Displaying the empire: a search for self represantation of the Ottoman Empire in the international exhibitions of the nineteenth century

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2014

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Özçeri, Ece

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The aim of this thesis is to examine the participation of the Ottoman Empire to international exhibitions in the nineteenth century. The international exhibitions were the outcomes of the radical changes in economic, social and political structure brought out by the revolutions of the eighteenth century. Although, exhibitions are generally evaluated as commercial centers, they were, at the same time, spheres in which the nineteenth century states’ entire power relations were displayed. In the international exhibitions, the world of the nineteenth century was divided into two parts. According to this two-parted world, it is considered that the concepts like technology, science and industry belong to the West; on the other hand, the East was associated with backwardness, superstition and manufacture. In the exhibitions, the Eastern participants answered the West’s sense of wonder about the East and they were involved in the amusement part of the exhibitions. In this study, I examine the motives of the Ottoman Empire, which cannot be classified under these binary categories, in participating the international exhibitions. In this regard, I focused mainly on the transformation of the exhibitions towards the platforms, where the states displayed their cultural identities with the impact of the peace period, the material progress and colonialism, all of which surpassed their initial commercial agenda. The aim of the Ottoman Empire to participate in the exhibitions was emphasized as an attempt to display an accurate Ottoman representation in the international public by benefiting from the transformation of the v exhibitions. I argue that the Ottoman mind realized that the international exhibitions were not only commercial centers but also arenas for self representation.

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http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12617748/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/23872

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Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

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Citation Formats

E. Özçeri, “Displaying the empire: a search for self represantation of the Ottoman Empire in the international exhibitions of the nineteenth century,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2014.