in history. In this paper an attempt will be made to analyse the role of rumours in the events that unfolded in Adana in April 1909.

2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 431-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
RUBINA JASANI

AbstractThis paper is a critique of popular and academic assumptions about the Muslim ‘community’ and Islamist organizations, especially in the context of displacement and reconstruction after the 2002 riots in Ahmedabad, western India. It explores the internal politics of Jamaat-led organizations and the engagement of survivors with ideas of reform and piety. Contesting contemporary understandings of reformist Jamaats, I argue that the growing influence of the latter organizations had little co-relation with their resettlement plans and policies. The reconstruction patterns were more closely linked to the history of labour migration to the city, and the subsequent movement of violence-affected people from the mill areas to larger Muslim ghettoes. My ethnography shows how the survivors strategically engaged with reform initiatives and negotiated with local Islamist organizations for ‘safe housing’. By illustrating certain ambiguities within the everyday practices of Islam, my paper also problematizes notions of ‘piety’ and ‘agency’, primarily after people's experiences of communal violence.


2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 98-100
Author(s):  
Muhamad Ali

Studies of Islam in Southeast Asia have sought to better understand its multifacetedand complex dimensions, although one may make a generalizedcategorization of Muslim beliefs and practices based on a fundamental differencein ideologies and strategies, such as cultural and political Islam.Anna M. Gade’s Perfection Makes Practice stresses the cultural aspect ofIndonesian Muslim practices by analyzing the practices of reciting andmemorizing the Qur’an, as well as the annual competition.Muslim engagement with the Qur’an has tended to emphasize the cognitiveover the psychological dimension. Perfection Makes Practice analyzesthe role of emotion in these undertakings through a combination ofapproaches, particularly the history of religions, ethnography, psychology,and anthropology. By investigating Qur’anic practitioners in Makassar,South Sulawesi, during the 1990s, Gade argues that the perfection of theQur’an as a perceived, learned, and performed text has made and remade thepractitioners, as well as other members of the Muslim community, to renewor increase their engagement with the holy text. In this process, she suggests,moods and motivation are crucial to preserving the recited Qur’an and revitalizingthe Muslim community.In chapter 1, Gade begins with a theoretical consideration for her casestudy. Drawing from concepts that emphasize the importance of feeling andemotion in ritual and religious experience, she develops a conceptualizationof this engagement. In chapter 2, Gade explains memorization within thecontext of the self and social relations. She argues that Qur’anic memorizershave a special relationship with its style and structure, as well as with thesocial milieu. Although Qur’anic memorization is a normal practice for mostMuslims, its practitioners have learned how to memorize and recite beautifullysome or all of the Qur’an’s verses, a process that requires emotion ...


Author(s):  
Alessandro Portelli

This article centers around the case study of Rome's House of Memory and History to understand the politics of memory and public institutions. This case study is about the organization and politics of public memory: the House of Memory and History, established by the city of Rome in 2006, in the framework of an ambitious program of cultural policy. It summarizes the history of the House's conception and founding, describes its activities and the role of oral history in them, and discusses some of the problems it faces. The idea of a House of Memory and History grew in this cultural and political context. This article traces several political events that led to the culmination of the politics of memory and its effect on public institutions. It says that the House of Memory and History can be considered a success. A discussion on a cultural future winds up this article.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-337
Author(s):  
Svetlana A Kirillina ◽  
Alexandra L Safronova ◽  
Vladimir V Orlov

The article analyses the historical role of the movement for defenсe of the Caliphate, which emerged in various regions of the Muslim world as a response to weakening and fall of the Ottoman Empire. The authors also focus on the social and political discussions of the 1920s - 1930s about the destiny of Muslim unity and the role of the future Caliphate. The article also deals with the transformation of conceptions of the Caliphate in the works of eminent ideologists and politicians of the Muslim world - Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi, Muhammad Rashid Rida and Abul Kalam Azad. The authors give an overview of the history of Caliphatist congresses and conferences of 1920s - 1930s. The aims and tasks of the Caliphatist movement among the Muslims of South Asia are also under study. The article examines the reaction of the South Asian princely elites to the weakening of the Ottoman state and explores the interrelation between pro-Ottoman sentiments of Caliphatists and the radicalization of anti-colonial struggle of Indian Muslims. A special attention is given to the role of leaders of Indian Caliphatists in preparation of the antiBritish uprisings in North-Western Hindustan. The authors also examine common and specifi c features of views and political actions of advocates and supporters of the Caliphate in the Middle East and in the Islamic communities of South Asia. The analysis of the source data reveales several patterns of reaction of Muslims in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia to the repudiation of the Caliphate by the Republican Turkey.


2020 ◽  
pp. 7-32
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Kulczyńska ◽  
Natalia Borowicz ◽  
Karolina Piwnicka-Wdowikowska

