Miners And the State in the Ottoman Empire

by Quataert, Donald

• ISBN13: 9781845451332
• ISBN10: 1845451333
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-03-01
• Publisher: Berghahn Books

Summary

The story of the miners of Zonguldak presents a particularly graphic local lens through which to examine questions that have been of major concern to historians - most prominently, the development of the state, the emergence of capitalism and the role of the working classes in these large processes. This book examines such major issues through the actual experiences of coal miners in the Ottoman Empire. The encounters of mine workers with state mining officials and private mine operators do not follow the expected patterns of labor-state-capital relations as predicted by the major explanatory paradigms of modernization or dependency. Indeed, as the author clearly shows, few of the outcomes are as predicted. The fate of these miners has much to offer both Ottoman and Middle East specialists as well as scholars of the developing world and, more generally, those interested in the connections between economic development and social and political change.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	viii
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction and Historiographical Essay	1	(19)
The Ottoman Coal Coast	20	(32)
Coal Miners at Work: Jobs, Recruitment, and Wages	52	(28)
``Like Slaves in Colonial Countries'': Working Conditions in the Coalfield	80	(15)
Ties That Bind: Village-Mine Relations	95	(34)
Military Duty and Mine Work: The Blurred Vocations of Ottoman Soldier-Workers	129	(21)
Methane, Rockfalls, and Other Disasters: Accidents at the Mines	150	(34)
Victims and Agents: Confronting Death and Safety in the Mines	184	(22)
Wartime in the Coalfield	206	(21)
Conclusion	227	(8)
Appendix on the Reporting of Accidents	235	(7)
An Ottoman Miner's Glossary	242	(1)
List of Abbreviations	243	(1)
Notes on Calendar System	244	(1)
Bibliography	245	(5)
Index	250