Self-Care Practices of the Istanbul YWCA in the Late Ottoman State and Early Republican Turkey

Abstract During the late Ottoman state and early republican Turkey, health and recreation practices for females were encouraged both by nationalist and maternalist perspectives in Istanbul. Yet, as this study claims, in this period, there was a nonstate agency active in Turkey, the Young Women’s Christian Organization (YWCA), promoting healthy bodies through a different rhetoric that placed emphasis on personal needs and self-improvement. The YWCA’s mainly American staff educated young women to be more conscious of their physical bodies and health practices, contributing to the spread of the idea of individuality by promoting recreational activities for cultivating one’s body and for self-empowerment; it was thus more a matter of responsibility to oneself than a maternal, patriotic, and national duty. The emphasis was placed instead on fulfilling individual needs. This study focuses on the health dynamics and practices established by the Istanbul YWCA during the 1910s and 1920s.