파트마 알리예: 전통과 근대 사이에서 ‘이슬람적’ 여성 해방을 외치다

Abstract

This paper aims to understand Fatma Aliye Hanim(1864-1931)'s view of the Ottoman woman problem and to reconsider her feminist role in promoting the social status of woman. The liberation of women was considered a very important step in modernizing the state at the end of the 19th century and the early twentieth century. So many bureaucrats and intellectuals voiced concern about the position of women in Ottoman society. Especially Fatma Aliye made noticeable contributions to the discussions of the women's movement. Being the first Muslim Turkish woman novelist discussing the "woman question", she is a prominent literary figure in Turkish history. For the first time, she portrayed an alternative and real Turkish woman to the woman prototype that had been displayed by her male contemporaries for their novels. Beside her literary works, she wrote for thirteen years between 1895 and 1908 columns in the magazine about women's rights without giving up her islamic views. The century in which Fatma Aliye lived was a turbulent one, and as a writer, she worked hard to show support for other female writers. Fatma Aliye not only wrote novels which carried the message of Turkish identity, she also helped organize campaigns to help wounded war heroes and their families. Fatma Aliye developed her ideas of women's rights in the context of sharia(Islamic law) and opposed Ataturk‘s reforms. So the Turkish Central Bank's decision to choose Fatma Aliye's portrait which is depicted on the reverse of the 50 Turkish lira banknote, created controversy among Turkish people of letters and historians. It has been proved that Fatma Aliye's novels and newspaper articles, however they may seem likely to be read as feminist reading at the surface level, when thoroughly examined, are unlikely to be labeled as works of feminist literature and the writer is unlikely to be categorized as a feminist writer, accordingly. It has been stated that, although she deals with the problems of women in her works, as a result of her social, cultural and religious situation, the way she asseses these problems is different. In conclusion, Fatma Aliye has to be defined as a Islamic feminist since her proposed solutions to the problems depicted in her works are based on Islam.