User:Dgoydan21/Article 2 sandbox

Topic: Ottoman coffeehouse

Summary of Contributions to Ottoman Coffeehouse Page '''[NOTE: This is the primary article I improved. I only made minor updates to the WELL after finding this page more fruitful.]'''

- Revised lead statement & wrote background information to frame the page (I had to incorporate the existing content at the end of my lead section)

- Wrote and added the following sections: "Coffeehouse attendees and activities," (including subsections) and "Surveillance in coffeehouses"

- Rearranged the order of existing sections

- Added external article links

- Added "Further Reading" section

Bibliography


 * 1) Beeley, Brian W. “The Turkish Village Coffeehouse as a Social Institution.” Geographical Review 60, no. 4 (1970): 475–93. https://doi.org/10.2307/213769.
 * 2) Brummett, Palmira. Image and Imperialism in the Ottoman Revolutionary Press, 1908-1911: Essays and Responses. SUNY Press, 2000.
 * 3) Cowan, Brian. The Social Life of Coffee: The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse. Yale University Press, 2008.
 * 4) Gwendolyn Collaco. “The Ottoman Coffeehouse: All the Charms and Dangers of Commonality in the 16th-17th Century,” 2011.
 * 5) Hattox, Ralph S. Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East. University of Washington Press ed. Near Eastern Studies, University of Washington, no. 3. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988.
 * 6) Karababa, Emİnegül, and Gülİz Ger. “Early Modern Ottoman Coffeehouse Culture and the Formation of the Consumer Subject.” Journal of Consumer Research 37, no. 5 (2011): 737–60. https://doi.org/10.1086/656422.
 * 7) Sajdi, Dana. Ottoman Tulips, Ottoman Coffee: Leisure and Lifestyle in the Eighteenth Century. I.B.Tauris, 2014.
 * 8) Salvatore, Armando, and Dale F. Eickelman. Public Islam and the Common Good. BRILL, 2004.
 * 9) Tarbuck, Derya, and Ozlem Caykent. “Coffeehouse Sociability: Themes, Problems and Directions.” Accessed November 19, 2018. http://www.academia.edu/31939603/Coffeehouse_Sociability_Themes_Problems_and_Directions.
 * 10) Tokman, Aslı. “Negotiating Tradition, Modernity and Identity in Consumer Space : A Study of a Shopping Mall and Revived Coffeehouse.” Thesis, Bilkent University, 2001. http://repository.bilkent.edu.tr/handle/11693/14808.
 * 11) Yılmaz, Birsen, Nilüfer Acar-Tek, and Saniye Sözlü. “Turkish Cultural Heritage: A Cup of Coffee.” Journal of Ethnic Foods 4, no. 4 (December 1, 2017): 213–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2017.11.003.

'''UPDATE: In addition to contributing the two new sections below, I would like to revise the lead section of this article. Additionally, I will move these paragraphs up per my reviewers' feedback. I also added more sources to my list above.'''

Notes from Sources to Develop my Sections
''Hattox, Ralph S. Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East. University of Washington Press ed. Near Eastern Studies, University of Washington, no. 3. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988. [Chapter Seven]''

- Debate among scholars about who specifically attended the coffeehouses. Largely agreed upon that coffeehouses featured a broad swath of society, but not everyone attended the same coffeehouse. They were probably neighborhood joints that served local traffic. There is a difference in scale among coffeehouses. Some are large centers for communities and others are small shops. They were predominantly Muslim establishments.

- Hospitality was now transferred to public spheres. People could entertain in coffeehouses rather than at their homes.

- "Aside from the more formal pastimes and diversions that will be discussed below, the coffeehouse was above all a place for talk: serious or trivial, high-minded or base, that place more than any other seemed to lend itself to the art of conversation." Not all chatter was good, some was rude to women.

- Like later in Europe, coffeehouses also became literary cites.

- "In place of newspapers or public forums, the coffeehouse quickly became the place of exchange of information." News was often broken in these locations

- On spies: "In dealing with the problem of sedition in the coffeehouse, not all governments employed such heavy-handed methods. With a bit of applied creativity some even found that they could turn the situation to their own advantage. In the nineteenth century, Muḥammad ‘Alī's government had a rather sophisticated way of dealing with factious elements in Cairene coffeehouses. Realizing that such public forums for loose talk could easily be exploited, police spies were often planted in coffeehouses to gather information to which the government otherwise might not have been privy until the mischief of the seditious had been effected."

