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Abstract
Women's quarters in the historical hammam have had an ongoing impact on women's public lives in the Mediterranean in general and in Turkey in particular. Although the hammam is usually considered a Muslim space, its Roman roots connect its customers to other histories. In this respect, a comparative social and historical analysis of women's quarters of the hammam queries the so-called Islamic city as a standard and unchanging space distinct from its European counterparts. In this article, a hammam in Ankara, Şengül Hamamı, is presented as a changing space where women negotiate their status, social positions and safety in an urban environment. Women's usage of this space as such is achieved after they meet several challenges on their way to the hammam. These challenges involve discourses of safety and danger, purity and filth, as well as dress and undress, which all seem dichotomous but at the same time converge on different levels. As a result, these challenges contribute to the daily usage of the city by women as well as to how they negotiate the historical hammam.
Las secciones para las mujeres en los históricos hammam han tenido un impacto permanente sobre las vidas de éstas en el Mediterráneo en general y en particular en Turquía. Aunque el hammam es usualmente considerado un espacio musulmán, sus raíces romanas conectan a sus clientes con otras historias. En este sentido, un análisis social e histórico comparativo de la sección de las mujeres indaga a la llamada ciudad islámica como un espacio estándar y estático distinto de sus contrapartes europeas. En este artículo, un hammam en Ankara, Şengül Hamamı, es presentado como un espacio cambiante donde las mujeres negocian su estatus, sus posiciones sociales y su seguridad en un ambiente urbano. El uso de este espacio como tal por parte de las mujeres se logra luego de que ellas encuentren varios desafios en el camino al hammam. Estos incluyen los discursos de seguridad y peligro, de pureza y suciedad, así como también del estar vestida y desnuda, los que parecen todos dicotómicos pero que al mismo tiempo convergen a diferentes niveles. Como resultado, estos desafíos contribuyen al uso diario de la ciudad por parte de las mujeres y a cómo ellas negocian al histórico hammam.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Sevin Osmay, Pınar Tankut, Deborah Dixon and the anonymous reviewers of Gender, Place and Culture for reading and commenting on different versions of this article.
Notes
1. For a discussion of Istanbul hammams in terms of tourism, see Cichocki (Citation2005, 106–9).
2. Such as when Judith Butler (Citation1990, 139) raises the issue of ‘what performances where’.
3. Some of this research was conducted for: HAMMAM – Hammam, Aspects and Multidisciplinary Methods of Analysis for the Mediterranean Region, EU FP6-2003-INCO-MPC-2, Contract Number: 517704.
4. This era is named in reference to Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk). Although he died in 1938, the period until 1945–50, known as the one-party era, is named after him, as the party he founded was in power until 1950.
5. Yet it is known that Hürrem had commissioned foundations in Ankara as well as in Istanbul (Peirce Citation2000; Thys-Senocak Citation2000).
6. In fact, one of the largest Roman hammams is located in Ankara, in a proximate distance to many of the other hammams.
7. Among the six basic hadith books (al-Kutub al-Sittah) in Islam the hadith related to the issues of hammam are Book 1, lines (4009–4010); 1 (3818); 4 (3821).
8. In Fez, too, Muslim women bathing with non-Muslim women does not seem to be an issue, but only because it very rarely happens (Focus Group Meeting with Women who attend Hammam Seffarine 2006). A newer and well justified concern for women was photographs taken of women bathing in the hammams and being published on the internet. Similar problems are experienced in other parts of the world in different contexts as well. For example, how toplessness became a part of the shores of France is the subject of a similar development of negotiations on space and bodies (Löw Citation2006).
9. Namely Mehmet Nuri Yılmaz, Zekeriya Beyaz, and Hasan Elik (Kınalı Citation2004).
10. In Turkey, the hammam has not become an institution to keep these underclasses orderly, such as in Iran (Schayegh Citation2002, Citation2004).
11. These discourses, while taking away from the public character of these spaces, also obscure the fact that most dangerous things happen to women in the confinement of their homes (Pain Citation1997; Marne Citation2001).
12. The names are changed for anonymity, and the phrases Hanım and Bey, a certain usage of Ms. and Mr. in Turkish, are used to reflect how the men and women interviewees are referred to in daily life.
13. In Egypt, another factor that prevents hammam usage is its association with disorderly behavior. As a matter of fact, the identification of lower classes with disorderly behavior go hand in hand. This identification pushes the historical hammam into a downward spiral.
14. Women did transform the passivity of the visitation in this context and, as an example of how gender creates multiple spaces (Mills Citation2007), they have turned the türbe into an inclusive religious space for women (Akşit Citation1998).
15. The religion of these nameless saints should also be the subject of further study as they mostly exist in previously Armenian or Jewish districts.
16. Other Mediterranean contexts reveal different characteristics: Hammam Tanbali from Cairo, for example, shows how a hammam can crash all of a sudden. The hammams in Fez enjoy an ongoing popularity due to the fact that prices can still be kept low. In fact the ideal type hammam for Moroccan women is valid for women around the Mediterranean: a place where well-behaved people enter for a low cost, even if they are poor, and even on religious holidays (Focus Group Meeting with Women who attend Hammam Seffarine 2006). Another pattern that is emerging in Turkey is conversion into restaurants. This is already prevalent in historical hammams in Iran, especially in Wakil.