The Entertainment Life of Muslim Women at Direklerarası in Ottoman Istanbul (1860-1923)

Abstract

Built by Damad İbrahim Pasha on the historical Divanyolu between Vezneciler and the Şehzade Mehmed Complex in the 1720s, the arasta with colonnaded arcades in front of its shops came to be known as Direklerarası. By the 1860s, the district, encompassing the street and its surroundings, became part of an entertainment and social milieu centered around teahouses, literary cafés and coffeehouses in Beyazıt. By the 1880s, Direklerarası had transformed into the main hub of entertainment and spectacles in the historical peninsula with the rise of theatrical activities. Women, benefiting from the modernization and reform processes, participated in Direklerarası’s vibrant social and entertainment scene through activities like promenades and theater. Ottoman state archives and contemporary periodicals reveal that the discourse on its entertainment culture was predominantly centered on Muslim Ottoman women, whose increasing visibility in urban public spaces created tensions around morality, gender relations, clothing and spatial segregation. This article examines Muslim Ottoman women’s engagement with Direklerarası’s social and entertainment milieu, the restrictions and bans they faced, and their strategies to navigate prevailing gender norms. Drawing on official documents regulating women’s urban behavior, periodicals discussing Direklerarası’s entertainment culture and theater advertisements, it explores how authorities and social environments responded to women’s presence as strollers and theatergoers. These sources have the potential to reveal how the political authorities and various social circles responded to women’s promenades and their presence as theatergoers on Direklerarası Street and how the attitudes, expectations and initiatives of these groups shaped women’s urban experiences.