Agnieszka Kaim | Polish Academy of Sciences (original) (raw)

Papers by Agnieszka Kaim

The Biblical Annals, Jul 11, 2023

Slavia Meridionalis

The twisting paths of the sufis – the Turkic-Balkan motifs in the sufi ‘tariqa’ concept in select... more The twisting paths of the sufis – the Turkic-Balkan motifs in the sufi ‘tariqa’ concept in selected examples of contemporary literary works The first part of this paper summarises how Sufi brotherhoods formed in the Balkans with some references to their Turkic-Ottoman sources. Islamic mystical movements constituted part of the Islamisation initiatives in the territories occupied by the Ottoman Empire: mystical teaching was apparently more successful among the local people than conservative Islam. Crypto-Christianism was a typical phenomenon among converted Slavs. Orders using the language of symbolic tales (like the Bektashi) involved some Christian rites. The orders which proved most popular were the Mevlevi, Naqshbandi, Chalwati and Bektashi, which are still active in some parts of the Balkans. Their role also reconciled the national thought of newly forming national identities in the Balkans. In the novels Death and the Dervish by Meša Selimović and Konak by Ćamil Sijarić, the my...

Albertus Bobovius/Ali Ufkî Bey was a typical go-between of his time, a learned translator and con... more Albertus Bobovius/Ali Ufkî Bey was a typical go-between of his time, a learned translator and convert who benefited from his double religious sensitivity. As a consequence, he was able to create a transcultural translation of the Bible in the 17 th century. This paper brings context to these aspects of his life. Ali Ufkî Bey created his works on religion during a time of intensive confessionalization, when Istanbul was a hub for many political interests with various religious and cultural options intersecting in the Ottoman capital. The project of translating the Bible to the national languages of Islam was carried out according to the vision of an alliance between Islam and reformed Christian groups, supporting the thesis of Calvino-Turkism, promoted by John Amos Comenius. As oriental scholars were lacking sufficient command of Turkish, they had to commission highly qualified go-betweens. There were two competing plans: Dutch Calvinist and Anglican. Bobovius was a part of the Dutch plan, along with Yahya Bin Ishak, a Jewish dragoman. The strategies of translation chosen by Bobovius were very modern according to the present knowledge of the art of translation, but in his era, there were difficulties in choosing the right language register and the right religious imagery to find proper equivalents. Underestimated by his contemporaries, Bobovius was rehabilitated by today's linguists, and his "Turkish Bible" is still in use today. The text does not contest the religious identity of the author of this translation of the Bible but presents the hybridity of this figure against the background of the wider historical and confessional context of 17 th-century Istanbul. It also provides examples of Bobovius's translation choices and an initial interpretation of his methodology of timeless transcultural translation, from the perspective of contemporary translation theories. In the light of contemporary transcultural studies, present-day scholarship may treat Ali Ufkî as a transcultural agent and a gifted go-between.

Studia Migracyjne – Przegląd Polonijny, 2020

Tekst jest opracowaniem studium przypadku dwukulturowości (polsko-chrześcijańskiej i osmańsko... more Tekst jest opracowaniem studium przypadku dwukulturowości (polsko-chrześcijańskiej i osmańsko-muzułmańskiej) Konstantego Borzęckiego (1826-1876), polskiego powstańca emigranta z XIX w., który przeszedł na islam i przyjął imię Mustafa Dżelaleddin Pasza (tur. Mustafa Celâlettin Paşa). Do historii kultury Turcji przeszedł dzięki nośności jego teorii o europejskim pochodzeniu Turków. Można uznać, że na jego formację ideologiczną i życiową jako polskiego bohatera tureckiej wizji narodu wpłynął splot wielu okoliczności, jak: doświadczenie życia w polskiej ziemiańskiej rodzinie, seminarium, rozczarowanie powstańcze, opuszczenie kraju i konwersja na islam, czynna służba w armii osmańskiej, praca publicysty-ideologa nowo tworzącej się państwowości tureckiej. Myśl Borzęckiego ewoluowała, w działalności jego potomków i innych inspirujących się jego pracą Les Turcs Anciens et Modernes (Turcy dawni i nowi, Konstantynopol, 1869). Teoria turo-aryjskości zarysowana przez Borzęckiego stała się podstawą reform kulturowych, zwłaszcza zmiany alfabetu (z arabskiego na łaciński) za czasów Republiki Turcji (1928). Teskt proponuje zerwanie z anachroniczną terminologią jak "poturczeniec", a w zamian, promuje zapożyczony z zachodnioeuropejskiej literatury naukowej: termin postać "pomiędzy", ("go between"), i pośrednika kulturowego ("cultural broker"). Analiza sięga też do delikatnej strony podwójności, jaką są słabe więzi z dawnym środowiskiem chrześcijańskim przed apostazją i z nowym muzułmańskim, a nawet podwójnym wykluczeniu ze strony obu środowisk, w świetle socjologicznej teorii Marka Granovettera.

