Trauma as Evidence: Rifat Osman on Edirne

Abstract

Early twentieth-century Ottoman-Turkish architectural history discourse is subjugated by state-oriented readings, and the prescriptions of the sociopolitical ideologies of the epoch. The agency of the individual is confined within the ramifications of these programmatic concepts. In lieu of such a discourse, this article considers Rifat Osman (1874–1933) and the agency of the individual as a source for architectural historiography. Trained as a medical doctor, Rifat Osman developed an interest in the architectural heritage and everyday life of the city of Edirne, now in western Turkey. He amply recorded his observations. Exploring the motives behind this unusual interest, I argue that Rifat Osman’s experience of Edirne, in particular as he witnessed the fall of the city to Bulgarians during the Balkan Wars (1912–13), transformed his engagement with the city and its history. This rendered the traumatic imprint of war traceable in his accounts. Through concepts of antiquarian sensitivity and war-induced trauma, I question how Rifat Osman’s anxiety is transmitted to the collective memory of the city, and in return, how architectural history becomes instrumental in the recovery from trauma.