Excavating the English-Language Press in the Ottoman Empire (1841–1923) Editors, State Actors, Readers

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The English-language press in the Ottoman Empire was long thought near inexistent. While this article acknowledges that most English-language press titles in that country were few compared to the French-Ottoman press and resorted to French at one moment or another in their history, it investigates a body of English-Ottoman serials that proclaimed some connection to Britain or the US over the period 1841–1923 in order to expose the complex and multidirectional power relationships between British/American Levantine editors, British/American diplomatic actors, the Ottoman State, and readers (both in the Ottoman Empire and beyond). What did it mean to publish an English-Ottoman serial? Considering language as a social practice that helps reconcile the local and the global in the context of the foreign language press, this article seeks to understand motivations behind English-language serial publishing in the Ottoman Empire and how a mix of local/global constraints shaped titles like The Levant Herald (1856–1914).