Research Faculty

AKIBA Jun

AKIBA Jun

Professor
Department of West Asian Studies,
Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia
j-akiba[at]
Research theme: History of the Ottoman Empire

History of the Ottoman Empire

Research Topics

Jun Akiba specializes in Ottoman history with special interest in transformation of Ottoman society during the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The focuses of his current study are following:
1) Ottoman judiciary institution and life histories of individual judges;
2) Social history of education with focus on both traditional and modern schools;
3) Social history of law, exploring the legal practices in Ottoman society by utilizing sharia court registers;
4) History on reading and writing in Ottoman society.

His main publications include: ““Girls are also People of the Holy Qur’an”: Girls’ Schools and Female Teachers in Pre-Tanzimat Istanbul,” Hawwa: Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World 17 (2019), 21-54, “Sharī‘a Judges in the Ottoman Nizāmiye Courts, 1864–1908,” Osmanlı Araştırmaları 51 (2018): 209–238, “The Local Councils as the Origin of the Parliamentary System in the Ottoman Empire,” in Development of Parliamentarism in the Modern Islamic World, ed. Sato Tsugitaka (Tokyo: Tokyo Bunko, 2009), 176–204, “A New School for Qadis: Education of the Sharia Judges in the Late Ottoman Empire,” Turcica 35 (2003): 125–163, and a coedited book (with Nobuya Hashimoto), Social History of Education in Modern Islam: Perspectives from Ottoman History [in Japanese], Kyoto: Showado, 2014.

