Dear Colleagues at the IAS Project:
The following is the prospectus for a workshop, titled
"Reproduction of Islamic Knowledge in the Ottoman Empire: Continuity and Change in the Islamic and Ottoman Traditions"
that the research group "Interrelationships between Knowledge and Society in the Islamic World" of the Group 5 is going to hold on October 27 (1pm-5pm) in rooms 201 & 202, Sanjo-kaikan, the University of Tokyo.
Map: http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/eng/campus/map/map01e/e14.html
For registration, please send e-mail to IAS Unit 5 Office < 5jimu@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp > by October 23.
"Knowledge and Society" group hopes many of you will join to enrich our discussion.
(To those who reside outside the Tokyo area: we may be able to help with the travel expenses. Please contact Kazuo Morimoto morikazu@let.hokudai.ac.jp)
We are pleased to announce that the Research Group "Interrelationships between Knowledge and Society in the Islamic World" (Group 5, Islamic Area Studies Project) is going to hold a workshop, titled "Reproduction of Islamic Knowledge in the Ottoman Empire: Continuity and Change in the Islamic and Ottoman Traditions" on October 27, 2001 in Tokyo.
Reproduction of a certain set of knowledge that is deemed legitimate and culturally valuable always contributes to the reproduction of the social structure. This process involves, among others, reproduction of the social groups that possess or monopolize the knowledge and the educational system through which the knowledge is reproduced. Thus the theme of this workshop encompasses both the cultural and social reproduction which is deeply interrelated to the reproduction of knowledge.
The typical understanding of the Islamic education has emphasized its informal and oral character and the central position of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) within it. Also it has commonly characterized the ulama, the products of the education, as notables and intermediary between the state and the people. This understanding is mainly derived from historical studies of the medieval Arab world and from observations of more recent practices in Iran, the Maghrib, and Yemen.
However, the Ottoman case, especially when viewed from its imperial capital Istanbul, is apparently not consistent with this understanding. The Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century institutionalized the Islamic education as an officially required qualification for the state-appointed Islamic judgeship and professorship. The elaborate hierarchy of Islamic judiciary and professorate is the most characteristic of the Ottoman Ilmiye, the juridico-educational institution. Although this system has been known to historians, its historical development and function is yet to be fully understood.
Much less studied is the later transformation of the Ilmiye institution in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the Ottoman Empire was reorganized into a more centralized and intrusive state and developed the civil officialdom and the West-inspired education to staff it. The reform of the Islamic judiciary was initiated as part of state's attempt to achieve centralized and effective administration. Also the Islamic education could not stay immune from the state's administrative reforms as well as from the social change. The cultural value of the Islamic knowledge and the social role of its possessors, i.e. the ulama (ulema), were transformed as the structure of society and state changed.
This workshop will survey the Ottoman pattern of reproduction of Islamic knowledge by focusing on the system of reproduction of Islamic judges and professors. Not only the classical Ottoman Ilmiye institution but also that of the later stages after the Tanzimat reforms will be examined. Since the imperial capital was the center of the Ottoman system, our main focus will be on Istanbul, but we will remain aware of the importance of the provinces and their significant differences from the center. Through comparisons with the "typical" traditional Islamic education, the workshop will attempt to elucidate the continuity and change in the Islamic and Ottoman traditions.
To this meeting we have invited three young scholars of the Ottoman history specializing in the field of the Ottoman Islamic education and/or judiciary:
Dr. Yuriko Matsuo (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) "The Mulazemet System: Education and Recruitment of Ottoman Ulema in the 16th-17th Century."
Mr. Halil Ibrahim Erbay (SOAS, University of London) "Being Teachers in the Ottoman Traditional Education: Social Mobility and Career Pattern Among Istanbul Dersiams in the Late 19th Century."
Mr. Jun Akiba (University of Tokyo) "A New School for Qadis: Education of the Sharia Judge in the Late Ottoman Empire."
It is hoped that this small workshop will offer a good opportunity for fruitful discussion to those interested in the interrelations between knowledge and society.
(Research Group: Interrelationships between Knowledge and Society in the Islamic World)
For further information, contact Kazuo Morimoto (Faculty of Letters, Hokkaido University: morikazu@let.hokudai.ac.jp)