Podcasts about nir shafir

with Fariba Zarinebaf hosted by Sam Dolbee and Nir Shafir | In this episode, Fariba Zarinebaf discusses the history of Galata and the early modern Mediterranean more broadly. Beginning with the incorporation of Galata's Genoese community of Istanbul under Ottoman rule in 1453, Zarinebaf explains how the treaties known as the capitulations (ahdname in Turkish) provided a durable framework for commercial exchange and pluralistic everyday life in Ottoman port cities. She also considers how these arrangements compared with commerce and life in non-Ottoman Mediterranean ports. Through a focus on French-Ottoman relations, Zarinebaf offers a glimpse of how treaties become involved in changing economic fortunes in the Mediterranean and the world. She also attends to how these economic patterns shaped the more intimate aspects of social life in Galata, closing with the impact of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt on the French community of Galata. « Click for More »

Episode 507 with Fariba Zarinebaf hosted by Sam Dolbee and Nir Shafir | In this episode, Fariba Zarinebaf discusses the history of Galata and the early modern Mediterranean more broadly. Beginning with the incorporation of Galata's Genoese community of Istanbul under Ottoman rule in 1453, Zarinebaf explains how the treaties known as the capitulations (ahdname in Turkish) provided a durable framework for commercial exchange and pluralistic everyday life in Ottoman port cities. She also considers how these arrangements compared with commerce and life in non-Ottoman Mediterranean ports. Through a focus on French-Ottoman relations, Zarinebaf offers a glimpse of how treaties become involved in changing economic fortunes in the Mediterranean and the world. She also attends to how these economic patterns shaped the more intimate aspects of social life in Galata, closing with the impact of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt on the French community of Galata. « Click for More »

Episode 458 with Kathryn Babayan hosted by Nir ShafirIn the seventeenth century, the city of Isfahan flourished as the capital of the Safavid Empire. How did this vibrant and growing city shape the very nature of its inhabitants? In this episode, we speak to Kathryn Babayan about how the city’s residents learned to read its new architecture and social life and how this budding urbanity in turn developed new ways of being and belonging among its residents. She focuses specifically on anthologies, those personal collections of letters, paintings, and poems that survive today by the thousands. These anthologies, curated and preserved by urbanites over generations, are one of the finest testaments to the new subjectivities of the early modern city in the Safavid realms.« Click for More »

Episode 455 featuring Nükhet Varlık, Yaron Ayalon, Orhan Pamuk, Lori Jones, Valentina Pugliano, and Edna Bonhomme narrated by Chris Gratien and Maryam Patton with contributions by Nir Shafir, Sam Dolbee, Tunç Şen, and Andreas GuidiThe plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis, which lives in fleas that in turn live on rodents. Coronavirus is not the plague. Nonetheless, we can find many parallels between the current pandemic and the experience of plague for people who lived centuries ago. This special episode of Ottoman History Podcast brings together lessons from our past episodes on plague and disease in the early modern Mediterranean. Our guests offer state of the art perspectives on the history of plague in the Ottoman Empire, and many of their observations may also be useful for thinking about epidemics in the present day.  « Click for More »

Episode 455 featuring Nükhet Varlık, Yaron Ayalon, Orhan Pamuk, Lori Jones, Valentina Pugliano, and Edna Bonhomme narrated by Chris Gratien and Maryam Patton with contributions by Nir Shafir, Sam Dolbee, Tunç Şen, and Andreas GuidiThe plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis, which lives in fleas that in turn live on rodents. Coronavirus is not the plague. Nonetheless, we can find many parallels between the current pandemic and the experience of plague for people who lived centuries ago. This special episode of Ottoman History Podcast brings together lessons from our past episodes on plague and disease in the early modern Mediterranean. Our guests offer state of the art perspectives on the history of plague in the Ottoman Empire, and many of their observations may also be useful for thinking about epidemics in the present day.  « Click for More »

Episode 455 featuring Nükhet Varlık, Yaron Ayalon, Orhan Pamuk, Lori Jones, Valentina Pugliano, and Edna Bonhomme narrated by Chris Gratien and Maryam Patton with contributions by Nir Shafir, Sam Dolbee, Tunç Şen, and Andreas GuidiThe plague is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis, which lives in fleas that in turn live on rodents. Coronavirus is not the plague. Nonetheless, we can find many parallels between the current pandemic and the experience of plague for people who lived centuries ago. This special episode of Ottoman History Podcast brings together lessons from our past episodes on plague and disease in the early modern Mediterranean. Our guests offer state of the art perspectives on the history of plague in the Ottoman Empire, and many of their observations may also be useful for thinking about epidemics in the present day.  « Click for More »

Episode 449 with Pascale Ghazaleh hosted by Nir Shafir Popular revolts across the Middle East during the 19th and early 20th century have often been described as nationalist or anti-colonial. But on what basis did people mobilize and what rights were they attempting to assert? In this conversation, Pascale Ghazaleh examines the language of protest, focusing on the actions of peasants and the working class, their understandings of property rights and ownership, and what they say about their political aspirations. She also reflects on the slow process of doing archival research in Egypt and challenges of access.   « Click for More »