''Beeley, Brian W. “The Turkish Village Coffeehouse as a Social Institution.” Geographical Review 60, no. 4 (1970): 475–93. https://doi.org/10.2307/213769 .''

- Information about the origin of coffeehouses for the lead: coffee drinking originated in arabia and spread to egypt and by the 16th century to perisa and the ottoman empire; in istanbul in latter half of 16th century.

''Brummett, Palmira. Image and Imperialism in the Ottoman Revolutionary Press, 1908-1911: Essays and Responses. SUNY Press, 2000.''

"There were also non­elite readers and even illiterate "readers" for the Ottoman periodical press.77 Even before the revolution this audience had access to the press through public readings: "Coffee houses. . . form the chief centers of union and conversation for the middle and lower classes. Here those who can read impart to their unlettered neighbors the news of the day,—or at least as much of it as has been approved by the Press Censor. . . [written in Istanbul, 1904]."78 Such readings were a public institution in the Ottoman empire, and also in Iran where Edward G. Browne noted that the Iranian revolution of 1905–1906 not only encouraged a flourescence of the press similar to that prompted by the Ottoman revolution but also prompted a change in material for professional readers in coffee­houses:The people are awake and slowly learning. The most remarkable manifestation of the popular awakening is the large increase in the number of newspapers. Not the old, stilted, futile style of paper, but popular journals, written in comparatively simple language. Everyone seems to read a paper now. In many of the coffee­houses professional readers are engaged, who, instead of reciting the legendary tales of the Sháh­náma, now regale their clients with political news.79Ottomans who could afford neither the price of an issue or of a subscription had access, like their Iranian counterparts, to such public readings"

Cowan, Brian. The Social Life of Coffee: The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse. Yale University Press, 2008

- used for social gatherings in the 17th century

Gwendolyn Collaco. “The Ottoman Coffeehouse: All the Charms and Dangers of Commonality in the 16th-17th Century,” 2011.

- uses of the coffeehouse: "Following its diversified consumer group, the coffeehouse expanded its functionality past religion, becoming a commercial home for literature, entertainment, vice andpolitical dissension."

- people from opposite ends of the spectrum; those interested in academic and those idlers and interested in leisure could come together; it brought together unlikely individuals

- has a contentious religious history, some wanted it banned and some supported it

- quotation about political backlash from the government: "The accusations of vice and religious negligence became the prevailing complaints of the Ottoman government, as well as the disorder in society, which they believed would follow.Since this edict identified coffee goers simply as “rakes, rogues, and vagabond boys,” it sought to counter the growing notion of the establishment of a non-hierarchical public sphere. By purposely narrowing its clientele to the basest individuals of society, the edict implied that the coffeehouse represented the opposite of the public sphere, and rather the public enemy, making the coffeehouse a threat to society as a whole. These tactics came as a protective measure to the government against the threat of the uncontrollable interaction and activities of the coffeehouse"

- coffeehouses were key locations used to stir up political discourse.

Karababa, Emİnegül, and Gülİz Ger. “Early Modern Ottoman Coffeehouse Culture and the Formation of the Consumer Subject.” Journal of Consumer Research 37, no. 5 (2011): 737–60. https://doi.org/10.1086/656422.

"The Ottoman coffeehouse was a place where people of diverse social positions met and engaged in debates. Men- of-letters, scholars or amateurs, gathered to discuss poetry (Baykal 1981), and many others viewed and discussed the- atrical performances, narrated stories, and shadow-puppet shows (Hattox 1996). Usually, tales and plays were satires of everyday life and the sociopolitical and economic con- ditions; if not, critical and reflexive accounts of current events were incorporated into the plots of often improvised performances (And 1975; O ̈ ztu ̈rk 2005). Hence, coffeehouse discussions played a not-so-trivial role in forming critical public opinion. "

Sajdi, Dana. Ottoman Tulips, Ottoman Coffee: Leisure and Lifestyle in the Eighteenth Century. I.B.Tauris, 2014.