CINEJ Cinema Journal, 2011

Contemporary cinematography reflects the dualism in modern Turkish society. The heart of every in... more Contemporary cinematography reflects the dualism in modern Turkish society. The heart of every inhabitant of Anatolia is dominated by homesickness for his little homeland. This overpowering feeling affects common people migrating in search of work as well as intellectuals for whom Istanbul is a place for their artistic development but not the place of origin. The city and "the rest" have been considered in opposition to each other. The struggle between "the provincial" and "the urban" has even created its own film genre in Turkish cinematography described as "homeland movies". They paint the portrait of a Turkish middle class intellectual on the horns of a dilemma, the search for a modern identity and a place to belong in a modern world where values are constantly shifting.

Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi, 2006

„Konstanty Borzęcki – Accidental Hero in the Microhistorical Study of Biculturality”, 2020

This paper presents the case of biculturality (Polish – Christian and Ottoman – Muslim) of Konst... more This paper presents the case of biculturality (Polish – Christian and Ottoman – Muslim) of Konstan- ty Borz cki (1826–1876), a Polish emigrant who ed to europe after the Greater Poland Uprising in 1848,and who converted to Islam and changed his name to Mustapha Djelaleddin Pasha ( Tur. Mustafa Celâlettin Pa a). He passed to the history of Turkish culture through his theory on the euro- pean origins of Turks. His ideological and personal formation of a Polish hero creating Turkish vision of the nation had been in uenced by the accumulation of such circumstances as: experience of life in a Polish yeoman agricultural family, theological seminary, disappointment due to the failure of the uprising, leaving the country, conversion to Islam, active role in the Ottoman Army, activities as a journalist and writer on the ideology of the awaking of the Turkish nation. His idea evolved in the activities of his descendants and other activists who were inspired by his work Les Turcs Anciens et Modernes (1869). His theory of Turo-arianism became the fundaments of cultural reforms, espe- cially the change of the alphabet (from Arabic into Latin) of the new Turkish Republic (1928). This research also proposes to break with anachronic terminology like “turning Turk”, in exchange for a term borrowed from Western european publications like “go between” or “cultural broker”. The text also touches the sensitive side of bicultural formation like “weak ties” with the Christian commu- nity before his apostasy and with the new Muslim one. Borzecki is presented as a person struggling with double exclusion, in line with the sociological theory of Mark Granovetter de ned as weak ties.
Keywords: turo-arianism, go between, „renegade”, turning Turk, Weak Ties, double isolation, lid model of identity.

The Biblical Annals, Jul 11, 2023

Slavia Meridionalis

The twisting paths of the sufis – the Turkic-Balkan motifs in the sufi ‘tariqa’ concept in select... more The twisting paths of the sufis – the Turkic-Balkan motifs in the sufi ‘tariqa’ concept in selected examples of contemporary literary works The first part of this paper summarises how Sufi brotherhoods formed in the Balkans with some references to their Turkic-Ottoman sources. Islamic mystical movements constituted part of the Islamisation initiatives in the territories occupied by the Ottoman Empire: mystical teaching was apparently more successful among the local people than conservative Islam. Crypto-Christianism was a typical phenomenon among converted Slavs. Orders using the language of symbolic tales (like the Bektashi) involved some Christian rites. The orders which proved most popular were the Mevlevi, Naqshbandi, Chalwati and Bektashi, which are still active in some parts of the Balkans. Their role also reconciled the national thought of newly forming national identities in the Balkans. In the novels Death and the Dervish by Meša Selimović and Konak by Ćamil Sijarić, the my...

Albertus Bobovius/Ali Ufkî Bey was a typical go-between of his time, a learned translator and con... more Albertus Bobovius/Ali Ufkî Bey was a typical go-between of his time, a learned translator and convert who benefited from his double religious sensitivity. As a consequence, he was able to create a transcultural translation of the Bible in the 17 th century. This paper brings context to these aspects of his life. Ali Ufkî Bey created his works on religion during a time of intensive confessionalization, when Istanbul was a hub for many political interests with various religious and cultural options intersecting in the Ottoman capital. The project of translating the Bible to the national languages of Islam was carried out according to the vision of an alliance between Islam and reformed Christian groups, supporting the thesis of Calvino-Turkism, promoted by John Amos Comenius. As oriental scholars were lacking sufficient command of Turkish, they had to commission highly qualified go-betweens. There were two competing plans: Dutch Calvinist and Anglican. Bobovius was a part of the Dutch plan, along with Yahya Bin Ishak, a Jewish dragoman. The strategies of translation chosen by Bobovius were very modern according to the present knowledge of the art of translation, but in his era, there were difficulties in choosing the right language register and the right religious imagery to find proper equivalents. Underestimated by his contemporaries, Bobovius was rehabilitated by today's linguists, and his "Turkish Bible" is still in use today. The text does not contest the religious identity of the author of this translation of the Bible but presents the hybridity of this figure against the background of the wider historical and confessional context of 17 th-century Istanbul. It also provides examples of Bobovius's translation choices and an initial interpretation of his methodology of timeless transcultural translation, from the perspective of contemporary translation theories. In the light of contemporary transcultural studies, present-day scholarship may treat Ali Ufkî as a transcultural agent and a gifted go-between.