Episode 446 featuring Emrah Safa Gürkan, Joshua White, and Daniel Hershenzon narrated by Chris Gratienwith contributions by Nir Shafir, Taylor Moore, Susanna Ferguson, and Zoe GriffithDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudPiracy is often depicted as a facet of the wild, lawless expanses of the high seas. But in this episode, we explore the order that governed piracy, captivity, and ransom in the early modern Mediterranean and in turn, how these practices shaped early modern politics, Mediterranean connections, and the emergent notions of international law. Emrah Safa Gürkan talks about Ottoman corsairs and the practicalities of piracy in the early modern Mediterranean. Joshua White discusses facets of Islamic law and gender in the realm of piracy. And Daniel Hershenzon explores the paradoxical connections forged by slavery, captivity, and ransom on both sides of the Mediterranean. « Click for More »

Episode 446 featuring Emrah Safa Gürkan, Joshua White, and Daniel Hershenzon narrated by Chris Gratienwith contributions by Nir Shafir, Taylor Moore, Susanna Ferguson, and Zoe GriffithDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudPiracy is often depicted as a facet of the wild, lawless expanses of the high seas. But in this episode, we explore the order that governed piracy, captivity, and ransom in the early modern Mediterranean and in turn, how these practices shaped early modern politics, Mediterranean connections, and the emergent notions of international law. Emrah Safa Gürkan talks about Ottoman corsairs and the practicalities of piracy in the early modern Mediterranean. Joshua White discusses facets of Islamic law and gender in the realm of piracy. And Daniel Hershenzon explores the paradoxical connections forged by slavery, captivity, and ransom on both sides of the Mediterranean. « Click for More »

Episode 444 with Hüseyin Yılmaz hosted by Nir Shafir and Alp Eren TopalDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn medieval Anatolia, political authority could be found in surprising places. In this podcast, we speak to Hüseyin Yılmaz about the political role of Sufi leaders in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. We explore how these shaykhs could become powerful political leaders in their own right and how the nascent Ottoman state dealt with their power, ultimately participating in what Yılmaz calls "the mystical turn" in Ottoman political thought.« Click for More »

Episode 444 with Hüseyin Yılmaz hosted by Nir Shafir and Alp Eren TopalDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn medieval Anatolia, political authority could be found in surprising places. In this podcast, we speak to Hüseyin Yılmaz about the political role of Sufi leaders in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. We explore how these shaykhs could become powerful political leaders in their own right and how the nascent Ottoman state dealt with their power, ultimately participating in what Yılmaz calls "the mystical turn" in Ottoman political thought.« Click for More »

Episode 416with Sooyong Kimhosted by Nir Shafir and Elisabetta BenigniDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudWhat made for a good poet in the Ottoman Empire? It is a question that far too few historians tackle because Ottoman poetry, especially that of the court, is often regarded as inaccessible. In this podcast, Sooyong Kim brings to life the social world of Ottoman poets, focusing in particular on Zati, a poet plying his trade in the imperial court in the first half of the sixteenth century. We speak about how poets succeeded and failed and why Zati's successors erased him from the canon of good poetry.« Click for More »

Episode 416with Sooyong Kimhosted by Nir Shafir and Elisabetta BenigniDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudWhat made for a good poet in the Ottoman Empire? It is a question that far too few historians tackle because Ottoman poetry, especially that of the court, is often regarded as inaccessible. In this podcast, Sooyong Kim brings to life the social world of Ottoman poets, focusing in particular on Zati, a poet plying his trade in the imperial court in the first half of the sixteenth century. We speak about how poets succeeded and failed and why Zati's successors erased him from the canon of good poetry.« Click for More »

Episode 403with Sarah Abrevaya Steinhosted by Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudMany students of Middle Eastern history know that that some non-Muslims subjects of the Ottoman Empire became "proteges" of European states in the nineteenth century and thus acquired extraterritorial legal protections. While we know the institutional history of extraterritoriality, the individual motivations and histories of those who chose to become proteges is relatively unknown. In this podcast, Sarah Stein speaks about what extraterritoriality meant to those Jews of the former Ottoman Empire that chose to take this path. In particular, it exposes the tenuous meaning of citizenship in the quickly changing legal world of the early twentieth century, as empires collapsed and new regime of borders and national belonging emerged.« Click for More »

Episode 403with Sarah Abrevaya Steinhosted by Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudMany students of Middle Eastern history know that that some non-Muslims subjects of the Ottoman Empire became "proteges" of European states in the nineteenth century and thus acquired extraterritorial legal protections. While we know the institutional history of extraterritoriality, the individual motivations and histories of those who chose to become proteges is relatively unknown. In this podcast, Sarah Stein speaks about what extraterritoriality meant to those Jews of the former Ottoman Empire that chose to take this path. In particular, it exposes the tenuous meaning of citizenship in the quickly changing legal world of the early twentieth century, as empires collapsed and new regime of borders and national belonging emerged.« Click for More »

Episode 400with Nir Shafirhosted by Suzie FergusonDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn this episode, Nir Shafir talks about the problem of "fake minatures" of Islamic science: small paintings that look old, but are actually contemporary productions. As these images circulate in museums, on book covers, and on the internet, they tell us more about what we want "Islamic science" to be than what it actually was. That, Nir tells us, is a lost opportunity. « Click for More »

Episode 400with Nir Shafirhosted by Suzie FergusonDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn this episode, Nir Shafir talks about the problem of "fake minatures" of Islamic science: small paintings that look old, but are actually contemporary productions. As these images circulate in museums, on book covers, and on the internet, they tell us more about what we want "Islamic science" to be than what it actually was. That, Nir tells us, is a lost opportunity. « Click for More »

