Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Focuses on major issues and trends in the history of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-eighteenth century to its demise in the aftermath of World War I.

COURSE DETAILS:

This seminar focuses on the discussion of major issues and trends in the history of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-eighteenth century to its demise in the aftermath of World War I. More specifically, the seminar examines the ways in which Ottoman state and society tried to cope with and were transformed by the imperialist encroachments of various European powers and the increasing incorporation of the empire into the world economy from the mid-eighteenth century. In this connection we will look, for instance, at projects to reinvent the empire as a supra-ethnic nation-state and at major urban centers such as Istanbul and Beirut as important sites of social, economic, and cultural change. Moreover, we will explore various internal and external factors that finally led to the dissolution of this multi-religious and multi-ethnic empire into a post-imperial order of nation-states. In this connection, we will pay particular attention to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. The emphasis of this course will, therefore, be not on “events” but rather on the historiographical problems and debates reflected in our readings (e.g. what new forms of identity and subjectivity emerge during this period? Who shapes the modern Ottoman state?). This should enable you to develop a better understanding of the issues that historians not only of the late Ottoman Empire but also of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in general are dealing with.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: