communication resists: telegraph as a tool of resistance in the modern world h. esma çelebi̇oğlu ...

113 Pages·2014·1.07 MB·Turkish

COMMUNICATION RESISTS:
TELEGRAPH AS A TOOL OF RESISTANCE
IN THE MODERN WORLD

H. ESMA ÇELEBİOĞLU

İSTANBUL ŞEHİR UNIVERSITY

AUGUST 2014
COMMUNICATION RESISTS:
TELEGRAPH AS A TOOL OF RESISTANCE
IN THE MODERN WORLD

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
OF
İSTANBUL ŞEHİR UNIVERSITY

BY

H.ESMA ÇELEBİOĞLU

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
IN
CULTURAL STUDIES

AUGUST 2014

ABSTRACT

COMMUNICATION RESISTS: TELEGRAPH AS A TOOL OF RESISTANCE
IN THE MODERN WORLD
Çelebioğlu, H.Esma
MA, Department of Cultural Studies
Thesis Advisor: Prof. Mahmut Mutman
August 2014, 103 pages

The invention of telegraph in 18th Century separating communication from
transportation provides a high speed of communication and rapid transmission of
information. With the connection of the whole world through wires in 19th Century,
it was celebrated as a revolutionary step of humankind, setting the world unrestrained
and bringing peace and freedom to humanity. The objective of this study is to
analyze the significance of telegraph as a communication mechanism and its impact
on sociopolitical environment.
Telegraph with its capacity breaking the spatiotemporal boundaries shapes
social structures and changes the practices of governmental power, as it was
efficiently used by governments as a control mechanism. This study aims to provide
a brief analysis o telegraphic communication as an element of modernization and
how it was used for control and domination in modern state formation.
Although clearly being a modernizing technology used for creating a modern
system of government and control, it was also used by resistance movements in
various historical contexts from the late Ottoman Empire to India. The study also
examines how these mechanisms can be turned into elements of resistance against
the hegemonic powers. 1857 Indian Rebellion, The General Telegraph Strike at 1908
in India and 1906-1907 Tax Revolts in Ottoman Empire are discussed in detail.
While presenting these cases, the active agency of common people in shaping socio-
political structures is questioned.

Key Words: Telegraphic Communication, Instant flow of Information,
Monopolization of Power, Tax Revolts, Resistance Mechanisms.
v
ÖZ
DİRENEN İLETİŞİM: MODERN DÜNYADA
BİR DİRENİŞ ARACI OLARAK TELGRAF
Çelebioğlu, H.Esma
MA, Kültürel Çalışmalar Bölümü
Tez Danışmanı: Prof. Mahmut Mutman
Ağustos 2014, 103 sayfa

18. Yüzyılda gerçekleşen telgrafın icadı, iletişimi ulaşımdan ayırarak, yüksek
hızda bir iletişim ve hızlı bir bilgi iletimi sağlamıştır. 19. Yüzyılda tüm dünyanın
telgraf ağları ile birbirine bağlanması ile birlikte, telgraf dünyayı özgür kılacak,
insanoğluna barış ve özgürlük getirecek devrimsel bir adım olarak kutlanmıştı. Bu
çalışmanın amacı, telgrafın bir iletişim mekanizması olarak öneminin ve sosyopolitik
yapılardaki etkilerinin araştırılmasıdır.
Telgraf, zamansal ve mekansal sınırları ortadan kaldırabilme kapasiteyle,
sosyal yapıları ve bireylerin algılarını şekillendirmekle birlikte, bir kontrol
mekanizması olarak etkin bir biçimde devletler tarafından kullanılmıştır. Bu çalışma,
iletişim araçlarının modernleşme sürecinin bir parçası olarak kısa bir analizini
yapmayı hedeflemekte ve Batı’nın “modernizasyon” süreci adı altında bu araçları
Batılı olmayan diğer toplumlarda nasıl bir baskı ve sömürgeleştirme mekanizması
olarak kullanıldığını tartışmayı amaçlamaktadır.
Modern bir devlet ve kontrol sistemi oluşturmayı amaçlayan açık bir
modernleşme teknolojisi olmanın yanı sıra, telgraf tarihsel süreçte son dönem
Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’ndan Hindistan’a kadar değişen bir düzlemde direniş
hareketlerinde de kullanılmıştır. Bu çalışma, aynı zamanda iletişim
mekanizmalarının yöneten güçlere karşı bir direniş mekanizmasına dönüşümünü
incelemektedir.

