HISTORY 5213 – Reading Seminar – The 19th Century Middle East ...

HIST 5213-02/3983-06: Reading Seminar: Ottoman Empire, ca. 1299-1923.
Nikolay Antov
University of Arkansas
Department of History
Fall 2014
Office: Old Main 410
Phone: 575-5882
Email: antov@uark.edu
Class: Thu., 6:00-8:50 PM, Old Main 412
Office hours: Thursdays, 3:30-5:30 PM or by appointment, Old Main 410
Course description: This is a reading seminar that will focus on the historical development of the
Ottoman Empire (ca. 1300-1923). It will follow the history of the Ottoman state from its emergence as a
small frontier principality in northwestern Anatolia ca. 1300 through its growth into a world imperial
power in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (controlling Anatolia, the Balkans, and the Arabicspeaking
Middle East) and its later gradual transformation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in
its quest to catch up with the institutional, economic, technological, and cultural advancement of the
Western powers, followed by its subsequent disintegration under the twin pressures of war and
nationalism in the early twentieth century.
The course will include a couple of general discussions of the outline of the historical development of
the Ottoman state in different periods of its development. Besides, most weekly sessions will be
devoted to the discussion of scholarly monographs (with occasional article assignments as well) that
focus on various themes in Ottoman history.
Students will be expected to acquire a solid grasp of the major historical developments and concepts in
Ottoman history, as well as the most important topics in modern Ottoman historiography. One of the
broader objectives of the course will be to attain a better understanding of the importance of the
Ottoman imperial past with respect to various developments in the present-day Middle East and beyond.
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Learning Goals:
Students are expected to demonstrate the following:
1. A focused and in depth knowledge of historical facts, themes and ideas.
2. An ability to critically discuss and debate their understanding of issues and debates in the past and
present.
3. An ability to conduct a close critical reading of texts, ideas, and methodologies and presenting the
results of such a reading in oral and written form.
Course requirements:
Attendance and participation: Students are expected to attend class regularly and participate in class
discussions.
As this is a reading seminar, attendance and active participation in class discussion are of crucial
importance. Students will be expected to have carefully read the assigned readings each week even if
they are not turning in a reading response paper in that particular week.
Absences: being absent from class may affect negatively your progress in class as well as your final
grade. Absences from regular lecture/discussion classes may be excused on the basis of proper medical
documentation and/or a note from the student’s college advisor. Absences on exam or paper submission
due days as well as petitions for a term-paper submission deadline extension will be excused/honored
only if the instructor receives a proper note from the student’s college advisor accompanied, when
applicable, by the proper medical documentation.
Discussion leadership: each week one student will be expected to lead class discussion. He/she will be
expected to briefly introduce the readings (10-15 minutes) at the beginning of the respective class
session and then to start discussion by posing 2-3 relevant questions. The discussion leader will be
responsible for leading the discussion as it develops and pose further questions in the course of the class
session.
Reading response papers: Students will be expected to write weekly reading response papers (800-1200
words in length), which will discuss the structure and the major arguments developed in the assigned
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eadings for the week. Students are also encouraged to critique the assigned readings to the extent their
knowledge of the subject and the related literature allow.
Graduate students will be expected to turn in 10 reading response papers.
Undergraduate students will be expected to turn in 6 reading response papers.
Reading response papers will be due 8 p.m. each Wednesday. Late papers will not be accepted.
Annotated bibliography: an annotated bibliography of at least 20 entries on a topic related to the class.
Bibliographies will be due in class on Dec. 6.
Grade distribution:
Class participation: 20%
Discussion leadership: 20%
Annotated bibliography: 10%
Reading response papers: 50%
Required Readings: assigned readings are given under each weekly heading in the schedule of class
meetings. The following titles have been ordered through the University Bookstore. Out-of-print books
will be available on reserve in library. Articles/book chapters will be posted on the class website.
