„Not a servant, but not a parent either" – European governesses in the cities of the late Ottoman Empire
Supervisor: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Barbara Henning
The project focuses on governesses, educators, and tutors who, in the late 19th century, came to Istanbul and other Ottoman provincial centers such as Cairo, Damascus, or Beirut from various European contexts. Their purpose was to educate the children of Ottoman elites, providing language and music instruction in particular. Some of these individuals lived for extended periods in the households of Ottoman notables, state officials, or military men, gaining deeper insights into the daily routines and family lives of their employers. They held a special social status due to being Europeans, possessing knowledge and cultural capital highly desirable to their employers, which they were explicitly expected to pass on to the younger generation of their host families.
They often formed close bonds with the children in their care. However, in the social hierarchy of the Ottoman Empire, governesses were by no means equal to their employers but lived as socially inferior dependents in the respective households. During their stay in the Ottoman Empire, governesses from various European contexts were categorized by the state authorities under a shared overarching label and perceived as a collective within Ottoman society. These commonalities led to the networking of actors from very different origin contexts and the adoption, negotiation, and active shaping of a new, overarching group identity. Recruitment, daily life, and networks of this group of actors have so far not been systematically examined in the Ottoman context. The proposed project addresses governesses as foreigners in two respects: firstly, as foreigners in an urban context shaped by state regulations, and secondly, as outsiders in the families of their Ottoman employers. Moreover, the study focuses on the interplay between self-perceptions and external images of the governesses.
Potential sources for this outlined doctoral project include memoirs, ego-documents and other personal testimonies of governesses and Ottoman actors who recall encounters with them, with a particular emphasis on childhood memories. Additionally, Ottoman archival materials can provide starting points for identifying situations in which governesses became visible to state institutions. Some of these cases can be further traced in the diplomatic archives of their respective origin contexts.