Episode 400with Nir Shafirhosted by Suzie FergusonDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn this episode, Nir Shafir talks about the problem of "fake minatures" of Islamic science: small paintings that look old, but are actually contemporary productions. As these images circulate in museums, on book covers, and on the internet, they tell us more about what we want "Islamic science" to be than what it actually was. That, Nir tells us, is a lost opportunity. « Click for More »

Episode 400with Nir Shafirhosted by Suzie FergusonDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn this episode, Nir Shafir talks about the problem of "fake minatures" of Islamic science: small paintings that look old, but are actually contemporary productions. As these images circulate in museums, on book covers, and on the internet, they tell us more about what we want "Islamic science" to be than what it actually was. That, Nir tells us, is a lost opportunity. « Click for More »

Episode 400with Nir Shafirhosted by Suzie FergusonDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn this episode, Nir Shafir talks about the problem of "fake minatures" of Islamic science: small paintings that look old, but are actually contemporary productions. As these images circulate in museums, on book covers, and on the internet, they tell us more about what we want "Islamic science" to be than what it actually was. That, Nir tells us, is a lost opportunity. « Click for More »

Episode 394with Olly Akkermanhosted by Nir Shafir Download the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudHow do you conduct research on an archive you can’t talk about? This was the problem faced by our guest Olly Akkerman on her research trip to Gujarat when she went to work on the manuscript library of the Alawi Bohra community of Baroda. The sacred library was only accessible to the leaders of the Bohra community and its contents can’t be revealed publicly. In this podcast, Akkerman tells us the story of how she turned an initial obstacle into an opportunity to conduct a type of anthropological research on the social lives of manuscripts, a method she calls social codicology. « Click for More »

Thanks to our amazing supporters of our recent crowdfund, Ajam will now be producing and releasing podcasts. We expect a wide variety of formats, but we wanted to use our first episode as a chance to update our listeners and introduce our new series. Remember to visit us at ajammc.com to learn more or contact us! Check out the article from Nir Shafir that we discussed: https://aeon.co/essays/why-fake-miniatures-depicting-islamic-science-are-everywhere

Thanks to our amazing supporters of our recent crowdfund, Ajam will now be producing and releasing podcasts. We expect a wide variety of formats, but we wanted to use our first episode as a chance to update our listeners and introduce our new series. Remember to visit us at ajammc.com to learn more or contact us! Check out the article from Nir Shafir that we discussed: https://aeon.co/essays/why-fake-miniatures-depicting-islamic-science-are-everywhere

Episode 380with Konrad Hirschlerhosted by Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudWhen does a concubine need to join the reading group? And should the six-month old son come along as well? The answers are in our interview with Konrad Hirschler on the libraries of medieval Damascus. Using the original catalog of the Ashrafiyya Library of Damascus, Hirschler discusses the types of books that were donated to libraries, the surprising reading interests of medieval scholars, and how we might discover this lost world of bibliophiles. « Click for More »

Episode 365with John Chenhosted by Shireen Hamza and Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn the early twentieth century, Muslim modernizers all over the world were making new claims about Islam, and the Muslims of China were no exception. In this episode, we discuss the relationship of Southeast Asia to the emergence of a modern Chinese Islam. In a period often characterized in terms of non-Arab Muslims' rediscovery of the Middle East, John Chen shows how connections between Chinese Muslims (Hui) and diverse groups across the Indian Ocean also shaped the new Chinese Islam. The processes often considered to be Arabization were in fact multiregional exchanges. Delving especially into the histories of Islamic medicine in China, John illustrates how Chinese Muslim leaders, imams, and historians took to print, radio, and even to sea routes, to articulate new visions of identity in an emerging nation-state and a changing Islamic world. « Click for More »

Episode 365with John Chenhosted by Shireen Hamza and Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn the early twentieth century, Muslim modernizers all over the world were making new claims about Islam, and the Muslims of China were no exception. In this episode, we discuss the relationship of Southeast Asia to the emergence of a modern Chinese Islam. In a period often characterized in terms of non-Arab Muslims' rediscovery of the Middle East, John Chen shows how connections between Chinese Muslims (Hui) and diverse groups across the Indian Ocean also shaped the new Chinese Islam. The processes often considered to be Arabization were in fact multiregional exchanges. Delving especially into the histories of Islamic medicine in China, John illustrates how Chinese Muslim leaders, imams, and historians took to print, radio, and even to sea routes, to articulate new visions of identity in an emerging nation-state and a changing Islamic world. « Click for More »

Episode 354with Natalie Rothmanhosted by Nir Shafir and Aslihan GürbüzelDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudDragomans are often known as diplomatic translators, but their responsibilities and roles went much further than being mere interpreters. In this podcast, we speak with Natalie Rothman about how dragomans negotiated both linguistic space and social space across the Eastern Mediterranean. Focusing specifically on the case of Venetian dragomans, we discuss their training and how they managed to become brokers of knowledge and connections between the Ottoman Empire and myriad publics in Venice and beyond. In the second half of the podcast, we delve a bit deeper and examine how dragomans came to contribute to the budding world of Orientalist knowledge among seventeenth-century European scholars.« Click for More »