Dimitris Kastritsis, The Sons of Bayezid: Empire Building and Representation in the Ottoman Civil War
of 1402-1413 (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2007)
Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978,
1992)
Giancarlo Casale, The Ottoman Age of Exploration (Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press,
2010)
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Sam White, The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2011)
Tezcan, Baki, The Second Ottoman Empire: Political and Social Transformation in the Early Modern World
(Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
Leslie Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire (Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 1993)
Selim Deringil, The Well-protected Domains: Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in the Ottoman
Empire, 1876-1909 (London & New York: I.B. Tauris, 1998)
Useful Reference Resources:
1) Enclyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1960-) -- the library has the paper version of this work.
It is the best starting point for a research on anything related to Islam and Muslim culture in
general (DS37.E523 1999 v.1-10).
2) The New Cambridge History of Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010). This is
the best and up-to-date general coverage of the history of the Islamic world in English. For the
purposes of this class vol. 1 is the most important, as well as volume 4; volumes 2 and 3 may
prove essential as well, depending on one’s specific research interests. The library has all six
volumes in hard copy as well as in the online version (DS35.6.C3 2010 v. 1-6).
3) Encyclopaedia Iranica (London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985-) – the library has
all volumes in hard copy. Excellent reference resource on any issue related to the history and
culture of Iran and the Persophone world in general. (DS253.E53 1985 v. 1-15).
4) The Cambridge History of Iran (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), volumes 4-5
(DS272.C34 v 1-8).
Inclement weather
In the event of inclement weather, students are asked to monitor closely their email and the
Blackboard website for updates about the status of class meetings. In general, if weather forces
the Razorback Transit System to suspend operations, then class will be canceled.
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Academic integrity
“As a core part of its mission, the University of Arkansas provides students with the opportunity to
further their educational goals through programs of study and research in an environment that promotes
freedom of inquiry and academic responsibility. Accomplishing this mission is only possible when
intellectual honesty and individual integrity prevail. Each University of Arkansas student is required to
be familiar with and abide by the University’s ‘Academic Integrity Policy’ which may be found at
http://provost.uark.edu/245.php. Students with questions about how these policies apply to a particular
course or assignment should immediately contact their instructor.”
Use of electronic devices
Students are allowed to use laptops only for class-related purposes (usually note-taking or delivering
class presentations). The use of laptops in class for any other purpose is not allowed. The use of other
electronic devices (such as cell phones, iPhones, iPods, etc.) in class is not allowed. Please make sure to
turn off or switch to silent mode all such electronic devices before entering class.
Syllabus
Please note that I reserve the right to make changes to this syllabus, including the schedule of
assignments and the selected readings. I reserve the right to add some additional articles depending on
the way course discussions develop. If additional articles are added, students will be properly notified in
advance.
I recommend that you refer to the syllabus frequently and make careful note of any changes announced
in class.
Further notes
Students with disabilities should contact The Center of Educations Access to find out about their rights
and their obligations. The instructor will make all accommodations required by the office to facilitate a
student’s experience in the class.
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Schedule of class meetings and reading assignments
Week One
August 28: Introduction, discussion of course objectives
• Donald Quataert, a timeline of Ottoman history, maps and “Why Study Ottoman history,” in The
Ottoman Empire 1700-1922, second edition (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press,
2005) xvii-xxii, 1-12.
• Suraiya Faroqhi, “Introduction,” in Approaching Ottoman History. An Introduction to the Sources
(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 1-19.
• Jane Hathaway, “Problems of Periodization in Ottoman History: the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth
Centuries,” The Turkish Studies Association Bulletin, vol. 20, no. 2 (Fall 1996): 25-31 (recommended).
Week Two
September 4: Overview of Ottoman history, the ‘classical age’
• Halil Inalcik, The Ottoman Empire: the Classical Age, 1300-1600, (London: Phoenix, 2000; original
edition -- London: Weidenfeld &Nicolson, 1973).
