A Taste for Home : The Modern Middle Class in Ottoman Beirut

The "home" is a quintessentially quotidian topic, yet one at the center of global concerns: Consumption habits, aesthetic preferences, international trade, and state authority all influence the domestic sphere. For middle-class residents of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Beirut, these debates took on critical importance. As Beirut was reshaped into a modern city, legal codes and urban projects pressed at the home from without, and imported commodities and new consumption habits transformed it from within. Drawing from rich archives in Arabic, Ottoman, French, and English―from advertisements and catalogues to previously unstudied government documents―__A Taste for Home__ places the middle-class home at the intersection of local and global transformations. Middle-class domesticity took form between changing urbanity, politicization of domesticity, and changing consumption patterns. Transcending class-based aesthetic theories and static notions of "Westernization" alike, this book illuminates the self-representations and the material realities of an emerging middle class. Toufoul Abou-Hodeib offers a cultural history of late Ottoman Beirut that is at once global in the widest sense of the term and local enough to enter the most private of spaces. The "home" is a quintessentially quotidian topic, yet one at the center of global concerns: Consumption habits, aesthetic preferences, international trade, and state authority all influence the domestic sphere. For middle-class residents of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Beirut, these debates took on critical importance. As Beirut was reshaped into a modern city, legal codes and urban projects pressed at the home from without, and imported commodities and new consumption habits transformed it from within. Drawing from rich archives in Arabic, Ottoman, French, and English--from advertisements and catalogues to previously unstudied government documents--A Taste for Home places the middle-class home at the intersection of local and global transformations. Middle-class domesticity took form between changing urbanity, politicization of domesticity, and changing consumption patterns. Transcending class-based aesthetic theories and static notions of "Westernization" alike, this book illuminates the self-representations and the material realities of an emerging middle class. Toufoul Abou-Hodeib offers a cultural history of late Ottoman Beirut that is at once global in the widest sense of the term and local enough to enter the most private of spaces. -- Amazon.com The "home" is a quintessentially quotidian topic, yet one at the center of global concerns: Consumption habits, aesthetic preferences, international trade, and state authority all influence the domestic sphere. For middle-class residents of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Beirut, these debates took on critical importance. As Beirut was reshaped into a modern city, legal codes and urban projects pressed at the home from without, and imported commodities and new consumption habits transformed it from within. Drawing from rich archives in Arabic, Ottoman, French, and English―from advertisements and catalogues to previously unstudied government documents― A Taste for Home places the middle-class home at the intersection of local and global transformations. Middle-class domesticity took form between changing urbanity, politicization of domesticity, and changing consumption patterns. Transcending class-based aesthetic theories and static notions of "Westernization" alike, this book illuminates the self-representations and the material realities of an emerging middle class. Toufoul Abou-Hodeib offers a cultural history of late Ottoman Beirut that is at once global in the widest sense of the term and local enough to enter the most private of spaces. Cover 1 CONTENTS 8 Illustrations 10 Acknowledgments 12 Note on Transliteration, Translation, and Dating 14 1. Beirut, City of the Levant 18 2. The Global Intimacies of Taste 46 3. Home Is Where the Investment Is 66 4. Things at Home 100 5. A Matter of Taste 130 6. Local Forms and Ifranji Pleasures 162 Conclusion 188 Appendix 196 Notes 198 Bibliography 238 Index 258 A 258 B 259 C 260 D 262 E 263 F 264 G 264 H 265 I 266 J 267 K 267 L 267 M 268 N 269 O 270 P 270 Q 272 R 272 S 272 T 274 U 275 V 276 W 276 Y 277 Z 277 Beirut, City Of The Levant -- The Global Intimacies Of Taste -- Home Is Where The Investment Is -- Things At Home -- A Matter Of Taste -- Local Forms And Ifranji Pleasures. Toufoul Abou-hodeib. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 221-240) And Index.