Feature: How Did Orientalist Depictions Shape Western Perceptions of the Ottoman Hammam?

Library > Community Presentations

Presenter: Basma Alloush

Delivered: DC on November 4, 2018

The Ottoman hammam, particularly the women's section, captivated westerners with its exotic allure. Influenced by European travelers' accounts, artists depicted hammams in ways that reinforced stereotypes of Oriental women, often presenting them in scenes that did not reflect reality. This feature explores these orientalist depictions.

Sources & Future References

• A Critical Reading Of The Ottoman-Turkish Hammam As A Representational Space Of Sexuality

• Saudi Aramco World : Hammam

• Saudi Aramco World : The Joys of the Bath

• The Turkish Baths in Elbasan: Architecture, Geometry and Wellbeing

• Naked Anxiety: Bathhouses, Nudity, and the Dhimmī Woman in 18th-Century Aleppo | The International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies | Elyse Semerdjian

• Inside Out: Women Negotiating, Subverting, Appropriating Public and Private Space - Google Books

• Gender and Sexuality in Muslim Cultures - Google Books

• Anna Vanzan-Turkish Hammam and the West: Myth and Reality

• The origins of bathhouse culture around the world

• Baths and Bathing Culture in the Middle East: The Hammam | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• The architecture of Islamic public baths of North Africa and the Middle East: An analysis of their internal spatial configurations

• The ancient Baths of Southern Syria in their Near Eastern Context. Introduction to the Balnéorient project

• Colonialism and Gender in the East: Representations of the Harem in the Writings of Women Travellers | JSTOR

• Ritual, Strategy, or Convention: Social Meanings in the Traditional Women's Baths in Morocco | JSTOR

• Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in the Hammam: Masquerade, Womanliness, and Levantinization | JSTOR

Contact Info

• Email: basmaalloush@gmail.com

• Instagram: @basmaalloush

Note: All community presentations are prepared & presented by non-experts on the subject. They are sharing information in the hopes of spurring interest in that subject.

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Delivered and prepared by afikra Community members, the presentation’s goal is to showcase the presenter’s curiosity and research and share some knowledge on a ‎topic related to the Arab world’s histories and cultures. The presentation is the ‎culmination of the afikra coaching process to help identify a topic, find research, and develop the ‎presentation. afikra presentations come in two forms, a long question-driven afikra Feature, and a short afikra FWD with the purpose of sharing something interesting.