Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche

Ottoman studies is a vibrant and ever-evolving field, where our understanding of the Empire is continuously reassessed in different intellectual and political contexts and enriched by a diverse range of sources. The context of the centenary provides us with an auspicious occasion to discuss the Empire’s political demise and to reflect on the state of our field. Taking advantage of this momentous milestone, I extended an invitation to some of my colleagues who have adopted innovative approaches, made use of diverse sources, and employed new methodologies in their latest studies. They kindly responded to my call, and submitted their papers.
In this roundtable, Afacan introduces the history of emotions as a new field and discusses its potential as an «analytical tool» for studying different periods of Ottoman history. In doing so, she reflects on the possible risks of walking on the «slippery ground» of emotions, such as over-generalizations or confusing social norms with emotions. In the second contribution, Akpınar contextualizes the importance of environmental history in Ottoman studies and emphasizes the value of an «interconnected» conceptualization between state, society, and environmental factors in the study of Ottoman and Turkish modernization. Mazzucotelli then addresses the changes in the historiography of Ottoman rule in the Levant, showing how an interplay of Orientalism, Eurocentrism, nationalism, and views of Ottoman decline played a role in the region’s troubled political and social context. Next, Ozavcı clari- fies how to update our knowledge of one of the most important diplomatic issues of the nineteenth century, the Eastern Question. Topal, on the other hand, focuses on conceptual history as a method for approaching the Ottoman Tanzimat and modernization. Finally, Yenen’s paper zooms in on the historiography of the dissolution of the empire and discusses the challenge of methodological nationalism and the limitations of imperial vs. national policy conceptualizations.