This work focuses on the historical trajectory of Levantine communities, who occupied a distinct position within the multilayered social fabric of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. Ufuk Özesmer provides a detailed analysis of the roles and identity constructions of Levantines in Ottoman urban life, with a particular focus on the cases of İzmir and Istanbul, through the travelogues of British travelers. The study interrogates the unique sociocultural position of the Levantines—coded as neither fully European nor fully Eastern—through the lens of the concept of “the other.” It sheds light on the hybrid nature of Levantine identity and how this identity evolved into a dynamic space of cultural negotiation. The author critically examines the epistemological boundaries of travel literature and traces the imprints of nineteenth-century Orientalist discourse, offering a reassessment of the ways in which Levantine communities were represented in Western eyes through an interdisciplinary perspective. Approaching the Levantine question not merely as a historical phenomenon but as part of a broader conceptual framework in which identity, belonging, and othering intersect, The Other Europeans provides an in-depth analysis for those seeking to understand the pluralistic structure of nineteenth-century Ottoman port cities and the ways in which European perspectives shaped and redefined this structure.
