Ottomans & Middle East

Catalog description

This seminar is on the history of the late Ottoman Empire. It addresses the complex social and political transformations that the empire went through in the nineteenth- and twentieth centuries. Over the semester we will travel along the long arc of the late Ottoman history, observing the many overlapping identities that shaped it. More specifically, the subjects we will discuss include the changing relationship between the Ottoman state and society, ethno-national and religious conflicts, political revolutions and their far-reaching implications, women, Ottoman cities and the countryside. We will also examine the dynamics of the empire's disintegration into independent nation states in the aftermath of World War I and the legacy that the Ottomans left behind.