オスマン朝社会経済史研究とファローキー : 『オスマン朝下アナトリアの都市と都市民』をめぐって
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概要
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Thanks to the vast number of the documents of the Ottoman Empire, there are many studies in the social and economic history of the Ottoman Empire. But at the same time, there are also some problems in the trends of studies. Suraiya Faroqhi is one of the first-rate scholars who try to make a new type of study to overcome some problematic aspects of existing studies in the field. Therefore, by examining her studies, we can understand the general trends of the field and its problems. In 1930's. studies in the social and economic history of the Ottoman Empire began at first on the subject of the timar system. Especially Omer Lutfi Barkan successfully showed the importance of this kind of study, and gave great influences to the scholars all around the world. Now individual researches go down even to the smallest detail. Local history is in full bloom and specialization of research subjects is speeding up. So there is a danger to lose a sense of balance, and be isolated from others. And what is worse, as for the total picture of the Ottoman Empire, many scholars blindly adopted the theory invented in the West. According to this theory, the Ottoman Empire enjoyed her golden age until the end of the 16th century and after this fell into a period of decline. But this is clearly a one-sided view of the history. It puts too strong an emphasis on the external factors like the change of the world trade system and the influx of Spanish silver to the Ottoman Empire. Criticizing this tendency, some scholars began to make a new type of study based on detailed researches of the internal factors, such as the domestic economic system and the social structure. Today two major theoretical frameworks in the world historical studies, i.e. Immanuel Wallerstein's "Modern World-System" theory and that of the Annales school, are giving great impacts on a new generation of historians who seek a new total picture of the Ottoman Empire. Faroqhi is considered to belong to the Annales school. She tries to apply Fernand Braudel's theory to her studies. And using many documents, she makes detailed researches on various subjects like socio-religious aspects of Islam and rural and urban societies. In this way she tries to draw a more realistic picture of the Ottoman Empire. The 16th and 17th centuries are her specialized period. She chose them because, according to the old Western view, the Ottoman social system underwent a period of stagnation after the end of the 16th century. She criticizes this view by showing evidences of internal developments in these centuries. Towns and Townsmen of Ottoman Anatolia is a book with this intention in mind. The book is divided into three parts as the subtitle shows. Part One dealing with the trade among towns consists of four chapters; commercial constructions, overland trade, maritime trade and port towns. In Part Two, three crafts are studied in three chapters; textile, leather and metal crafts. Part Three is concerned with food production in four chapters; relationships of towns with their agricultural hinterlands, meat supply, land problems of townsmen and internal migrations. Finally she concludes that towns were still developing even in these days in contrast to the Western view. Though stimulating, this book is not free from problems. As she herself says, she investigated only in the western and central Anatolia and dealt with only a few aspects of urban life. And it seems that she attempts to unite into one volume two themes rather independent to each other; a monographic study of towns on one hand and a theorization of historical urban development on the other. The reviewer doesn't think she is necessarily successful in this regard. This book is the first attempts to show a hypothesis of the activeness of the Ottoman society and economy in consideration of the internal factors in these centuries. In spite of her weakness, Faroqhi points out the right direction of studies. And when internal factors are sufficiently studied and compared properly with external ones, a better understanding of the whole Ottoman history will be attained. To those who are interested in the social and economic history of the Ottoman Empire, the reviewer recommends this book of Faroqhi's as one of the books to read first.
- 1988-03-31