Rethinking the Ottoman Empire: Origins, Development, and Legacies
A Distinguished Scholar Seminar featuring Cemil Aydin
April 27, 2013
SOLD OUT*
Popular understandings of the history and nature of the Ottoman Empire in the West can be summed up as a story of warlike expansion followed by slow decline. In this story, the Ottoman Empire has functioned as a foil for the creation of a Eurocentric view of world history. The Empire’s supposed decline is often taken as a symbol of the backwardness of Muslim civilization and contrasted with the rise of the West. Yet despite frequent references to the Ottoman empire in historical and political narratives, very little is known in the West about the historical figures, events, and everyday lives of the people who lived during the six hundred years of the Empire’s existence. This seminar with distinguished scholar Cemil Aydin presents new research on Ottoman history. Participants will leave with a better understanding of this rich past, and an appreciation for counter-narratives that ask us to reconsider how we view such modern problems as islamophobia and fundamentalism, or ethnic cleansing and ethnic nationalism.
Speaker
A native of Turkey, Cemil Aydin is Associate Professor of History. His interests focus on both modern Middle Eastern history and modern Asian history, with an emphasis on the international and intellectual histories of the Ottoman and Japanese Empires. He is the author of The Politics of Anti-Westernism in Asia: Visions of World Order in Pan-Islamic and Pan-Asian Thought and the forthcoming The Idea of the Muslim World: A Modern History.
Topics
Secrets of the First Ottoman Empire (1300-1603): Muslim, Byzantine, and Mongolian Legacies
The Second Ottoman Empire and the Birth of European Modernity (1603-1789)
The Third Ottoman Empire and the Formation of the Post-Colonial World Order (1789-1919)
Time and Cost
10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27, 2013. The tuition is $125 ($110 by January 30). Tuition for teachers is $62.50 ($55 by January 30). 10 contact hours for 1 unit of renewal credit. The optional lunch is $15.00.
For information about lodging click here.
Co-Sponsored by the General Alumni Association.
For information about GAA discounts and other scholarships available to Humanities Program participants, click here.
Register for this seminar. *If a seminar is marked “sold out,” we urge you to sign up for the waiting list as a place may become available. Also, if there is a significant demand, we may repeat the seminar and you will have the opportunity to register first. To be placed on a waiting list for a sold out seminar, please send an email with your name(s), address, and daytime phone number to human@unc.edu or contact us by phone at (919) 962-1544.