Ottoman Gothic (original) (raw)
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Ottoman Visions of the West (15th-17th Centuries), MA Thesis, McGill University
This study is a preliminary attempt to chart out the manifold ways Ottomans envisioned and imagined the Euro-Christian world during early modern times. Through the study of a selection of various sources ranging from pseudo-historiographic warrior epics to lyric poetry, the main objective will be to expose the multivocality and ambivalence of Ottoman texts dealing – exclusively or partially - with the Western cosmos. By a careful analysis of the narratological structure of specific Ottoman works, the degree to which Euro-Christians had permeated the minds (and souls) of Ottoman-Muslims will be evaluated. The examination of recurrent stock images, stereotypes, and depictions of Euro-Christians will hint at the ways Ottomans constructed and articulated a discourse of alterity based on the juxtaposition of a (pure and ideal) Self against a (reprehensible and threatening) Other. Simultaneously, instances where these seemingly unflinching and fixed boundaries were questioned, challenged, or overlooked will be located and contextualized. All in all, the aim will be to open a vista to the complex and colorful representational world of early modern Ottomans.
Reading Modernity in (and out of) the Ottoman Empire
Journal of Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, 2020
This article is part of a roundtable titled “Chasing the Ottoman Early Modern,” (guest eds. Virginia Aksan, Boğac Ergene, and Antonis Hadjikyriacou), which brings together leading Ottomanists to comment on the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and global early modernity. Drawing on my research on the history of the book, I argue against the usage of early modernity in Ottoman history, not because early modernity cannot be global, but because it leads us down the path of narrativizing a largely arbitrary temporal rupture.
Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies , 2020
The “early modern” seems to be the key notion facilitating the Ottoman “global turn.” It helps scholars of the Ottoman world to “synchronize” Ottoman realities with structural changes in other parts of the world, particularly Europe, from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, during which we see increasing (and asymmetrical) interactions at a global scale. However, both the “global” and “early modern” turns come with certain limits and costs, which we should take into consideration and problematize.
Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, 2020
Sur des modes divers, les historiographies nationales du Moyen-Orient ont présenté la sortie de l’Empire ottoman comme une rupture, parfois assortie d’un déni d’héritage, et en tout état de cause accompagnée de refontes globales des pratiques et des référents culturels. Elles se sont construites sur l’idée que les peuples « s’étaient endormis » pendant des siècles de domination ottomane, avant de se réveiller au son d’une modernité tardive. La réalité de ces transformations ne saurait être remise en question. Après la déroute des armées ottomanes en septembre-octobre 1918, le décrochement politique entre ce qui reste de l’État ottoman et ses anciennes provinces est très rapide : élections parlementaires dans un espace ramené grosso modo à la Turquie actuelle, organisation de comités islamo-chrétiens ou mésopotamiens dans les territoires occupés, ou encore préparation de délégations avec leurs programmes respectifs en vue de la conférence de la paix. Puis, en aspirant à l’indépendance, les États post-ottomans confirment leur volonté d’effacer le passé impérial, pour se projeter dans un avenir national. Cette époque charnière témoigne ainsi d’une multitude de reconversions rapides. 2Pourtant, malgré le processus d’épuration des référents sociopolitiques et culturels de la période ottomane, cultivé comme un projet politique par les nationalismes de la région, il nous apparaît qu’on donne à l’effacement de l’Empire ottoman de la carte politique une portée globale forcée et mécanique. De même que l’ingénierie sociale de nouveaux États-nations ne s’est pas faite de façon immédiate, ni incontestée, ni en opposition systématique au legs ottoman, de même l’ingénierie culturelle n’a pas conduit à une disparition brutale des référents ottomans, notamment des référents turcs ottomans dans le monde arabe, et arabes dans la Turquie républicaine. Au contraire, ce legs a souvent été entretenu, tantôt par un attachement non délibéré à des formes ottomanes connues, tantôt par une appropriation, une réactivation intentionnelle du reliquat ottoman, à des fins de revendications diverses : entre persistances et revendications d’ottomanité(s). Ce numéro de la Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée s’intéresse ainsi aux diverses expressions sociales, politiques, culturelles, linguistiques et littéraires de l’hybridation des référents ottomans dans les espaces turcs et arabes après 1918 – que nous appelons les fantômes d’Empire – en prenant appui sur une documentation aussi bien visuelle et matérielle que diplomatique ou littéraire.
THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND EUROPE - HALİL İNALCIK
Kronik Kitap, 2017
“The history of Europe and the history of the Ottomans are two parallel histories; for this reason, the history of the two worlds should be studied comparatively.” Halil İnalcık From the middle of the fifteenth century on, the Ottoman Empire played a crucial role in shaping European history. This factor has not been weaved into Western historiography to its detriment, because explaining concepts such as raison d’etat, realpolitik, balance of power or even European identity remain somewhat short changed without the role of the Ottoman Empire in the evolution as well as functioning of these concepts. The Ottoman Empire is generally depicted and perceived as the adversary and antithesis of Europe and Europeanness in Western historiography because of certain historic reasons such as the Christian crusading tradition, public hostility due to long lasting warfare, cultural estrangement and perhaps because the Ottomans remained outside the Enlightenment process. However, there is much more to it than struggle. Our research findings presented in this compilation point to the impact of the Ottoman Empire in shaping modern Europe, specifically as of the sixteenth century and socio-cultural exchanges between the two realms through five hundred years of encounter
The Muslim World: Recent Scholarship on the Ottoman MIddle East
Study of the Ottoman empire has flourished in the past two decades. Reaching beyond the imperial centre, new work probes the problem of living in far-flung peripheries and what it meant to negotiate religious and ethnic differences in times of upheaval and change. With a remarkable array of languages and grasp of the complexity of early modern societies, young scholars are exploring not just the representation and practice of Ottoman sovereignty and the response of elites but also the experience of the frontier, and survival strategies of slaves, prisoners of wars, converts and captives.