Balsoy illustrates how medical modernization was employed by authorities to discipline the female body and control the population, reflecting the myriad anxieties experienced by Ottoman elites.
Reproduction was not merely a natural occurrence in Ottoman society but rather a political subject, manipulated through laws and medical practices by the state and elites.
Balsoy asserts that the state aimed to increase the Turkish/Muslim population by transforming midwifery practices, banning abortion, and engaging with the issues surrounding infertility.
The book challenges the existing scholarship by arguing that the Ottomans' focus was not on fostering a heterogenous Ottoman identity but rather on specific population control measures.
Collection
[
|
...
]