A study of social network analysis: The ayan of Bursa in the late 18th century

Abstract

A large number of researches have been conducted on the ayans who made their marks on 18th century Ottoman history. These researches have generally focused on some of the most powerful and influential ayan dynasties. However, the findings about the exact sources of ayan's influence on society and administration are still limited. This study suggests using social network analysis (SNA) in order to expand the knowledge base about ayans as a social stratum. In this study, on two Bursa court registers belonging to the late 18th century, in which ayans of Bursa were most effective, the method of social network analysis was carried out according to the debtor-creditor relation as a variable. In this paper, the results of this experiment are presented.