Negotiating boundaries: Gender and social identities in the Ottoman Christian communities; the case of divorces (1647-1923)

The aim of this study is to identify the negotiation of boundaries between the social identities of gender. This process focuses on the prevailing perceptions of the social role of the man and the woman. It attempts to identify the different reasons for seeking divorce between men and women and the integration of these differences in a social context and determine the qualitative characteristics of the gender ratio of women and men that is articulated by the invocation of divorce. This research has a historical character and focuses on the period from 1647 to 1923 and is realized within the Ottoman Orthodox Christian communities and the divorces issued by these. This study uses content analysis to examine divorces. The most significant source of data collection, for the content analysis, constituted published and unpublished Codes of Metropolises from the Ottoman Christian communities, such as the Metropolitan Codes of: Larissa:1647-1868, Mytilini:1705-1773, Veria:1825-1862, Triikalon:1828-1865, Moglenon & Florinas:1901-1909. The process of divorce was a different function of the Spiritual Courts within a predetermined law. Issues, like alimony after the dissolution of marriage, dowry cases, disputes arising as a consequence of dissolution of marriage or betrothal, are listed in the Codes of the Spiritual Courts. In this study, the gender is used as a social and cultural construction. Also, it is argued that the social gender identity is formed through a process of ‘performativity’, namely, through adaptation on the dominant social ideals. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n22p51