Episode 354with Natalie Rothmanhosted by Nir Shafir and Aslihan GürbüzelDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudDragomans are often known as diplomatic translators, but their responsibilities and roles went much further than being mere interpreters. In this podcast, we speak with Natalie Rothman about how dragomans negotiated both linguistic space and social space across the Eastern Mediterranean. Focusing specifically on the case of Venetian dragomans, we discuss their training and how they managed to become brokers of knowledge and connections between the Ottoman Empire and myriad publics in Venice and beyond. In the second half of the podcast, we delve a bit deeper and examine how dragomans came to contribute to the budding world of Orientalist knowledge among seventeenth-century European scholars.« Click for More »

Episode 346with Jan Haenraetshosted by Nir Shafir and Polina IvanovaDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudOver the course of the seventeenth century, Kashmir became a valley adorned with gardens as Mughal emperors and nobles built garden after garden across the valley floor and mountainous landscape. In this episode, we speak with landscape architect and preservation specialist Jan Haenaerts on his research into the history of these gardens. We discuss not only their historical formation and usage of these spaces but also how they differed from the more well known Mughal gardens surrounding the Taj Mahal and Humayun's tomb. In the second half of the episode we also explore the difficulty of conserving historical gardens and landscapes in general and how this occurs in conflict areas such as Kashmir.« Click for More »

Episode 344with Gershon Shafirhosted by Nir Shafir Download the podcast  Feed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloud 2017 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Six-Day War and the start of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights. Gershon Shafir discusses why this occupation has lasted for so long in the West Bank and how “the Occupation” has differed from earlier forms of settler colonialism in Israel-Palestine. In particular, we focus on the state of “permanent temporariness” that the Israeli government has purposefully inculcated in the face of international law and the emergence of a specific movement of religious-nationalist settlers. At the end, Shafir contemplates how the Occupation has changed the larger Arab-Israeli conflict itself and, by means of a feasibility study, suggests a variety of different visions for the future of the area.« Click for More »

Episode 321with Peter McMurrayhosted by Nir Shafir and Huma GuptaDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudWhat is the aural possibility of Islamic life in European cities today? This special episode begins with a ten-minute segment from an audio composition crafted by our guest, musicologist Peter McMurray, from recent field recordings and ethnographies he conducted among various Turkish communities in Berlin. As the discussion progresses we weave in and out of two discussions. First, we look at the means by which Turkish migrants from the Alevi, Shi'i, and Sufi communities use the different private and public spaces of the city as a stage for their religiosity. We add to this a second discussion of how ethnography, aesthetics, and the aural intersect in scholarship today. « Click for More »

Episode 295with Arthur Asserafhosted by Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudWe often assume that as we become increasingly connected to ever larger networks of information and news we become part of larger and more cohesive polities. In this episode, Arthur Asseraf discusses how the introduction of new networks of communication in colonial Algeria generated friction and unevenness instead of expansive flows. Looking at telegraphs, newspapers, cinemas and more we discuss not only the types of intermediaries that flourished in this new environment, but also how news led to new and imagined forms of Muslim belonging in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. From a discussion of telegrams and coffee shops we jump into discussions of pan-Islamism, colonial conspiracy theories, and the nature of polities.« Click for More »

Episode 293with Daniel-Joseph Macarthur-Sealhosted by Nir Shafir featuring additional material by Samuel DolbeeDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudThe Opium Wars and the massive trade in opium between South Asia and China over the nineteenth century attest to the prominent role of opium within the history of colonialism and globalization. But it is less well known that in the early twentieth century, the Republic of Turkey became the largest exporter of opium in the world. In this episode we speak with Daniel-Joseph Macarthur-Seal about how and why opium became an export commodity in Turkey and how Turkish citizens smuggled the substance out once it became formally illegal. Along the way we gain a glimpse into the economic history of the young republic, the legal life of its citizens abroad, and how these smuggling operations built new forms of cosmopolitanism from the ground up as the Turkish republic became less and less accommodating for non-Muslims.« Click for More »

Episode 290with Emmanuel Szurek  hosted by Chris Gratien and Aurélie Perrier  featuring Seçil Yılmaz and Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudNational language politics and the transformation of literacy have effected major changes in both spoken and written language over the course of the last century, but few languages have changed as dramatically as modern Turkish. The reform of the language from the 1920s onward, which not only replaced the Ottoman alphabet with a new Latin-based alphabet but also led to a radical transformation of the lexicon and grammar, has been described by Geoffrey Lewis as "catastrophic success" due to the extreme but unquestionably successful nature of this attempt to revolutionize language in Turkey. In this episode, we talk to Emmanuel Szurek about his research on the politics of the alphabet change, the language reforms, and the surname laws of the early Republican period. Our extended interview is followed by a brief conversation in French about the history of French Turcology.Release Date: 4 January 2017« Click for More »

with Gwendolyn Collaçohosted by Chris Gratien, Nir Shafir, and Huma GuptaDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudThe illustrated account of the festivals surrounding the circumcision of Sultan Ahmed III's sons in 1720 is one of the most iconic and celebrated depictions of urban life in Ottoman Istanbul. With its detailed text written by Vehbi, accompanied by the vibrant miniature paintings of Levni, this work has been used as a source for understanding the cast of professions and personalities that occupied the public space of the Ottoman capital. In this episode, we focus not on the colorful characters of Levni's paintings but rather the backdrop for the celebrations: the Golden Horn and the waterfront of 18th-century Istanbul. As our guest Gwendolyn Collaço explains, the accounts of festivals in early modern Istanbul reflect the transformation of the city and an orientation towards the waterfront not only in the Ottoman Empire but also neighboring states of the Mediterranean. « Click for More »

