This study explores the place of the Gypsies (kιpti) in Ottoman society as depicted in the sicil, the records of the seriat court, of eighteenth-century Salonica. I argue that the Gypsies are the salient example of a Salonican group that was fully segregated from the other segments of local population, at least for administrative purposes. The Ottoman administration’s suspicious attitude toward the Gypsies was expressed in the general disapproval of the nomadic way of life. Drawing on the Balkan Gypsies as an example of a group that was pushed to the margins of Ottoman society, I demonstrate what it meant to be part of such a group and describe the various features and techniques by which the marginal people were relegated to the fringes: stigmatization, segregation, exclusion and punishment. The various strategies and techniques that were adopted by the Gypsies in order to alleviate their position are also examined.

/pdf/neither-muslims-nor-zimmis-the-gypsies-roma-in-the-ottoman-33hghllpog.pdf

Karagöz: Turkish Shadow Theatre. By Metin And. Ankara, Dost Yalinlari, 1975.

Neither Muslims nor Zimmis: The Gypsies (Roma) in the Ottoman State

The first performances of Karagoz (Karagheus), the traditional Turkish Shadow Theatre, date back to the 16th century [1, 3]. It was one of the most popular forms of entertainment until the late 1950s. Legend has it that Karagoz and Hacivat were two masons whose unending conversations were so entertaining that they slowed down the construction of a mosque and eventually the couple got killed by the decree of the Sultan. It was a Sufi leader who invented the shadowplay, Karagoz, to console the Sultan who deeply regretted what he had done. The story reveals another example of how art functions as a substitute for loss.

background

/pdf/beyond-tradition-and-modernity-digital-shadow-theater-1f915d53ys.pdf

Beyond Tradition and Modernity: Digital Shadow Theater

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0307883300001711

Karagöz: Turkish Shadow Theatre. By Metin And. Ankara, Dost Yalinlari, 1975.

Citations

Neither Muslims nor Zimmis: The Gypsies (Roma) in the Ottoman State

Beyond Tradition and Modernity: Digital Shadow Theater