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Sarah Büssow

• Throughout the Ottoman period, elite households and elite families were central figures in Middle Eastern urban politics; however, these entities were constructed in different ways according to time and period. Thanks to an exceptional source of documentation, the Ottoman census data of 1905, we are now able to reconstruct such households and families for the city of Gaza at the end of the Ottoman period in greater detail than ever before. This article examines the ways in which established elite families in late Ottoman Gaza [attempted to remain] endeavored to preserve their power and influence. It does not focus on the economic or political activities of these families or the narratives produced by them and about them, but mainly on their most private sphere; i.e., social relations within the household and between households belonging to one family. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which household members collaborated with each other to further their shared interests. Based on an analysis of the households of some of the most influential Gazan families, three types of collaboration within a whole family or a family branch are identified; examples of divergent developments between branches of one family are discussed as well.