with Gwendolyn Collaçohosted by Chris Gratien, Nir Shafir, and Huma GuptaDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudThe illustrated account of the festivals surrounding the circumcision of Sultan Ahmed III's sons in 1720 is one of the most iconic and celebrated depictions of urban life in Ottoman Istanbul. With its detailed text written by Vehbi, accompanied by the vibrant miniature paintings of Levni, this work has been used as a source for understanding the cast of professions and personalities that occupied the public space of the Ottoman capital. In this episode, we focus not on the colorful characters of Levni's paintings but rather the backdrop for the celebrations: the Golden Horn and the waterfront of 18th-century Istanbul. As our guest Gwendolyn Collaço explains, the accounts of festivals in early modern Istanbul reflect the transformation of the city and an orientation towards the waterfront not only in the Ottoman Empire but also neighboring states of the Mediterranean. « Click for More »

with Gwendolyn Collaçohosted by Chris Gratien, Nir Shafir, and Huma GuptaDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudThe illustrated account of the festivals surrounding the circumcision of Sultan Ahmed III's sons in 1720 is one of the most iconic and celebrated depictions of urban life in Ottoman Istanbul. With its detailed text written by Vehbi, accompanied by the vibrant miniature paintings of Levni, this work has been used as a source for understanding the cast of professions and personalities that occupied the public space of the Ottoman capital. In this episode, we focus not on the colorful characters of Levni's paintings but rather the backdrop for the celebrations: the Golden Horn and the waterfront of 18th-century Istanbul. As our guest Gwendolyn Collaço explains, the accounts of festivals in early modern Istanbul reflect the transformation of the city and an orientation towards the waterfront not only in the Ottoman Empire but also neighboring states of the Mediterranean. « Click for More »

with Lerna Ekmekçioğluhosted by Chris Gratien, Nir Shafir, and Eda ÇakmakçıDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudAfter facing the destruction of their community during the First World War, former Ottoman Armenians set about rebuilding in Turkey first during a period of relative optimism under the Allied occupation of Istanbul and later as non-Muslim citizens of new Turkish nation-state. In her new work entitled Recovering Armenia, Lerna Ekmekçioğlu explores the changes and continuities in the identity of Istanbul's Armenian community during this transformative period. In this interview, we explore Armenian collective politics, feminist movements, and expressions of loyalty through the Armenian press and through the writings of women in particular, and we examine the issue of Armenian belonging in Turkey through the lens of "secular dimmitude" among non-Muslim citizens of a predominantly Muslim but secular republic.« Click for More »

with Nükhet Varlıkhosted by Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | SoundCloudGeneticists and historians are generally considered strange bedfellows. However, new advances in bio-archaeology and genetics are facilitating this odd coupling. In this episode, we speak to Nükhet Varlık, author of Plague and Empire in the Early Modern Mediterranean World : the Ottoman experience, 1347-1600 (Cambridge University Press), about how genetic evidence has transformed the study of the plague in the past ten years, allowing geneticists to more readily identify the presence of Yersinia pestis bacteria in human remains. Whereas before historians had been hesitant to diagnose diseases posthumously, they can now speak with greater certainty about the presence of plague. We then discuss the life of plague in the early modern Ottoman Empire in particular, focusing on the creation of ‘plague capitals’ in the urban centers of the Ottoman Empire following the conquest of Constantinople and how integrating the Ottoman experience of plague changes the story of how historians of medicine approach the topic. To inspire future collaborations among our listeners, we end with a peek at the process of working with geneticists and what such approaches can contribute to the study of the history of the Middle East.« Click for More »

with Eric van Lithosted by Nir Shafir and Chris GratienDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | SoundCloudCommentaries are a common, even a nearly ineluctable, part of the textual landscape of the early modern Ottoman Empire. Especially when it came to philosophy, commentaries were perhaps the main venue of discussions. An earlier generation of scholars believed these commentaries to be derivative but we now see them as a major piece in the development of the philosophical tradition in the Middle East. In this podcast, we speak with L.W.C (Eric) van Lit about how to approach these commentaries and their effect on the intellectual life of the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth and sixteenth century.« Click for More »

with Michael Tworekhosted by Nir Shafir, Polina Ivanova, and Shireen HamzaDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudA man known as Wojciech Bobowski to some, Albertus Bobovius to others, and Ali Ufki to yet others, is one of the prime examples of an early modern intermediary operating in the seventeenth-century Ottoman Empire. In this podcast, we discuss with Michael Tworek the fascinating figure of the Bobovius, from his childhood in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, to his capture in a Tatar slave raid, to his numerous translations both from and to Ottoman Turkish. These included musical treatises, the translation of the New Testament, the Genevan Psalter and more. In particular, we focus on how Bobovius mediated and developed his image as an inter-imperial mediator to his correspondents in the Republic of Letters.« Click for More »

