Languages


Course

HIST 572 Sources and Methods for 17th and 18th century Ottoman History Select Term:
This is one of a series of term-courses reviewing sources relevant for the study of Ottoman and Turkish history in different periods, as well as methods that have been developed and employed by historians on the basis of different types of sources. Specifically for the 17th and 18th centuries, HIST 572 starts out with a review of the decline paradigm, which among other things portrays the Ottoman Empire as a stagnant, peripheral and passive spectator in Early Modernity, and which has been persuasively challenged since the 1970s. Building upon research based on the central Ottoman archives over the last three decades, and using the state as the key unit of analysis, the first part of this course takes an in-depth look at people and ideas in the Ottoman territories over 1600-1800, via (1) the changing political economy, (2) the transformation of agrarian relations, (3) the problems of provisioning Istanbul, (4) struggles between the reforming and conservative wings of the ruling elite, and (5) the "women's sultanate", so-called, and the changing legitimation patterns of the House of Osman. A second part deals with (6) economic, social and cultural life in the provinces, and (7) the growth of international trading cities such as Thessaloniki, Izmir or Aleppo. In concluding, historiographical attention is devoted to the clichés or tropes of (8) the "Tulip Age", (9) "Oriental despotism", and (10) "incorporation into the world- system".
SU Credits : 3.000
ECTS Credit : 10.000
Prerequisite : -
Corequisite : -