Constructing Ottoman Beneficence by Amy Singer

Constructing Ottoman Beneficence by Amy Singer

Presents the political, social, and cultural context behind Ottoman charity. Ottoman charitable endowments (waqf) constituted an enduring monument to imperial beneficence and were important instruments of policy. One type of endowment, the public soup kitchen (imaret) served travelers, scholars, pious mystics, and local indigents alike. Constructing Ottoman Beneficence examines the political, social, and cultural context for founding these public kitchens. It challenges long-held notions about the nature of endowments and explores for the first time how Ottoman modes of beneficence provide an important paradigm for understanding universal questions about the nature of charitable giving. A typical and well-documented example was the imaret of Hasseki Hurrem Sultan, wife of Sultan Süleyman I, in Jerusalem. The imaret operated at the confluence of imperial endowment practices and Ottoman food supply policies, while also exemplifying the role of imperial women as benefactors. Through its operations, the imaret linked imperial Ottoman and local Palestinian interests, integrating urban and rural economies.

Amy Singer teaches in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History, Tel Aviv University. She is the author of Palestinian Peasants and Ottoman Officials: Rural Administration Around Sixteenth-Century Jerusalem.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780791453520
ISBN 10	0791453529
Title	Constructing Ottoman Beneficence
Author	Amy Singer
Series	Suny Series In Near Eastern Studies
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	State University of New York Press
Year published	2002-05-02
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.