| Despite inspiring a rich and varied literature from historians of Europe and North America, topics related to everyday life have remained an obscure and neglected field of Middle Eastern social history. As part of the effort to recreate the long-forgotten habits, tastes, and perceptions of the past, this study explores the nature of consumption and material life in one premodern Arab town, namely eighteenth-century Damascus, one of the largest urban centers of the Ottoman Empire.;Much of the material for this project was culled from the records of the Islamic courts (al-mahkama al-shar`iyya), to which ordinary townspeople turned for all kinds of transactions and disputes. Especially valuable were the files of probate inventories (pl. tarikat or mukhallafat), which preserved the estates and financial dealings of a large number of Damascenes from all ranks of society. Supplementing this evidence was a wide range of legal and literary sources: treatises on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), collections of legal opinions (sing. fatwa), travel accounts, urban topographies, biographical dictionaries, poetry, medical and agricultural manuals, and local chronicles.;The study begins by establishing the material framework of eighteenth-century economic life, including the physical layout of Damascus, the effect of climate and geography on urban life, the many difficulties involved in premodern communications and transportation, and the city's wider role within the Ottoman Empire. The remainder of the dissertation then examines the core components of everyday consumption, specifically food, shelter, and clothing. It not only discusses their economic significance, but also explains how they influenced social behavior and inspired various popular beliefs and practices.;One of the recurring themes is the need to integrate culture into our understanding of consumption. According to "mainstream" theory, which derives mostly from neo-classical economics, the central factors in determining economic behavior are the capabilities of the market combined with the rational self-interest of the individual. While recognizing the importance of economic forces, as well as the basic requisites of survival, this study regards cultural norms and expectations as equally decisive in shaping and stimulating material life. |