with Kathryn Schwartzhosted by Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudWe often regard print as a motor of social change, leaving revolutions in its wake, whether political and religious. For historians of the Middle East, this line of thought always leads to the (predictable) question: why didn’t Muslims or Ottomans or Arabs adopt print? In this episode, Kathryn Schwartz discusses why this question is often poorly posed and then delves into an in-depth look at how and why people used print in one particular historical context—nineteenth-century Cairo. Touching upon topics such Napoleon, Mehmed Ali, and the Bulaq press, we explore how print slowly and haphazardly embedded itself into various aspects of Egyptian learned life. This fresh history casts nineteenth-century Egypt in a new light by examining the technological adaptation of print not as an act of unstoppable and transformative modernity, but as a slow and incremental expansion of already existing practices of book production.« Click for More »

with Boğaç Ergenehosted by Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudWere Ottoman courts just? Boğaç Ergene discusses this basic question in this podcast by forging a new path beyond the earlier views of the justice system as inherently fickle and capricious—immortalized in Weber's concept of kadijustiz—and the idealistic views of Ottoman courts as a site of equal and fair treatment for all. Drawing on the results of research for his forthcoming publication with Metin Coşgel entitled The Economics of Ottoman Justice, Ergene argues for employing the quantitative methods of “law and economics” scholars, demonstrating that entrenched power holders in early modern Ottoman society were always able to use the Ottoman court system to produce outcomes favorable to themselves. « Click for More »

with Boğaç Ergenehosted by Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudWere Ottoman courts just? Boğaç Ergene discusses this basic question in this podcast by forging a new path beyond the earlier views of the justice system as inherently fickle and capricious—immortalized in Weber’s concept of kadijustiz—and the idealistic views of Ottoman courts as a site of equal and fair treatment for all. Drawing on the results of research for his forthcoming publication with Metin Coşgel entitled The Economics of Ottoman Justice, Ergene argues for employing the quantitative methods of “law and economics” scholars, demonstrating that entrenched power holders in early modern Ottoman society were always able to use the Ottoman court system to produce outcomes favorable to themselves. « Click for More »

with Valentina Puglianohosted by Nir ShafirThis episode is part of an ongoing series entitled History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise.  Download the seriesPodcast Feed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudStarting in the fifteenth century, medical doctors from the Italian peninsula began accompanying Venetian consular missions to cities in the Mamluk and Ottoman empires. These doctors treated not only Venetian consular officials, but also local artisans and rulers. In this podcast, Valentina Pugliano discusses the experiences of these travelling doctors both in the Italian peninsula and in the Middle East. We explore their interactions with the local population and their effect on the medical ecology of the Middle East as well as the sources we use to write such histories. Together, the experiences of these doctors point to the connected histories of medicine and science in the early modern Mediterranean.« Click for More »

with Emine Fetvacıhosted by Emily Neumeier and Nir ShafirEmine Fetvacı discusses her research for Picturing History at the Ottoman Court (Indiana University Press) with Emily Neumeier and Nir Shafir.Download the episodePodcast Feed | iTunes | SoundcloudIn the second half of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman court became particularly invested in writing its own history. This initiative primarily took the form of official chronicles, and the court historian (şehnameci), a new position established in the 1550s, set to work producing manuscripts accompanied by lavish illustrations. However, the paintings in these texts should not be understood merely as passive descriptions of historical events. Rather, these images served as complex conveyors of meaning in their own right, designed by teams of artists to satisfy the aspirations of their patrons, which included not only the sultan but also other members of the court. In this episode, Emily Neumeier and Nir Shafir speak with Emine Fetvacı about these illustrated histories, the subject of her 2013 volume Picturing History at the Ottoman Court. « Click for More »

with Emine Fetvacıhosted by Emily Neumeier and Nir ShafirEmine Fetvacı discusses her research for Picturing History at the Ottoman Court (Indiana University Press) with Emily Neumeier and Nir Shafir.Download the episodePodcast Feed | iTunes | SoundcloudIn the second half of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman court became particularly invested in writing its own history. This initiative primarily took the form of official chronicles, and the court historian (şehnameci), a new position established in the 1550s, set to work producing manuscripts accompanied by lavish illustrations. However, the paintings in these texts should not be understood merely as passive descriptions of historical events. Rather, these images served as complex conveyors of meaning in their own right, designed by teams of artists to satisfy the aspirations of their patrons, which included not only the sultan but also other members of the court. In this episode, Emily Neumeier and Nir Shafir speak with Emine Fetvacı about these illustrated histories, the subject of her 2013 volume Picturing History at the Ottoman Court. « Click for More »

with Emine Fetvacıhosted by Emily Neumeier and Nir ShafirEmine Fetvacı discusses her research for Picturing History at the Ottoman Court (Indiana University Press) with Emily Neumeier and Nir Shafir.Download the episodePodcast Feed | iTunes | SoundcloudIn the second half of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman court became particularly invested in writing its own history. This initiative primarily took the form of official chronicles, and the court historian (şehnameci), a new position established in the 1550s, set to work producing manuscripts accompanied by lavish illustrations. However, the paintings in these texts should not be understood merely as passive descriptions of historical events. Rather, these images served as complex conveyors of meaning in their own right, designed by teams of artists to satisfy the aspirations of their patrons, which included not only the sultan but also other members of the court. In this episode, Emily Neumeier and Nir Shafir speak with Emine Fetvacı about these illustrated histories, the subject of her 2013 volume Picturing History at the Ottoman Court. « Click for More »

