Ottoman History Podcast

E137 | What does it mean to wield or possess a certain technology? What are the limits to associational claims to technical expertise or superiority? In this podcast, Daniel Pontillo considers these cultural and social dimensions of technology through a study of the travel narrative Across Asia on a Bicycle, in which two American men set out at in the heat of the late nineteenth-century bicycle cr...

E040 | Human beings live their lives under a state of constant observation that is both perceived and real. Widespread folk traditions such as the notion of the "evil eye" (Turkish: nazar) reflect a belief in the profound power of the mere act of looking, which psychoanalysts such as Lacan have developed into theories of gaze (French: le regard) and the gaze effect that have gained resonance withi...

E061 | Groups variously labeled as nomadic and tribal formed an integral part of Ottoman society, but because their communities exercised a wide degree of autonomy, they are often represented as somehow separate or "other" to urban and settled populations. However, the social history of these communities reveals that tribes and their members were involved in the continual transformation of Ottoman...

E130 | Inheritance and the transfer of property across generations connects the history of families to a broader analysis of political economy, particularly in societies where wealth and capital are deeply rooted in the earth. In this episode, Zoe Griffith provides a framework for the study of family history through the lens of the mulberry tree and its produce in a study of Ottoman court records...

E144 | The capitulations, a series of bilateral agreements with European states and merchants, are sometimes held up as symbols of early Ottoman concessions to European powers and the beginnings of Ottoman economic decline. This misreading, which is in part the product of a misinterpretation of the word "capitulation" itself, impedes a proper understanding of Ottoman Empire and the legal context o...

E143 | The Ottoman Empire occupies an unusual place among the competing imperial powers of the nineteenth century. On one hand, a weak military position often forced the Ottomans to accept unfavorable economic and political arrangements while playing other empires off each other to maintain autonomy. On the other, we find expansion of state institutions throughout the Ottoman domains and an increa...

E132 | Alchemy has traditionally been understood as a pseudoscience or protoscience that eventually gave way to modern chemistry. Less often have the writings of alchemists been studied on their own terms. Yet, given the endurance and prolific nature of the alchemical traditions and the involvement of important figures of "modern science" such as Isaac Newton in the field of alchemy, a teleologica...

E140 | Historians have begun to explore the paradox of the identification of a would-be universal form of rational knowledge known as science with the particular historical experience of Europe. This begs the question: how have new forms of scientific knowledge been translated, received, assimilated, and engaged outside of the cultural contexts within which they were produced? In this episode, Mar...

E138 | Medicine is not merely a practice that takes place in hospitals, clinics, and laboratories. It also involves the movement and operation of medical practitioners in different social spaces. In this episode, Anat Mooreville discusses traveling doctors in Israel/Palestine and their role not only in combating trachoma (a severe eye disease that causes blindness) but also as ethnographers and go...

E135 | The term Lubunca refers to a type of slang historically used among Istanbul’s LGBTQ communities. The term has gained currency only in the past decades, but in this podcast, Nicholas Kontovas suggest much deeper orgins in an overview of this underground jargon and its connections to the historical sociolinguistics of Turkey’s urban communities. More at: http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2...

E129 | Osmanlı'da kamusal alan ile özel yaşam arasındaki sınır nasıl çizilmiştir? Herkesin birbirinin muhbiri olduğu bir toplumda iktidar, toplum ve birey arasındaki ilişki nasıl düzenlenmiştir? Bu sorulara yanıt aradığımız bu podcastımızda Fikret Yılmaz ile erken modern Osmanlı toplumunda mahremiyetin sınırları üzerine konuştuk. Ayrıca, Osmanlı toplum tarihçiliğinin sıkıntılarına dikkat çekerek,...

E128 | Sinemanın ilk yıllarını, kinetoscope, vitascope ya da cinématographe gibi hareketli görüntü teknolojilerinin tarihi olarak okumak yeterli olabilir mi? Bu podcastta Prof. Nezih Erdoğan ve Serkan Şavk, Osmanlı’daki sinema deneyimini seyir ve hayret gibi kavramlar üzerinden tartışıyorlar.

E123 | Erken modern Osmanlılar'ın küçük bir beylikten cihanşümül bir imparatorluğa dönüşmesi esnasında karşılaşılan zorluklar ve ihtiyaçlar Devlet-i Al-i Osman'ın yönetici elitleri arasındaki ilişkilerin ve dengelerin sürekli bir şekilde yeniden düzenlenmesini gerekli kıldı. Teorik siyaset felsefesi ile pratik günlük siyasetin arasındaki farklılıkları tartıştığımız bu podcastımızda, Günhan Börekçi...

E120 | Osmanlı'nın erken dönemlerinden beri önemli ticaret yolları üzerinde bulunan Bursa, kimi tarihçilere göre imparatorluk sınırları içinde kapitalist ilişkilere erken giren Osmanlı şehirlerinden biridir. On dokuzuncu yüzyıla gelindiğinde Bursa'da sanayileşme yönünde değişmeye başlayan üretim ilişkileri ve imparatorluğu boydan boya sarmaya başlayan Batılılaşma etkisi Bursa'da, Osmanlı'nın ticar...

E119 | While World War I was the result of a political conflict, it touched the lives of nearly every segment of Ottoman society in often tragic ways. Yet, the lived experience of Ottoman citizens on the home front is often an ignored aspect of the war's historiography. In this episode, Yiğit Akın offers a social history perspective on the conflict, focusing on basic questions like food, labor, an...

E112 | Osmanlının 19. yy’da karşılaştığı en büyük sosyal ve politik meselelerden biri şüphesiz ki muhacir sorunudur. Rus devleti, eski Osmanlı toprakları olan Kafkasya ve Kırım’a yerleşmeye yönelik bir siyaseti benimseyip bölgedeyayıldıkça, yerli Müslüman nüfusa kaçmaktan başka bir çare kalmamıştı. Osmanlı, devlet nüfuzunun sınırlı olduğu seyrek nüfuslu bölgelere, yeni gelenleri yerleştirmek için...

E105 | Yunanistan Müslümanlarına yönelik çalışmalar genellikle Mübadele ve Batı Trakya Türkleri üzerine yoğunlaşmaktadır. Bu bölümde söz konusu çalışmalardan farklı olarak Melike Kara, Yunanistan'ın 1913 yılında itibaren bir parçası olan Girit'e ve Müslümanlarına ilişkin incelemelerde bulunuyor. Müslümanların 1913 yılından Ada'dan ayrıldıkları 1924 yılına kadar yaşamlarında meydana gelen değişimle...

E102 | Following the World War I period, the founders of a new Turkish Republic sought to define and legitimize the new order as a break with the Ottoman past. In this episode, Yasemin Gencer explains the ways in which notions such as childhood were used to construct the image of a renewed Turkish society in the nationalist press during the early years of the Republican period. - See more at: http...

E101 | During the nineteenth century, imperial states became increasingly concerned with the management of disease and resources. For the Ottoman Empire, the issues of disease and water converged on the hajj pilgrimage, which brought annual throngs of thirsty disease vectors to the Hijaz region. In this podcast, Michael Christopher Low examines the su meselesi or “water issue” of the Ottoman Empir...

E090 | During the nineteenth century, the urban space of Istanbul was transformed by actors consciously involved in reshaping the face of Ottoman and high society in this European capital. In this episode, Nilay Özlü explores the culture and architecture of the Pera neighborhood during these formative years through the story of three generations of the Vallaury family, Levantine Istanbulites who r...