Minority intermediaries built early cinema because they bridged import-dependent foreign trade networks

Evidence

Thanks to the further concentration observed in Istanbul’s film cluster, we are able to see, first of all, that a simultaneous presence of a ‘sophisticated local demand’ and ‘a few successful companies’ invited more activity of a similar kind to the area. Given that ‘Turkish businessmen believe what they see’ (Eraydin, 2002), they did not wait for long after seeing the success of others. The main symbols and/or forms (including other firms’ location choice) are imitated immediately by other firms to evoke legitimacy (Schuman, 1995). The fact that the early managers of the first cinema halls prior to 1914 were all non-Muslims show that the city’s minorities played important roles as a connection point (pointedly, one of the first movers to Yesilcam, the Ipekci Brothers, were from a Muslim-convert family of Jewish origin) in a business which was initially highly import dependant. — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, 839

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: the role of religious and ethnic minorities as connective tissue in industries that depend on foreign imports — an underread pattern from Ottoman Turkey to modern global trade.