Music in Early Twentieth-Century Istanbul

This study addresses the social history of music in early twentieth-century Ottoman Istanbul. The paper argues that private music schools were at the center of transformations in music and that their history is profoundly related to the political crises the Ottoman state experienced after the turn of the twentieth century. More precisely, by approaching the Ottoman bureaucracy from a musical perspective, the paper tries to link the reorganization of the Ottoman bureaucracy in 1909 with the emergence of private music schools in Istanbul. To explore the process, the paper follows some official functionaries’ career paths to explain their concentration in these schools. In contrast to conventional historiography, the aim is to emphasise that out of the political crises, private music schools emerged as a new ground in music. By paying limited attention to musical aspects, the study will mainly address the social roles these schools occupied in Ottoman urban life. They were practically social organizations, whose members pursued common goals. Collective action, such a fundamental shift of mindset on the part of the musicians, facilitated the advancement of the status of musicians in Ottoman urban society and decreased uncertainty about the future of the profession. Moreover, the institutional identity provided by the schools changed the place of women in music by increasing their visibility as music teachers and performers.

Download Full-text

Punarvivaham vs. Pativratyam: Pulugurta Lakshmi Narasamamba and the Widow Remarriage Question in Colonial Andhra

Studies in History ◽

10.1177/02576430211001763 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 025764302110017

Author(s):

Shaik Mahaboob Basha

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Social Reform ◽

Reform Movement ◽

Primary Sources ◽

Child Marriage ◽

Important Place ◽

Early Twentieth Century ◽

The Social ◽

The Status ◽

Women's Journals

The question of widow remarriage, which occupied an important place in the social reform movement, was hotly debated in colonial Andhra. Women joined the debate in the early twentieth century. There was a conservative section of women, which bitterly opposed the widow remarriage movement and attacked the social reformers, both women and men. Pulugruta Lakshmi Narasamamba led this group of women. Lakshmi Narasamamba treated widow remarriage (punarvivaham) with contempt and termed it as an affront to the fidelity (pativratyam) of Hindu women. According to her, widow remarriage was equal to ‘prostitution’, and the widows who married again could not be granted the status of kulanganas (respectable or chaste women). Lakshmi Narasamamba’s stand on the question of widow remarriage led to the emergence of a fiery and protracted controversy among women which eventually led to the division of the most famous women’s organization, the Shri Vidyarthini Samajamu. She opposed not only widow remarriage but also post-puberty marriage and campaigned in favour of child marriage. This article describes the whole debate on the widow remarriage question that took place among women. It is based on the primary sources, especially the woefully neglected women’s journals in the Telugu language.

Download Full-text

The German Bourgeoisie: Essays on the Social History of the German Middle Class from the Late Eighteenth to the Early Twentieth Century

The Business History Review ◽

10.2307/3117396 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 67 (3) ◽

pp. 519

Author(s):

Toni Pierenkemper ◽

David Blackbourn ◽

Richard J. Evans

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Middle Class ◽

Social History ◽

Early Twentieth Century ◽

The Social ◽

Late Eighteenth ◽

History Of

Download Full-text

Autofiction: Stained Radiance and The Thirteenth Disciple

Lewis Grassic Gibbon ◽

10.3828/liverpool/9781789620627.003.0004 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 39-48

Author(s):

William K. Malcolm

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Early Adulthood ◽

Social Realism ◽

The Political ◽

Chronological Order ◽

Female Protagonists ◽

Early Twentieth Century ◽

The Social ◽

Imaginative Literature ◽

Political Responses

Mitchell’s first two novels are examined as works deploying the medium of imaginative literature for introspection and analysis of his own past. In reverse chronological order they recreate the narrative of his childhood and early adulthood, in the course of which they present a state of the nation critique of early twentieth century Britain. The forthright verisimilitude of the social realism is in keeping with the philosophical nihilism prevailing in the inter-war years, with the political responses of mainstream parties and of radical splinter groups such as the Anarchocommunist Party appearing unable to change society for the better. Mitchell’s technical experimentation with metafiction and intertextuality indicates the scale of his literary ambition, while his proto-feminist sympathies are marked by his reliance on female protagonists.

Download Full-text