Anahtar Sözcükler: Telgraf iletişimi, Bilginin hızlı akışı, Gücün tekelleşmesi, Vergi
İsyanları, Direniş mekanizmaları.

vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First I want to thank to my advisor Prof. Mahmut Mutman for his invaluable
support and his warm friendship. I’m indebted to him for his encouragement,
understanding and patience during this thesis process. He perfectly motivates and
assists me throughout this study. I would also like to express my gratitude to Assist.
Prof. Aslı Telli Aydemir. I am glad to have the chance to work with her. From the
very beginning of my graduate life, she always encourages me, supports me and
assists me in all my academic works.

I’m grateful to Assist. Prof. Irvin Cemil Schick. He is always very kind and friendly.
I’m glad to being his teaching assistant for more than a year. I want to thank to Prof.
Ferhat Kentel and Assist. Prof. Ebru Kayaalp for their lectures, their suggestions and
their support during my MA education. Assist. Prof. Abdülhamit Kırmızı very kindly
assisted and supported me to choose and study this topic. Thank you very much. I
want to thank to David Reed Albachten for his valuable efforts in the editing process
of this study. He was always very helpful; he kindly and patiently edited my works.

Special thanks to my family. My parents Sabriye & Ali Saip Çelebioğlu do their best
for me all the time and I feel their full support in all my life. Their encouragement,
moral support is priceless. My sisters Esra and Sırma are always with me as my
sisters and as my friends. I’m glad to feel their presence always behind me. I’m
grateful to my wonderful friend Yasemen Birhekimoğlu for her encouragement and
her valuable advises. She is my confidant, my mentor and a best friend. My lovely
friend Elif warmheartedly keeps me calm in my crisis times. I am thankful to her for
her friendship. I also want to thank to all my friends, specifically, Şirin, Simge and
Saniye. They provide full support from the earliest stages of this study and they are
always on my side in my most difficult times.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ........................................................................................................................ v
Öz.................................................................................................................................vi

Acknowledgments.....................................................................................................vii

Table of Contents.......................................................................................................viii

CHAPTER

1. The Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution and the Formation of Modern
States

1.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………...1

1.1.1 Methods and sources………..……….………………...……………...3

1.2 The Modernizing World: The Enlightenment, Technological Progress and
Modern States………………………………………………………………...6

1.3 Modern Times: “The World as a Picture”……..……………………………11

1.4 The Power Mechanisms/ Modern State Formation........................................15

2. Communication in Modern World: The Invention of the Telegraph

2.1 The Invention and Development of the Telegraph……………………….....22

2.2 The Cultural and Social Transformation Through Telegraphic
Communication……………………………………………………………...27

3. Telegraphic Construction in India & in the Ottoman Empire and the Role of
the Telegraph in Social Movements

3.1 The Construction of Telegraph in India and its Role in Social Movements...35

3.1.1 The 1857 Indian Rebellion…………….…………………………… 37

3.1.2 The 1908 General Telegraph Strike………….……………………...40
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3.2 The Ottoman Empire and the Construction of the Telegraph………..……...44

3.2.1 Telegraphic construction in Ottoman Empire……….………………44

3.2.2 Before the 1906-1907 Tax Revolts…………………………..……...50

3.3 Tax Revolts 1906-1907……………………………………………………...55

3.3.1 The tax revolt in Kastamonu- 1906………………………………...56

3.3.2 The uprising in Sinop-1906..………………..……………….…...…58

3.3.3 The tax revolts in Erzurum……...……………………………..…....59

3.3.4 Other tax rebellions in Anatolia, the uprising in Bitlis……….…..…63

3.3.5 The second uprising in Erzurum……………..…..………………….64

3.4 The Conclusion………………………………………………….…………..68

4. Power, Technology and the Modern World

4.1 An Analysis of Modern State and the Use of Telegraph as a Governing
Technology in Modern World…....................................................................71

4.1.1 Mapping, the reorganization of space………………...……….…….72

4.1.2 The reorganization of time as a representation of reality…………...77

4.1.3 The telegraph as a representation of reality…………………..……..79

4.1.3.1 Dematerialization of the message/information……………….....80

4.1.3.2 Telegraph as a “Governing Technology” …………………..…..81

4.2 The telegraph as a Resistance Tool…………………………………...……..83

4.2.1 The use of telegraph as a tool of resistance in 1857 Indian
Rebellion……….……………………………………………………83

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4.2.2 The use of telegraph as a tool of resistance in 1908 General Telegraph
Strike ……………………………………………...………………...85

4.2.3 The use of the telegraph in 1906-1907 Tax Revolts…..……...……..88

4.3 The Conclusion……………………………………………………………...91

4.3.1 The use of the telegraph as a resistance mechanism……..………….94

References…………………………………………………………………………...99

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