Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ISTANBUL UNIVERSITESI SOSYOLOJI DERGISI-ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, cilt.40, sa.1, ss.443-465, 2020 (ESCI)
Introduced by the Ottomans to Europe, coffeehouses have been adopted by almost all Balkan countries. Coffeehouses both in Turkey where they are known as kahvehanes and in the Balkans where they are known as kafanas have emerged as an extension of Ottoman culture while still maintaining their existence as part of daily life in today's modern world. As both simple and complex representations of the realities of daily life, kahvehanes and kafanas had gone far beyond being just a public space to being the places that staged the first theatrical plays and made the first cinema screenings, as well as where marriages and business deals were arranged. Due to these characteristics, they are not just witness to the transformation of the cities where they are located, but have also assumed an active role in this process. The purpose of this study is to analyze the kahvehanes and kafanas as spaces with memories by considering their role in this framework by means of their social, functional, and spatial characteristics. The impact of the subjected collective memory is addressed in view of cities' dynamic and rapid changes. In order to reveal the similar and distinctive aspects of this impact in different countries and societies, the study compares the kahvehanes in Istanbul and the kafanas in Belgrade as a significant part of the cultural heritage that has passed from one generation to another.