Week Three
September 11: the question of Ottoman origins
• Paul Wittek, The Rise of the Ottoman Empire (London: The Royal Asiatic Society, 1938) (pdf)
• M. Fuad Köprülü, The Origins of the Ottoman Empire, tr. and ed. Gary Leiser (Albany: SUNY Press,
1992, originally published in 1935), 111-117 (required); 71-111 (optional) (pdf)
• Rudi Paul Lindner, Nomads and Ottomans in Medieval Anatolia (Bloomington: Research Institute for
Inner Asian Studies, 1983), 1-50 (pdf)
• Halil Inalcik, “The Question of the Emergence of the Ottoman State,” reprinted in Studies in Ottoman
Social and Economic History (London: Variorum Reprints, 1985), 71-79. (pdf)
• Cemal Kafadar, Between Two Worlds: the Construction of the Ottoman State (Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press, 1996), 29-59; 118-150 (pdf)
• Heath Lowry, The Nature of the Early Ottoman State (Albany: SUNY Press, 2003), 55-94; (pdf)
Week Four
September 18: The Civıl War (to be rescheduled)
• Dimitris Kastritsis, The Sons of Bayezid: Empire Building and Representation in the Ottoman Civil
War of 1402-1413 (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2007)
• Halil Inalcik, “Ottoman Methods of Conquest”, Studia Islamica 2 (1954), 103-129 (pdf)
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Week Five
September 25: Mehmed II
• Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978,
1992)
• Halil Inalcik, “Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time,” Speculum 35/3 (1960): 408-427
Week Six
October 2: The Age of Süleyman and Beyond
• Cornell Fleischer, Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: The Historian Mustafa Ali
(1541-1600) (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986)
Week Seven
October 9: The Ottomans and the Outside World in the ‘classical age’
• Giancarlo Casale, The Ottoman Age of Exploration (Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press,
2010)
• Svat Soucek, “About the Ottoman Age of Exploration,” Archivum Ottomanicum 27 (2010): 313-342
Week Eight
October 16: Daily Life in the Ottoman Provinces in the Early Modern Period
• Suraya Faroqhi, Towns and Townsmen of Ottoman Anatolia: Trade, Crafts and Food Production in an
Urban Setting, 1520-1650 (Cambridge and New York: 1984)
Week Nine
October 23: The Time of Troubles
• Sam White, The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2011)
Week Ten
October 30: Time of Stagnation, or ‘the Second Ottoman Empire’; the question of ‘decline’
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• Baki Tezcan, The Second Ottoman Empire: Political and Social Transformation in the Early Modern
World (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010)
• Halil Inalcik, “Military and Fiscal Transformation in the Ottoman Empire, 1600-1700”, Archivum
Ottomanicum 6 (1980), 283-337 (pdf)
• Bernard Lewis, “Ottoman Observers of Ottoman Decline,” Islamic Studies 1 (1962), 71-87 (pdf)
• Linda Darling, “The Myth of Decline,” introductory chapter in her Revenue Raising and Legitimacy:
Tax Collection and Finance Administration in the Ottoman Empire, 1560-1660 (Leiden, New York, and
Köln: Brill, 1996), 1-21 (pdf)
Week Eleven
November 6: Women and Sovereignty in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire
• Leslie Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire (Oxford and New
York: Oxford University Press, 1993)
Week Twelve
November 13: An Overview of the Late Period
• M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 2008)
Week Thirteen
November 20: Young Ottomans
• Şerif Mardin, The Genesis of Young Ottoman Thought: A Study in the Modernization of Turkish
Political Ideas (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1962)
Week Fourteen
November 27: Thanksgiving Holiday – NO CLASS
Week Fifteen
December 4: the Age of Abdülhamid II
• Selim Deringil, The Well-protected Domains: Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in the Ottoman
Empire, 1876-1909 (London & New York: I.B. Tauris, 1998)
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Week Sixteen
December 11: The Young Turks
• Feroz Ahmad, The Young Turks: The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkish Politics, 1908-1914
(Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1969)
• Erik J. Zürcher, “The Young Turks: Children of the Borderlands”, International Journal of Turkish
Studies 9:1-2 (Summer 2003), 275-86.
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