Reading Clocks, Alla Turca: Time and Society in the Late Ottoman Empire

286 Pages·2015·3.09 MB·English

by  Avner Wishnitzer

Reading Clocks, Alla Turca

Reading CloCks, Alla Turca
Time and Society
in the Late Ottoman
Empire
Avner Wishnitzer
The University
of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
Avner Wishnitzer is senior lecturer in the Department
of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv
University. He resides with his family in Jerusalem.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2015 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2015.
Printed in the United States of America
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5
isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 25772- 3 (cloth)
isBn- 13: 978- 0- 226- 25786- 0 (e- book)
doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226257860.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication- Data
Wishnitzer, Avner, 1976– author.
Reading clocks, alla Turca : time and society in the late
Ottoman Empire / Avner Wishnitzer.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978- 0- 226- 25772- 3 (cloth : alkaline paper) —
isBn 0- 226- 25772- X (cloth : alkaline paper) —
isBn 978- 0- 226- 25786- 0 (e- book) —
isBn 0- 226- 25786- X (e- book)
1. Time— Systems and standards— Turkey— History. 
2. Time— Social aspects— Turkey. I. Title.
gn476.3.W57 2015
304.2′3709561— dc 3
2014039802
♾ This paper meets the requirements of
ansi/niso Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
To Yael Kimron,
who taught me history,
wide and deep

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Terms, Names, and Transliteration xi
Introduction 1
ChapteR 1
Reading Clocks, Alaturka 17
ChapteR 2
Clerk Work 45
ChapteR 3
Military Time 68
ChapteR 4
On Time for School 93
ChapteR 5
Ferry Tales 124
ChapteR 6
No Time to Lose 151
ConClusion
Reading Clocks, Alafranga 183
Notes 193
Bibliography 241
Index 267

Acknowledgments
Over the last ten years, I often found myself thinking about Tony and Doug,
the young physicists who journeyed into the past through The Time Tunnel, that
television show from the sixties. As I embarked on my own little project of time
travel, it often seemed as though I was going to end up like those two scientists
in turtlenecks, who challenged time and got lost in it. The moment has come
now to thank all the people who helped me to find the way back home.
This book began its life at Tel Aviv University. I would like to begin by ex-
pressing my deep gratitude to my Hoca, Ehud Toledano, who watched over and
directed me as I slowly made my way between the many pitfalls of the trade.
Attentive to detail and sharp in his critique, yet always supportive, Ehud en-
couraged me to think harder.
The backing of the Colton Foundation allowed me to focus on my research
and for that I am grateful. I would also like to thank the Süleyman Demirel
Program for funding my efforts to improve my language skills in Turkey. I owe
a debt of gratitude to the Fulbright program, whose grant made possible my
postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington in Seattle, and to Reşat
Kasba, who served as my host, and not merely in the academic sense. It was
very much owing to him that I felt at home so far away from home. I thank the
Lady Davis Fellowship Trust for funding my postdoctoral research at the He-
brew University of Jerusalem and Yaron Ben- Naeh for his mentorship. I am also
thankful to the Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies at Ben- Gurion
University of the Negev for its generous backing over the last two years, and to
my host there, Iris Agmon, for her continuous academic guidance and moral
support.
While working on this book I discussed some of my ideas with many col-
leagues and friends at Tel- Aviv University, and they all contributed to this work
significantly. I thank Gadi Algazi for helping me sharpen my analytic tools. I
am also indebted to Amy Singer, Mira Tzoreff, Miri Shefer- Mossensohn, Ami
Ayalon, and Israel Gershoni. Special thanks to my friends in Tel Aviv, Omri Paz,
Tzameret Levi- Dafni, and Idan Barir, who together formed my immediate dis-
cussion group, or better yet, my support group. It is pretty much thanks to them
that I managed to complete this project and maintain relative sanity.
During my postdoc fellowship at the University of Washington I had the
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