Constructing Ottoman Beneficence: An Imperial Soup Kitchen in Jerusalem (Suny Series in Near Eastern Studies) - Softcover

Singer, Amy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0791453529 ISBN 13: 9780791453520

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2002

Synopsis

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.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

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, 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 of 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.

About the Author:

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0791453529
• ISBN 13: 9780791453520
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256