Documenting Community in the Late Ottoman Empire

Documenting Community in the Late Ottoman EmpireInternational Journal of Middle East StudiesSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/DU7HV5QU/tei

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

2024-08-15-04:00

Born digital.

CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.HenryClementsDocumenting Community in the Late Ottoman Empirehttp://syriaca.org/cbss/DU7HV5QUhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/DU7HV5QUhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/DU7HV5QUInternational Journal of Middle East Studies51:32019423-443This article traces a conflict that erupted in the late 19th century between the Armenians and the Süryani. This conflict, I argue, precipitated nothing less than the creation of the Süryani community itself. The dispute began over the key to a closet in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but it quickly evolved. Soon, the Armenians and the Süryani were clashing over holy places all around Jerusalem. The dispute centered on an Ottoman administrative arrangement which had been institutionalized nearly 400 years earlier: yamaklık. The Ottoman investigators, however, were unfamiliar with this archaic arrangement and had to be reeducated as to its terms and its history. The Süryani and the Armenians offered divergent accounts. Where the Armenians furnished hard documentation, however, the Süryani could produce only claims to tradition and local practice. In this article I argue that, through this protracted conflict, the Süryani came to understand the importance of the documentary record in a post-Tanzimat Ottoman world. They thus turned to an alternative strategy that would conform to this documentary sensibility and render their community visible to the state: a series of petitions with thousands of Süryani signatures from around the Ottoman Empire. Clements, Henry. “Documenting Community in the Late Ottoman Empire.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 51:3 (2019): 423–43. Henry Clements, Documenting Community in the Late Ottoman Empire, International Journal of Middle East Studies 51:3 (2019): 423–43.Holy SepulchreJerusalemOttoman empirePalestineXIX CEXIX-XXI CEchurchesholy placespolemic