Networks of Contention: Villages and Regional Structure in the Seventeenth‐Century Ottoman Empire

This article analyzes peasant contention in 17th‐century Ottoman villages. The authors argue that peasant contention results from the position of the village in the regional structure, with village‐level organization providing the means for contention. The article uses court records to reconstruct the formal and informal networks within and across villages in western Anatolia. Under conditions of state and market expansion, those villages in intermediate positions in the regional structure tend to experience the vagaries of these changes more than central or isolated villages. Those intermediate villages are also most prone to contention. Cooperative village organization is also found to promote contention.