Studia Migracyjne – Przegląd Polonijny, 2020

Tekst jest opracowaniem studium przypadku dwukulturowości (polsko-chrześcijańskiej i osmańsko... more Tekst jest opracowaniem studium przypadku dwukulturowości (polsko-chrześcijańskiej i osmańsko-muzułmańskiej) Konstantego Borzęckiego (1826-1876), polskiego powstańca emigranta z XIX w., który przeszedł na islam i przyjął imię Mustafa Dżelaleddin Pasza (tur. Mustafa Celâlettin Paşa). Do historii kultury Turcji przeszedł dzięki nośności jego teorii o europejskim pochodzeniu Turków. Można uznać, że na jego formację ideologiczną i życiową jako polskiego bohatera tureckiej wizji narodu wpłynął splot wielu okoliczności, jak: doświadczenie życia w polskiej ziemiańskiej rodzinie, seminarium, rozczarowanie powstańcze, opuszczenie kraju i konwersja na islam, czynna służba w armii osmańskiej, praca publicysty-ideologa nowo tworzącej się państwowości tureckiej. Myśl Borzęckiego ewoluowała, w działalności jego potomków i innych inspirujących się jego pracą Les Turcs Anciens et Modernes (Turcy dawni i nowi, Konstantynopol, 1869). Teoria turo-aryjskości zarysowana przez Borzęckiego stała się podstawą reform kulturowych, zwłaszcza zmiany alfabetu (z arabskiego na łaciński) za czasów Republiki Turcji (1928). Teskt proponuje zerwanie z anachroniczną terminologią jak "poturczeniec", a w zamian, promuje zapożyczony z zachodnioeuropejskiej literatury naukowej: termin postać "pomiędzy", ("go between"), i pośrednika kulturowego ("cultural broker"). Analiza sięga też do delikatnej strony podwójności, jaką są słabe więzi z dawnym środowiskiem chrześcijańskim przed apostazją i z nowym muzułmańskim, a nawet podwójnym wykluczeniu ze strony obu środowisk, w świetle socjologicznej teorii Marka Granovettera.

CINEJ Cinema Journal, 2011

Contemporary cinematography reflects the dualism in modern Turkish society. The heart of every in... more Contemporary cinematography reflects the dualism in modern Turkish society. The heart of every inhabitant of Anatolia is dominated by homesickness for his little homeland. This overpowering feeling affects common people migrating in search of work as well as intellectuals for whom Istanbul is a place for their artistic development but not the place of origin. The city and "the rest" have been considered in opposition to each other. The struggle between "the provincial" and "the urban" has even created its own film genre in Turkish cinematography described as "homeland movies". They paint the portrait of a Turkish middle class intellectual on the horns of a dilemma, the search for a modern identity and a place to belong in a modern world where values are constantly shifting.

Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi, 2006

„Konstanty Borzęcki – Accidental Hero in the Microhistorical Study of Biculturality”, 2020

This paper presents the case of biculturality (Polish – Christian and Ottoman – Muslim) of Konst... more This paper presents the case of biculturality (Polish – Christian and Ottoman – Muslim) of Konstan- ty Borz cki (1826–1876), a Polish emigrant who ed to europe after the Greater Poland Uprising in 1848,and who converted to Islam and changed his name to Mustapha Djelaleddin Pasha ( Tur. Mustafa Celâlettin Pa a). He passed to the history of Turkish culture through his theory on the euro- pean origins of Turks. His ideological and personal formation of a Polish hero creating Turkish vision of the nation had been in uenced by the accumulation of such circumstances as: experience of life in a Polish yeoman agricultural family, theological seminary, disappointment due to the failure of the uprising, leaving the country, conversion to Islam, active role in the Ottoman Army, activities as a journalist and writer on the ideology of the awaking of the Turkish nation. His idea evolved in the activities of his descendants and other activists who were inspired by his work Les Turcs Anciens et Modernes (1869). His theory of Turo-arianism became the fundaments of cultural reforms, espe- cially the change of the alphabet (from Arabic into Latin) of the new Turkish Republic (1928). This research also proposes to break with anachronic terminology like “turning Turk”, in exchange for a term borrowed from Western european publications like “go between” or “cultural broker”. The text also touches the sensitive side of bicultural formation like “weak ties” with the Christian commu- nity before his apostasy and with the new Muslim one. Borzecki is presented as a person struggling with double exclusion, in line with the sociological theory of Mark Granovetter de ned as weak ties.
Keywords: turo-arianism, go between, „renegade”, turning Turk, Weak Ties, double isolation, lid model of identity.