Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures

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Race, Gender, and Difference: Ottoman Empire
(1,126 words)

The Ottoman Empire was a territorial aggregation of ethnicities and races which practiced variations of policies emphasizing integration rather than exclusion. Ottoman officials asserted, for instance, that the empire's population shared a supranational identity, the Osmanlı milleti (Ottoman nationality). This formulation, adopted by Ahmet Cevdet Pasha (1823–95), the Ottoman Empire's premier historian and advisor to three sultans, highlights the many ways state and subject generally succeeded in navigating the empire's diversity for six hundred years.

The role of women…

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Blumi, Isa, “Race, Gender, and Difference: Ottoman Empire”, in: Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures, General Editor Suad Joseph. Consulted online on 28 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1872-5309_ewic_EWICCOM_0140b>
First published online: 2009



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