Urban Tanzîmât and Corrupting Property: Women as Petitioners of Honor in Nineteenth-Century Istanbul

Abstract

This article examines the relations between tanzîmât and corruption within the context of urban renewal projects in nineteenth-century Istanbul. It takes corruption as a critical locus of analysis in order to understand notions of justice and morality that historical actors fashioned in the social production of urban tanzîmât and property relations. It reveals that a theme of honor was central to both state institutions and real estate owners with regard to the positions that they took in property conflicts that emerged as a result of planning activities in the city. This study argues that honor was not only a moral but also an economic theme that revolved around the question of locational values in this intense period of spatial restructuring.