Research activities

Articles and Book Chapters
  • Akiba, Jun. “Farming out Judicial Offices in the Ottoman Empire, c. 1750–1839.”Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 87, no. 1 2024.2: 29-49. [Link]
  • Zeynep Dörtok Abacı, Jun Akiba, Metin Coşgel, Boğaç Ergene. “Judiciary and Wealth in the Ottoman Empire, 1689–1843.”Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 66, no. 1-2 2023.2: 43-84. [Link]
  • Akiba, Jun. “Muallimhane-i Nüvvab’dan Mekteb-i Kuzat’a: Osmanlı Kadı Okulunun Yarım Yüzyıllık Serüveni.” Sahn-ı Semân’dan Dârülfünûn’a: XIX. Yüzyıl Osmanlı’da İlim ve Fikir Dünyası: Âlimler, Müesseseler ve Fikrî Eserler, XIX. Yüzyıl. Edited by Ahmet Hamdi Furat: Zeytinburnu Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2021: 13-29. (in Turkish)
  • Akiba, Jun. ““Girls Are Also People of the Holy Qur’an”: Girls’ Schools and Female Teachers in Pre-Tanzimat Istanbul.”Hawwa: Journal of Women of the Middle East and the Islamic World 17, no. 1 2019.4: 21-54. [Link]
  • Akiba, Jun. “Sharia Judges in the Ottoman Nizamiye Courts, 1864–1908.”Osmanlı Araştırmaları 51 2018.5: 209-237.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Empires and Sharia: A Comparison of Colonial Islamic Legal Systems.” Eurasia’s Regional Powers Compared: China, India, Russia. Edited by Shinichiro Tabata: Routledge, 2015: 171-187.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Ertuğrul Fırkateyni ile Japonya’ya Ulema Gönderme Girişimi.”Annals of Japan Association for Middle East Studies, no. 29-1 2013.7: 129-143.
  • Akiba, Jun. “The Local Councils as the Origin of the Parliamentary System in the Ottoman Empire.” Development of Parliamentarism in the Modern Islamic World. Edited by Sato Tsugitaka: Toyo Bunko, 2009: 176-204.
  • Akiba, Jun. “The Practice of Writing Curricula Vitae among the Lower Government Employees in the Late Ottoman Empire: Workers at the Şeyhülislâm’s Office.”European Journal of Turkish Studies 6 2007.12. [Link]
  • Akiba, Jun. “Preliminaries to a Comparative History of the Russian and Ottoman Empires: Perspectives from Ottoman Studies.” Imperiology: From Empirical Knowledge to Discussing the Russian Empire. Edited by Kimitaka Matsuzato: Slavic Research Center, 2007: 33-47. [Link]
  • Akiba, Jun. “From Kadı to Naib: Reorganization of the Ottoman Sharia Judiciary in the Tanzimat Period.” Frontiers of Ottoman Studies, vol. 1. Edited by Colin Imber, and Keiko Kiyotaki: I. B. Tauris, 2005: 43-60.
  • Akiba, Jun. “A New School for Qadis: Education of Sharia Judges in the Late Ottoman Empire.”Turcica: Revue d’études turques 35 2003.12: 125-163.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Bir Osmanlı Bürokratı ve Özel Yaşamı.”Tarih ve Toplum 33, no. 196 2000.4: 23-34.
Book Reviews
  • 秋葉淳. “守川知子著 『シーア派聖地参詣の研究』 MORIKAWA Tomoko, Shi’ite Pilgrimage to the Sacred ‘Atabat, Kyoto, Kyoto Daigaku Gakujutsu Shuppankai, 2007., iv+422pp.”日本中東学会年報 25, no. 1 (2009.9): 203-207. [Link]
Conference
  • Akiba, Jun. “Litigious People in Ottoman Society: A Study on Registers of Court Revenues.” Presented at the Turkologentag 2023 Vienna: The Fourth European Convention on Turkic, Ottoman and Turkish Studies, Universität Wien, September 21 2023.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Ottoman Studies in Japan: Current State and Prospect.” Presented at the Transnational Research in a Multipolar World: International Conference of the Max Weber Foundation, Sophia University, May 9 2023. [Link]
  • Akiba, Jun. “Osmanlı Tarihçiliğine Farklı Bakışlar-IV.” Presented at the Marmara Tarih Konuşmaları 2023, Marmara Üniversitesi (online), April 25 2023. [Link]
  • Akiba, Jun. “Visiting the Courtroom through Back Door: A New Look at the Ottoman Sharia Courts.” Presented at the Pacific Rim Ottomanists’ Conference, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo, March 22 2023. [Link]
  • Akiba, Jun. “Schoolboys in Ankara and its Environs in 1836: An Analysis of the Population Registers.” Presented at the 15th International Congress of Ottoman Social and Economic History, University of Zagreb, July 14 2022.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Ottoman Judges as Ego-document Authors: A Case of Şemdanizade Fındıklılı Süleyman Efendi.” Presented at the Symposium: Ottoman Ego-Documents, Istanbul Medeniyet University, June 16 2022.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Muallimhane-i Nüvvab (1855-1924): Son Dönem Osmanlı Eğitiminde bir Medrese-Mektep Sentezi.” Presented at the İSAMER Merkez Konuşmaları, Bahar 2021-11, İstanbul Üniversitesi, June 9 2021. (in Turkish)
  • Akiba, Jun. “Missing Husbands, Abandoned Wives: Judicial Practices in Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Anatolia.” Presented at the 第13回近代中央ユーラシア比較法制度史研究会(京都大学羽田記念館), 京都大学羽田記念館, November 16 2019.
  • Akiba, Jun. “The Governor’s Divan and the Sharia Court: Administration of Justice in the Ottoman Provinces during the Eighteenth Century.” Presented at the Department of History, Bilkent University, Bilkent University, Ankara, October 31 2019.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Muallimhane-i Nüvvab’dan Mekteb-i Kuzat’a: Osmanlı Kadı Okulunun Yarım Yüzyıllık Serüveni.” Presented at the Sahn-ı Semân’dan Dârülfünûn’a Osmanlı’da İlim ve Fikir Dünyası: 19. Yüzyıl, Âlimler, Müesseseler ve Fikrî Eserler, İstanbul Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi, Zeytinburnu Belediyesi, December 20 2018. (in Turkish)
  • Akiba, Jun. “Seeking Selves in Ottoman Archival Documents: Şemdanizade Fındıklılı Süleyman and His Court Records.” Presented at the Fifth World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES), University of Seville, July 19 2018.
  • Akiba, Jun. “The Historian Şemdanizade Süleyman (d. 1780): A Deputy Judge and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire.” Presented at the Research Talk at Department of History, University of California, Davis, Departments of History and Religious Studies and the Study of Religion Graduate Group, UC Davis, May 31 2018.
  • Akiba, Jun. “The Judiciary and Fiscal Transformation in the Ottoman Empire, 1700–1839.” Presented at the Seminar talk at Department of History, Stanford University, May 29 2018.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Writing History, Writing Documents: Self-representation of an Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Historian-cum-Judge.” Presented at the CMES Sohbet-i Osmani Lecture Series, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University, April 23 2018.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Ottoman Venality, or Tax Farming of Judicial Offices in the Ottoman Empire, c.1700–1839.” Presented at the Sharīʿa Workshop, MIddle East Institute, Columbia University, January 26 2018.
  • Akiba, Jun. “A Historian by Vocation, a Naib by Occupation: The Life and Career of Şemdanizade Süleyman Efendi (d. 1780).” Presented at the The 14th International Congress of Ottoman Social and Economic History, University of Sofia, Sofia, July 26 2017.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Ankara, Sarajevo, and İbradı: Rise of Kuzat Families in the Ottoman Provinces.” Presented at the International Workshop: Transformation of Ottoman Society during the Eighteenth Century, The Toyo Bunko, Tokyo, July 9 2017.
  • Akiba, Jun. “Sharia Judge as a Tax Farmer: The Ottoman Judiciary during the 18th Century.” Presented at the Turkologentag 2016: Second European Convention on Turkic, Ottoman and Turkish Studies, Hamburg, September 16 2016.
Magazine Articles
  • Akiba, Jun. “Podcast: Girls are also people of the holy Qur’an, with Jun Akiba.”YouTube: BrillPublishing (2022.4): 1. [Link]
  • Akiba, Jun. “[Podcast] Muslim Girls’ Education in Ottoman Istanbul.”On the Relevance of the Humanities: Brill (2019.9): 1. [Link]

Experience

YearEducation
2021.4- present: Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo
2018.4 – 2021.3: Associate Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo
2017.9–August 2018: Visiting Scholar, Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University
2017–present: Associate Professor, Graduate School of Humanities, Chiba University
2014–2017: Associate Professor, Faculty of Letters, Chiba University
2011–2014: Associate Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Science, Chiba University
June 2010–September 2010: Visiting Research Fellow, Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History, Boğaziçi University
2009–2010: Research Fellow, Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, Koç University
2007–2011: Associate Professor, Faculty of Letters, Chiba University
2007–present: Research Fellow, Toyo Bunko (The Oriental Library)
2004–2007: Assistant Professor, Faculty of Letters, Chiba University
1996.4 –March 2003 The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology (Doctor of Letters)
1994.4 –March 1996 The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology (Master of Arts)
YearAcademic experience