- in the 18th century janissaries themselves would have coffeeshops. jannissaries were the armed forces of the ottoman empire. They became a social force that checked government and they even had some of their own rebellions

- "state talk" occurred in coffeehouses which made them prime targets for authorities. Especially because literacy was low, rumors were important. (pg. 122 has good information on these locations as sites of discord" [possibly jannissary coffehouses should be their own mini paragraph].

Tarbuck, Derya, and Ozlem Caykent. “Coffeehouse Sociability: Themes, Problems and Directions.” Accessed November 19, 2018. http://www.academia.edu/31939603/Coffeehouse_Sociability_Themes_Problems_and_Directions.

- a location where social barriers broke down and all types of information was shared; it was largely an adult male forum.

-mobilized public opinion and, in turn, political action

- Also brings up Jannissary coffehouses, these shops were destroyed after one Jannissary invoked riot

- government officials would stop by and business would be conducted there

- provided informal education outside of universities and churches

Yılmaz, Birsen, Nilüfer Acar-Tek, and Saniye Sözlü. “Turkish Cultural Heritage: A Cup of Coffee.” Journal of Ethnic Foods 4, no. 4 (December 1, 2017): 213–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2017.11.003.

- " The first coffeehouse in the Ottoman Empire was opened in 1555 during the era of Suleiman the Magnificent, as stated in the history of Pecevi. Two Syrians brought the coffee, which is well known and used at that time in the Arab world, to Istanbul. In 1555, they opened the first coffeehouse in Tahtakale, Istanbul. Because of the coffeehouse, social activities have increased in daily life [21]."

- "Ottoman Empire introduced coffee to the Western countries in the 16th century. "

Tokman, Aslı. “Negotiating Tradition, Modernity and Identity in Consumer Space : A Study of a Shopping Mall and Revived Coffeehouse.” Thesis, Bilkent University, 2001. http://repository.bilkent.edu.tr/handle/11693/14808.

- How the coffeehouses started: "The history of the Turkish coffeehouse in the Ottoman capital is said to have started when two merchants called Hakem from Alleppo and Sems from Damascus introduced the first of these establishments in Tahtakale, a business district of Istanbul in 1554-1555 (Isin, 2001; Evren, 1996)."

- before the coffeeshop the primary social spheres were the house, the mosque, and the shop

- the coffeehouse is a location for male socialization

-not just coffee was served in these houses, also sweet beverages and candies

Salvatore, Armando, and Dale F. Eickelman. Public Islam and the Common Good. BRILL, 2004. [about the spies]

- Statistic on shops: 1 coffeehouse for every 6 or seven commercial stops, and almost 2,500 Istanbul coffeehouses in the first half of the nineteenth century

- coffeehouses were HQ for janissaries, "the elite soldiers of the sultan that significantly shaped Otto-man politics from the seventeenth century until the corps was abolishedin 1826."

- coffeehouses substituted newspapers and mass communication forms

- We don't know the specifics of the system, but they went up as high as the Sultan and were collected by police chiefs every week

- informers operated in other settings including including "barber shops, mosques, streets, public baths,lighter-boats, cemeteries, and even private homes and hotel rooms"

- not sure about the background on the infrormants, but they were likely locals and coffeehouse owners

- main purpose of the spies was to capture public opinion, as indicated by the fact that they didn't try to persecute anyone based on the information they collected. (and they're also different from conventional police reports)

Lead section and opening information
The Ottoman coffeehouse, or Ottoman Café was a distinctive part of the culture of the Ottoman Empire. These coffeehouses, started in the mid-sixteenth century, brought together citizens across society for educational, social, and political activity as well as general information exchange. The popularity of these coffeehouses attracted government interest and were attended by government spies to gather public opinion. Ottoman coffeehouses also had religious and musical ties. And Europeans adopted coffeehouses and other Ottoman leisure customs during the early modern period.

