“Immorals” in Ottoman Society: Genealogy of the Ottoman morality discourse in late nineteenth-century

Abstract

Since the Tanzimat edict, the Ottoman state started to adopt liberal governmental rationality similar to the Western states. At the turn of the century, the Ottoman state, which had increased its administrative modernization and centralization, became responsible for public security and order. However, there was a great number of civil servants who acted contrary to this agenda of the state. In the late 19th century, there was an increasing number of complaints and trials regarding the immorality of state officials. This study examines the genealogy of the governmental discourse of good governance, that is to say, "enhancing the society as individual citizens and as a community" adopted by the modern Ottoman state. It is argued that the traditional moral discourses existing in the Ottoman society were juxtaposed with this new governmental liberal rationality of the Ottoman state in state discourses. The study is based on a historical case study that employs Foucault’s genealogical methodology for the historical analysis of hegemonic discourses. Various cases in which Ottoman state officials were prosecuted for their immoral manners and attitudes were discussed, and the discourses used in government correspondence during the legal and administrative processes carried out regarding these cases were examined. The data used in the study is retrieved from the primary archival sources obtained from the Prime Ministry’s Ottoman Archives in Istanbul and also from secondary sources. The study reveals that the category of "immoral officers" who challenged traditional moral norms consisted of state officials who ignored social distinctions based on gender and religion and policemen and officers who publicly engaged in prostitution in residential neighborhoods. Hence the state apparatus resorted to punitive practices to correct the behavior of these officers and tried to provide public order by reproducing the traditional morality of the neighborhood. In other words, the moral discourse of the neighborhood was juxtaposed with the citizen-based liberal administrative discourse that responded to public safety, public health, and the citizens’ demands. This study, which presents the genealogy of moral discourse in the late Ottoman society, reveals that the moral regime in the premodern period Ottoman neighborhood is combined with the modern administrative discourse focused on "good governance,” which serves the safety and well-being of the society and citizens.