The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo will be organizing an online workshop on Ottoman history. This is the first of the "Workshop Series on Ottoman History," and Dr. Nil Tekgül (Bilkent University) will contribute to Theme B of the series, "New Readings of Ottoman Sources," with a paper on the history of emotions in the Ottoman Empire. To attend the workshop, please fill in the form below.

Date and time: October 22, 2022 (Sat), 4pm–6pm (JST)

Venue: Zoom meeting

Speaker: Nil Tekgül (Bilkent University)

Title: Tracing Emotions in the Ottoman Archives: What it meant and how it felt like to be an Ottoman subject in the early modern era?

Regsitration form: https://forms.gle/G9JiXHBJB8zqwYSt8 (Open until the end of October 21)

Abstract:
The field of “history of emotions” represents fundamentally a new direction in the discipline of history which informs every historical inquiry. It offers a new way to understand the past by exploring the effect and dimension of emotions on behavior, culture, institutions, rituals and others demanding a fresh look at our familiar sources of Ottoman history. This paper starts with a brief discussion on the state-of-the-art of the field of history of emotions worldwide. It then proceeds to emotions in Ottoman history and discusses how to trace emotions in the archival material. It asks the question of what it meant and how it felt to be an Ottoman subject in the early modern era on two grounds which were interdependent and intertwined with one another. On political grounds, it explores emotions of compassion and love and discuss how emotions relate to political concept of protection. On societal grounds, it explores the community-building processes in residential quarters and guilds and argues that a shared concept of gratitude functioned as a tool for drawing boundaries of their communities.

Contact: j-akiba[at]ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp