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| Semester | fall semester 2023 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Özhan Kapici (oezhan.kapici@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | The seminar is a survey of Ottoman cultural history, from the 14th century to the beginning of the modernization period, emphasizing various aspects of the folk and elite cultural practices of the subjects and ruling classes in their daily life. The course covers cultural dichotomies in divergent communities from a broad perspective. The topics of the seminar include, on the one hand, popular cultural life and institutions like guilds, pious foundations, or dervish orders, and also, on the other hand, the high cultural life and institutions around the palace. The daily life in the city and countryside, the cultural history of gender, morality, public spaces like coffeehouses, architecture, festivals, traditions, popular gastronomy, and other material cultural practices are also included within the scope of the course. The course will handle Ottoman cultural components, highlighting their transformations over a long durée of the empire and their legacy in the Near and Middle East. This course will use both indigenous and western historiographical sources of Ottoman cultural history. Although occasional references will be made to pre- and post-Ottoman times, while exploring these subjects through primary and secondary sources, the focus will be on the period between the 14th and 18th centuries. |
| Learning objectives | - to familiarize participants with the sources, subjects, and discussions about Ottoman cultural history in recent literature in the field. -to understand the attitudes and patterns of Ottoman popular and elite cultures and to become acquainted with patterns of daily life in the Ottoman Empire. - to develop knowledge of research sources in the cultural history of the Near and Middle East in the Ottoman period. |
| Bibliography | Dankoff, Robert. An Ottoman Traveler: Selections from the Book of Travels of Evliya Çelebi, Eland Publishing, 2011. Dankoff, Robert. An Ottoman Mentality: The World of Evliya Çelebi, Leiden: Brill, 2006. Faroqhi, Suraiya. Women in the Ottoman Empire: A Social and Political History, London: I.B.Tauris, 2023. Faroqhi, Suraiya. Surviving Istanbul: Struggles, Feast and Calamities in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Istanbul: Koç University Press, 2023. Faroqhi, Suraiya. A Cultural History of the Ottomans: The Imperial Elite and its Artefacts, London: I.B.Tauris, 2016. Faroqhi, Suraiya. Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire, London: I.B.Tauris, 2005. Gottfried, Hagen. An Ottoman Cosmography: Translation of Cihânnümâ, Lieden: Brill, 2021. Işın, Mary. Bountiful Empire: A History of Ottoman Cuisine, Reaktion Books, 2018. Kafadar, Cemal. "A Rome of One's Own: Reflections on Cultural Geography and Identity in the Lands of Rum", Muqarnas 24/1 (2007), pp.7-25. Karamustafa, Ahmet T. God's Unruly Friends: Dervish Groups in the Islamic Later Middle Period, 1200-1550, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994. Karateke, Hakan - Anetshofer, Helga (eds.), The Ottoman World: A Cultural History Reader, 1450-1700, Oakland: University of California Press, 2021. Montagu, Mary Wortley, The Turkish Embassy Letters, Eland Publishing, 2021. Peirce, Leslie P. Morality Tales: Law and Gender in the Ottoman Court of Aintab, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Terzioğlu, Derin. "The Imperial Circumcision Festival of 1582: An Interpretation", Muqarnas 12/1 (1995), pp.84-100. |
| Comments | The seminar starts in the second week of the semester. |
| Admission requirements | No specific requirements. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Thursday | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 28.09.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 05.10.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 12.10.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 19.10.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 26.10.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 02.11.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 09.11.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 16.11.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 23.11.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 30.11.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 07.12.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Raum 104 |
| Thursday 14.12.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Thursday 21.12.2023 | 14.15-16.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum U113 |
| Modules |
Modul: Fortgeschrittene Nahoststudien (Bachelor's degree subject: Near & Middle Eastern Studies) Modul: Gesellschaft in Osteuropa (Bachelor's degree subject: Eastern European Cultures) Modul: Gesellschaft in Osteuropa (Bachelor's degree program: Eastern European Studies) Modul: Themen der Near & Middle Eastern Studies (Master's degree subject: Near & Middle Eastern Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Continuous assessment, writing, and presentation of a paper. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Nahost-Studien |