Family Life in the Ottoman Mediterranean

In writings about Islam women and modernity in the Middle East family and religion are frequently invoked but rarely historicized. Based on a wide range of local sources spanning two centuries (16601860) Beshara B. Doumani argues that there is no such thing as the Muslim or Arab family type that is so central to Orientalist nationalist and Islamist narratives. Rather one finds dramatic regional differences even within the same cultural zone in the ways that family was understood organized and reproduced. In his comparative examination of the property devolution strategies and gender regimes in the context of local political economies Doumani offers a groundbreaking examination of the stories and priorities of ordinary people and how they shaped the making of the modern Middle East.