The Course Development from Household Management to Home Economics and Sara Lee Tuck’s Mission as a Transnational Instructor in Girls’ Education in Turkey
History Studies, cilt.18, sa.4, ss.1169-1191, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 18 Sayı: 4
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.9737/historystudies.1919070
- Dergi Adı: History Studies
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1169-1191
- Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
- Akdeniz Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This article examines the transformation of home management course from the late Ottoman Empire to the early Turkish Republic through the case of American home economics instructor Sara Lee Tuck, who taught at Erenköy Girls’ High School from 1925 to 1929. Drawing on archival documents, institutional reports, periodicals, and contemporary publications, the study uses the concepts of transfer, translation, and transformation to analyze how foreign educational expertise was incorporated into a national education system. It argues that Tuck’s appointment represented neither a straightforward transfer of an American model nor a process of Americanization. Rather, her expertise was selectively adapted and supervised by Turkish educational authorities, particularly through curriculum development and in-service teacher training. While home management education introduced modern knowledge of hygiene, nutrition, efficiency, and productivity, it continued to associate women’s citizenship with domestic responsibilities. The case therefore reveals both the possibilities and the gendered limits of transnational educational modernization in early Republican Turkey.