Masculine Aesthetics & Sports in the Ottoman Empire | Professor Murat Yildiz
About this episode
The episode discusses the impact of modern sports on identity and social structures in the Ottoman Empire with Professor Murat Yildiz.
Modern sports did not just change how people played; they fundamentally rewired how they lived, looked, and identified within a rapidly transforming world. The conversation with Murat Yildiz, an assosciate professor of history at Skidmore College, explores the high-stakes intersection of physical culture, social status, and the 19th-century quest for a new global aesthetic. Elite educational and military institutions utilized gymnastics and disciplined exercise to mold an upwardly mobile generation, using sports to reconfigure traditional social hierarchies. Meanwhile, the rise of photography helped normalize and spread a uniform corporal aesthetic, allowing young men from diverse backgrounds to adopt a standardized look of proper modern masculinity. Tracing a vibrant athletic awakening, the discussion follows how sporting culture rippled across urban centers, from Istanbul to Cairo, Beirut, and Jerusalem, signaling a deeper transformation in community, selfhood, and the shift from indigenous traditions to professionalized international play.
People in this episode
Host: afikra
Guest: Murat Yildiz
Topics covered
- Masculine aesthetics
- Sports history
- Ottoman Empire
- Physical culture
- Social status
- 19th-century transformations
Keywords
- modern sports
- Ottoman Empire
- masculinity
- photography
- social hierarchies
- physical culture
- 19th century
- global aesthetic
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Skidmore College
Places: Istanbul, Cairo, Beirut, Jerusalem
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