Turkish Sephardic Women’s Social Life in Istanbul between the 1930s and 1980s Discovered through Interviews: Respecting Atatürk’s Reforms for Women
Turkish Sephardic Women’s Social Life in Istanbul between the 1930s and 1980s Discovered through Interviews: Respecting Atatürk’s Reforms for Women

Author(s): Fazıla Derya Agış
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Social history, Gender history, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Culture and social structure , Interwar Period (1920 - 1939), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989)
Published by: Özgür Yayın Dağıtım Ltd. Şti.
Keywords: Social Life; Istanbul; Sephardic Women; 1930s; 1980s; Reforms for Women;
Summary/Abstract: This study will analyze the lifestyles of Sephardic women in the Turkish city of Istanbul from the 1930s through the 1980s collected via oral history interviews from a Centropa project by Sephardim from Istanbul. The interviews with Turkish Sephardic women in the Centropa interview database will be supported by research conducted in the Şalom Newspaper archives in Istanbul, the Turkish Official Journal archival database research, as well as historical and anthropological material search at libraries. As Sephardic Jews speak Judeo-Spanish, this study aims to shed light on Judeo-Spanish words used by Sephardic women on social activities, emphasizing the importance of the Judeo-Spanish language. Besides, this study also aims to analyze the societal roles of Sephardic women as professionals, their pastime activities, their culinary traditions, the historical information about their quarters’ surroundings, and the occupations that disappeared, underlining the importance of the reforms Atatürk brought to all the women living in Turkey as a way of history and culture education.

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