Abstract

In nineteenth-century Ottoman society, widows occupied a contradictory position, perceived simultaneously as vulnerable dependents and potential disruptors of social order. This talk explores widowhood as a social, legal, and gendered category during the transformative period between 1839 and 1914, a time marked by the sweeping legal reforms of Ottoman modernization. Drawing on archival research from the Ottoman court records it analyzes how the status of widowed women was defined and regulated by the court orders and the ways they attempted to negotiate these orders across different legal and social settings. By positioning widowhood at the center of historical inquiry rather than as a marginal subcategory, the talk also highlights the complexities of female agency and social control in a shifting legal landscape.