with Karen Pintohosted by Nir ShafirIn the latest addition to our series on history of science, Nir Shafir talks to Karen Pinto about her research on Islamic cartography and mapping.This episode is part of an ongoing series entitled History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise.  Download the seriesPodcast Feed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudHundreds of cartographic images of the world and its regions exist scattered throughout collections of medieval and early modern Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscripts. The sheer number of these extant maps tells us that from the thirteenth century onward, when these map-manuscripts began to proliferate, visually depicting the world became a major preoccupation of medieval Muslim scholars. However, these cartographers did not strive for mimesis, that is, representation or imitation of the real world. These schematic, geometric, and often symmetrical images of the world are iconographic representations—‘carto-ideographs'—of how medieval Muslim cartographic artists and their patrons perceived their world and chose to represent and disseminate this perception. In this podcast, we sit down with Karen Pinto to discuss the maps found in the cartographically illustrated Kitāb al-Masālik wa-al-Mamālik (Book of Routes and Realms) tradition, which is the first known geographic atlas of maps, its influence on Ottoman cartography, and how basic versions of these carto-ideographs were transported back to villages and far-flung areas of the Islamic empire.« Click for More »

with Karen Pintohosted by Nir ShafirIn the latest addition to our series on history of science, Nir Shafir talks to Karen Pinto about her research on Islamic cartography and mapping.This episode is part of an ongoing series entitled History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise.  Download the seriesPodcast Feed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudHundreds of cartographic images of the world and its regions exist scattered throughout collections of medieval and early modern Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscripts. The sheer number of these extant maps tells us that from the thirteenth century onward, when these map-manuscripts began to proliferate, visually depicting the world became a major preoccupation of medieval Muslim scholars. However, these cartographers did not strive for mimesis, that is, representation or imitation of the real world. These schematic, geometric, and often symmetrical images of the world are iconographic representations—‘carto-ideographs’—of how medieval Muslim cartographic artists and their patrons perceived their world and chose to represent and disseminate this perception. In this podcast, we sit down with Karen Pinto to discuss the maps found in the cartographically illustrated Kitāb al-Masālik wa-al-Mamālik (Book of Routes and Realms) tradition, which is the first known geographic atlas of maps, its influence on Ottoman cartography, and how basic versions of these carto-ideographs were transported back to villages and far-flung areas of the Islamic empire.« Click for More »

with Nur Sobers-Khanhosted by Chris Gratien and Nir ShafirThe legal and social environments surrounding slavery and manumission during the early modern period varied from place to place and profession to profession. In this episode, Nur Sobers-Khan presents her exciting research on the lives of a particular population of slaves in Ottoman Galata during the late sixteenth century, how they were classified and documented under Ottoman law, and the terms by which they were able to achieve their freedom.« Click for More »

with Nur Sobers-Khanhosted by Chris Gratien and Nir ShafirThe legal and social environments surrounding slavery and manumission during the early modern period varied from place to place and profession to profession. In this episode, Nur Sobers-Khan presents her exciting research on the lives of a particular population of slaves in Ottoman Galata during the late sixteenth century, how they were classified and documented under Ottoman law, and the terms by which they were able to achieve their freedom.« Click for More »

with Fariba Zarinebafhosted by Nir Shafir and Zoe GriffithThe capitulations, a series of bilateral agreements with European states and merchants, are sometimes held up as symbols of early Ottoman concessions to European powers and the beginnings of Ottoman economic decline. This misreading, which is in part the product of a misinterpretation of the word "capitulation" itself, impedes a proper understanding of Ottoman Empire and the legal context of the early modern Mediterranean. In this episode, Fariba Zarinebaf offers a different look at the capitulations or ahdnames within the broader context of law and diplomacy in Ottoman Galata and other port cities.Stream via Soundcloud (US / preferred)Stream via Hipcast (Turkey / Türkiye)Fariba Zarinebaf is an Associate Professor of History at University of California-Riverside. (see faculty page)Nir Shafir is a doctoral candidate at UCLA studying Ottoman intellectual history. (see academia.edu)Zoe Griffith is a doctoral candidate at Brown University studying the early modern Mediterranean. (see academia.edu)Episode No. 144Release date: 8 February 2014Editing and production by Chris GratienCitation: "Galata, Ottoman Ports, and the Capitulations," Fariba Zarinebaf, Nir Shafir, and Zoe Griffith, Ottoman History Podcast, No. 144 (8 Feburary 2014) http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2014/02/ottoman-empire-capitulations.html.Griffith is a doctoral candidate at Brown University studying the early modern Mediterranean - See more at: http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2011/11/ottoman-lebanon-property.html#sthash.qU9EtwKA.dpufZoe Griffith is a doctoral candidate at Brown University studying the early modern Mediterranean - See more at: http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2011/11/ottoman-lebanon-property.html#sthash.qU9EtwKA.dpuf