The activity of coffee-drinking and coffeehouses originated in Arabia, and it moved to Egypt then to Persia then to the Ottoman empire during the sixteenth century. In the Ottoman empire, the first coffeehouse was opened in Istanbul in 1555 during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. It was founded by two merchants from Damascus and established in Tahtakale, Istanbul. Eventually, coffeehouses offered more than coffee, providing sweet beverages and candies too. Coffeehouses also became more numerous and functioned as community hubs. Before their introduction, the home, the mosque, and the shop were the primary sites of interpersonal interaction. Eventually, though, there existed one coffeehouse for every six or seven commercial shops. And by the end of the nineteenth century, there were nearly 2,500 coffeehouses in Istanbul alone.

Coffeehouse attendees and activities
Coffeehouses brought together men from all levels of society. Coffeehouses drew together distinct groups, including academics, idlers, business men, and government officials. Despite this variety, not all citizens attended the same coffeehouses. Coffeehouses differed in scale, with some serving as neighborhood establishments and others as large community centers. As a result, sometimes different people would visit different shops. But coffeehouses shared some commonalities in their attendees. For one, coffeehouses were restricted to the male populations; women and children were not allowed in these spaces. Coffeehouses were also principally Muslim gathering spots, though followers of other religions like Christianity were known to attend occasionally. These establishments broke down social barriers and allowed for socialization and information exchange.

Educational activity
Ottoman era coffeehouses democratized education across all stratums of society. Because individuals from a variety of backgrounds gathered in these coffeehouses, illiterate or low literacy people could sit alongside educated individuals. This diverse attendance enabled what scholar John Houghton called a "penny university," a statement conveying the virtually free nature of the education men could attend by visiting the coffeehouses. For instance, the bourgeoisie that attended coffeehouses desired to prove their enlightenment to elites through academic discourse. By being proximate to these academic discussions, less educated visitors could listen and learn from these conversations. Second, the more literate society members would hold public readings of the news, allowing the illiterate to stay informed. Even professional readers would sometimes visit coffeehouses to read the main news of the day. These readings were especially helpful for those who could not afford newspaper subscriptions. Ottoman coffeehouses allowed the members of lower society to receive informal education, instruction that was traditionally provided by universities and churches.

Social and entertainment activity
Coffeehouses provided a new venue for socialization to occur. Before them, hospitality events were reserved for the home. Coffeehouses, however, offered a new venue for leisure. Gossip was now exchanged with coffee cups and around coffee tables. This gossip often included discussions of women. Men would debate or question the chastity of known women by the community. In other cases, men would simply converse about daily ongoings or scandals. Sometimes, they would engage in entertainment activities like producing plays on everyday life satires. They would also host improvisational performances. Other times, shadow puppet shows would be produced or narrated stories would be told. The emergence of coffeehouses expanded the private sphere to allow many social conversations and experiences in public settings.

Political activity
News updates were circulated and acts of government resistance were planned in coffeehouses. Without modern forms of communication and the limited accessibility of print news, coffeehouses enabled citizens to verbally update one another on news. News was often broken in these shops and political rumors started. Speculative conversations discussed cabinet changes, corruption scandals, and possibly initiations of war. In addition to information exchange, mutinies, coups, and other acts of political resistance were planned in coffeehouses. In particular, impassioned janissaries made coffeehouses their headquarters for meetings and discussions about political acts. Some janissaries even had their own coffeehouses which they marked with their insignia, the orta. Non-janissaries and janissaries would come together in these coffeehouses to plan rebellions to check the power of the Sultan and prevent absolutism. As hubs of discussion on the state, coffeehouses were opposed by the Ottoman government. They believed coffeehouses were locations of vice and disorder. Despite their efforts to burn or ban coffeehouses, these establishments persisted in popularity.

Surveillance in coffeehouses
The Ottoman government was interested in coffeehouses, and they employed spies to visit them and collect public sentiment. These spies were often locals or recruited coffeehouse owners that answered to the police. While much is unknown about the spies, documents from the mid 19th century (1840-1845) show that the spies made weekly reports for the local police. These reports were shared with individuals as powerful as the Sultan. Spies were also assigned to surveil barber shops, mosques, private baths, and hotel rooms. But because coffeehouses were key locations for discourse and information exchange, the majority of spy reports included these types of conversations. The main objective of the spies was to collect public opinion, including everything from neighborhood gossip to planned political riots. These reports were not used to persecute individuals or accuse them of crimes. Instead, the reports constituted a form of micro surveillance where the government could quickly gather a range of public opinion on an different topics.