Anatomy of Empire: Sex and Medicine in the Late Ottoman World

Syphilis had existed in Ottoman society since the sixteenth century, but it became an alarming public health problem in the nineteenth century. As the epidemic raged with population movements across provincial and imperial borders, Ottoman authorities mobilized medical staff and implemented public hygiene regulations. Seçil Yılmaz unravels how a disease long associated with shame and secrecy became a key site through which Ottomans expanded their hegemony and governance, situating medicine ...