with Fariba Zarinebafhosted by Nir Shafir and Zoe GriffithThe capitulations, a series of bilateral agreements with European states and merchants, are sometimes held up as symbols of early Ottoman concessions to European powers and the beginnings of Ottoman economic decline. This misreading, which is in part the product of a misinterpretation of the word "capitulation" itself, impedes a proper understanding of Ottoman Empire and the legal context of the early modern Mediterranean. In this episode, Fariba Zarinebaf offers a different look at the capitulations or ahdnames within the broader context of law and diplomacy in Ottoman Galata and other port cities.Stream via Soundcloud (US / preferred)Stream via Hipcast (Turkey / Türkiye)Fariba Zarinebaf is an Associate Professor of History at University of California-Riverside. (see faculty page)Nir Shafir is a doctoral candidate at UCLA studying Ottoman intellectual history. (see academia.edu)Zoe Griffith is a doctoral candidate at Brown University studying the early modern Mediterranean. (see academia.edu)Episode No. 144Release date: 8 February 2014Editing and production by Chris GratienCitation: "Galata, Ottoman Ports, and the Capitulations," Fariba Zarinebaf, Nir Shafir, and Zoe Griffith, Ottoman History Podcast, No. 144 (8 Feburary 2014) http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2014/02/ottoman-empire-capitulations.html.Griffith is a doctoral candidate at Brown University studying the early modern Mediterranean - See more at: http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2011/11/ottoman-lebanon-property.html#sthash.qU9EtwKA.dpufZoe Griffith is a doctoral candidate at Brown University studying the early modern Mediterranean - See more at: http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2011/11/ottoman-lebanon-property.html#sthash.qU9EtwKA.dpuf

with Tuna Artunhosted by Nir ShafirThis episode is part of an ongoing series entitled History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise.  Download the seriesPodcast Feed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudAlchemy has traditionally been understood as a pseudoscience or protoscience that eventually gave way to modern chemistry. Less often have the writings of alchemists been studied on their own terms. Yet, given the endurance and prolific nature of the alchemical traditions and the involvement of important figures of "modern science" such as Isaac Newton in the field of alchemy, a teleological understanding of the transition from alchemy to chemistry seems inadequate for discussing how science was practiced in the past. This may be particularly true for the Ottoman context, where a longstanding tradition of alchemy becomes subsumed under a larger narrative of the triumph of Western science during the nineteenth century. In this podcast, Tuna Artun explores the world of alchemy and discusses its transformation during the Ottoman period.« Click for More »

with Tuna Artunhosted by Nir ShafirThis episode is part of an ongoing series entitled History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise.  Download the seriesPodcast Feed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudAlchemy has traditionally been understood as a pseudoscience or protoscience that eventually gave way to modern chemistry. Less often have the writings of alchemists been studied on their own terms. Yet, given the endurance and prolific nature of the alchemical traditions and the involvement of important figures of "modern science" such as Isaac Newton in the field of alchemy, a teleological understanding of the transition from alchemy to chemistry seems inadequate for discussing how science was practiced in the past. This may be particularly true for the Ottoman context, where a longstanding tradition of alchemy becomes subsumed under a larger narrative of the triumph of Western science during the nineteenth century. In this podcast, Tuna Artun explores the world of alchemy and discusses its transformation during the Ottoman period.« Click for More »

with Brett Wilsonhosted by Chris Gratien and Nir ShafirThis episode is part of an ongoing series entitled History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise.  Download the seriesPodcast Feed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudPrinting in Ottoman Turkish first emerged during the eighteenth century. Yet, even when print had arrived in full force by the middle of the nineteenth century, it remained forbidden to print the text most sought after by Ottoman readers: the Qur'an. In this episode, Brett Wilson discusses the rise of print and Qur'an printing in the Ottoman Empire as well as the emergence of Turkish translations of the Qur'an in the late Ottoman and early Republican eras.« Click for More »

with Brett Wilsonhosted by Chris Gratien and Nir ShafirThis episode is part of an ongoing series entitled History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise.  Download the seriesPodcast Feed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudPrinting in Ottoman Turkish first emerged during the eighteenth century. Yet, even when print had arrived in full force by the middle of the nineteenth century, it remained forbidden to print the text most sought after by Ottoman readers: the Qur'an. In this episode, Brett Wilson discusses the rise of print and Qur'an printing in the Ottoman Empire as well as the emergence of Turkish translations of the Qur'an in the late Ottoman and early Republican eras.« Click for More »

with Aslı Niyazioğluhosted by Chris Gratien and Nir ShafirThis episode is part of an ongoing series entitled History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise.  Download the seriesPodcast Feed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudDreams are an essential part of the human experience but are attributed different significance in various times and places. For many Ottomans, dreams were a forum for the revelation of hidden or unseen knowledge, and dream narratives as well as their interpretations found their way into many Ottoman texts. In this podcast, Aslı Niyazioğlu explains the role of dreams within Ottoman society, focusing on dream narratives in biographical dictionaries of the early modern era, and we discuss possible changes over time in the understanding of dreams in the Ottoman world. « Click for More »

with Aslı Niyazioğluhosted by Chris Gratien and Nir ShafirThis episode is part of an ongoing series entitled History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise.  Download the seriesPodcast Feed | iTunes | Hipcast | SoundcloudDreams are an essential part of the human experience but are attributed different significance in various times and places. For many Ottomans, dreams were a forum for the revelation of hidden or unseen knowledge, and dream narratives as well as their interpretations found their way into many Ottoman texts. In this podcast, Aslı Niyazioğlu explains the role of dreams within Ottoman society, focusing on dream narratives in biographical dictionaries of the early modern era, and we discuss possible changes over time in the understanding of dreams in the Ottoman world. « Click for More »

Thanks to our amazing supporters of our recent crowdfund, Ajam will now be producing and releasing podcasts. We expect a wide variety of formats, but we wanted to use our first episode as a chance to update our listeners and introduce our new series. Remember to visit us at ajammc.com to learn more or contact us! Check out the article from Nir Shafir that we discussed: https://aeon.co/essays/why-fake-miniatures-depicting-islamic-science-are-everywhere