Circassian nationalism in the writings of Hayriye Melek Hunç

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2351397 _ (Table of contents)

This thesis aims at exploring the elements of Circassian nationalism in the works of an important yet an under-researched woman activist of Circassian descent, Hayriye Melek Hunç. The study explores the notions of “homeland”, the importance of history-memory of Russo-Circassian Wars and the protection of a distinct Circassian identity in her writings. Doing that, it does not ignore the place of “women’s issue” in her works. Her approach towards the women’s issue and her opinions about Islamic women, in general, and Ottoman women in particular, will be conveyed. In these aspects, the study aims to contribute to a growing literature which emphasized women’s activism of the late Ottoman era, challenging the nationalist historiography which shows Ottoman women as passive and ignorant subjects of a static political entity. Regarding the socio-political changes which took place in the late Ottoman Empire, the study also aims at exploring the impacts of modernization by concentrating on the rise of nationalism and activism of one of the ethnic groups of the empire, the Circassian community. Increasing activism and agency, surely, were the consequences of this process