Morasko University Campus in Poznań – origin, spatial and functional structure, transport solutions The purpose of the paper is to characterize the most recently created part of the Adam Mickiewicz University – the Morasko Campus. The paper consists of three parts. The first concerns the origins and development of the campus. The second part presents its spatial and functional structure on the basis of a field inventory, while the third one – campus transport solutions based on a survey conducted among students. The history of the campus located in the northern, peripheral part of the city began with laying the foundation act and the cornerstone in 1977. The agricultural role of this area, dominant until the 1980s, has been replaced with new functions, mainly academic and scientific ones. The first university buildings were commissioned in the 1990s, and the construction boom began after 2000. A total of nine faculties (out of 21 existing) are housed in eight buildings in the campus, including exact and natural sciences, as well as a part of social sciences and humanities. To this day, neither student dormitories nor accommodation for PhD students have been constructed (although they are likely to be built), which would emphasize the academic function of the campus. The campus also comprises areas with recreational, sports, residential and other service functions (e.g. catering, beauty, hairdressing, and commercial services), which are complemented by areas that serve transport functions. Location in the northern periphery of the city, and above all the railway line for freight (the northern bypass of Poznań) separating the city from the campus, makes transport to this part of the city limited. The results of the survey revealed a lack of a safe bicycle path between the western and eastern part of the campus, insufficient number of parking places for motorists, a lack of paved roads from the north and west, only three narrow access roads for car commuters, and difficult access by public transport to the eastern and north-eastern parts. In the latter case, the planned extension of the tram line towards Umultowo after the year 2022 is expected to solve the problem. Zarys treści: Celem opracowania jest charakterystyka najmłodszej przestrzeni Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza – Kampusu Morasko. Opracowanie składa się z trzech zasadniczych części. Pierwsza część artykułu dotyczy genezy powstania i rozbudowy miasteczka uniwersyteckiego. W drugiej części przedstawiono strukturę przestrzenno-funkcjonalną kampusu w oparciu o inwentaryzację terenową, w trzeciej zaś obsługę transportową na podstawie badań ankietowych przeprowadzonych wśród studentów. Historia położonego w północnej, peryferyjnej części miasta kampusu rozpoczęła się od wmurowania aktu erekcyjnego i kamienia węgielnego w 1977 r. Dominująca do lat 80. XX w. funkcja rolnicza tego obszaru została zastąpiona przez nowe funkcje, głównie akademickie i naukowe. Pierwsze budynki dydaktyczne oddano do użytku dopiero w latach 90. ubiegłego wieku, a boom budowlany rozpoczął się po roku 2000. Swoją siedzibę znalazły tutaj nauki ścisłe i przyrodnicze, a także część nauk społecznych i humanistycznych, w sumie dziewięć wydziałów (na 21 istniejących) w ośmiu budynkach. Do dzisiaj nie wybudowano akademików czy domu doktoranta (choć istnieją realne szanse na ich powstanie), co podkreśliłoby funkcję akademicką kampusu. W strukturze kampusu wyróżnia się ponadto obszary o funkcjach rekreacyjnych, rekreacyjno-sportowych, mieszkaniowych i innych o charakterze usługowym (np. usługi gastronomiczne, kosmetyczne, fryzjerskie, handel), których uzupełnieniem są obszary o funkcjach komunikacyjnych. Położenie na północnych peryferiach miasta, a przede wszystkim linia kolejowa dla przewozów towarowych (północna obwodnica Poznania) oddzielająca miasto od kampusu sprawiają, że obsługa transportowa tej części miasta jest ograniczona. Wyniki badań ankietowych wskazują na brak bezpiecznej drogi rowerowej między zachodnią i północno-wschodnią częścią kampusu, niewystarczającą liczbę miejsc parkingowych dla zmotoryzowanych, brak utwardzonych dróg od strony północnej i zachodniej, zaledwie trzy wąskie wjazdy na kampus dla dojeżdżających samochodem czy utrudniony dojazd komunikacją publiczną do części wschodniej i północno-wschodniej. W tym ostatnim przypadku rozwiązaniem ma być planowana po 2022 r. rozbudowa linii tramwajowej w kierunku Umultowa.


Author(s):  
Natalya Gavrilova ◽  
Irina Dameshek ◽  
Sofia Kuras

The article provides the analysis of the main stages in the research career of the famous historian, urbanist and expert in the history of Siberian entrepreneurship, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor V. Shakherov. The evolution of the scholar’s scientific interests is highlighted in the text. The author outlines the main areas of the scientist’s research: studying the role of the city in building economic and socio-cultural environment of Siberia in the period from the 18th to the early 20th century, history of merchant class and entrepreneurship in pre-revolutionary Siberia, history of banking and credit system of the region, historic and cultural monuments of Siberia. The article presents the analysis of Shakherov’s major works, which reflect his contribution to the development of Siberian studies. Special attention is paid to his scientific, pedagogical and social activity aimed at preserving historical heritage of Irkutsk. The author of the article emphasizes that the research career of V. Shakherov and History Faculty of Irkutsk State University are tightly connected.


Author(s):  
Jeanne Clegg ◽  
Emma Sdegno

Our contribution concerns a phase in the history of the building that gives the University its name. When Ruskin came to Venice in 1845 he was horrified by the decayed state of the palaces on the Grand Canal, and by the drastic restorations in progress. In recording their features in measurements, drawings and daguerreotypes, Ca’ Foscari took priority, and his studies of its traceries constitute a unique witness. This work also helped generate new ideas on the role of shadow in architectural aesthetic, and on the characteristics of Gothic, which were to bear fruit in The Seven Lamps and The Stones of Venice. In his late guide to the city, St Mark’s Rest, Ruskin addressed «the few travellers who still care for her monuments» and offered the Venetian Republic’s laws regulating commerce as a model for modern England. Whether or not he knew of the founding of a commercial studies institute at Ca’ Foscari in 1868, he would certainly have hoped that it would teach principles of fair and just trading, as well as of respectful tourism.


Itinerario ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Warren

A new found interest in social history, recent developments in historical thought and methodology and a fresh awareness of the importance of gender-specific experience have led historians to question an ‘ordinary woman's place’ in Singa- pore's past. In the historiography of Singapore, there is a need to foreground the critical importance of the ah ku and karayuki-san in the sex,politics and society of the city, stressing not only alterations in their life and circumstance, but also variations in the role of the colonial government, and changes in the ideology of sex and social policy.


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