Ottoman History Podcast

narrated by Chris Gratien featuring Hugh Kennedy, Joshua White, Fahad Bishara, Maryam Patton, and Jeannie Miller | The first decades of Islam were characterized by a rapid territorial expansion accompanied by conflicts over leadership following the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Despite opposition from the supporters of Ali ibn Abi Talib, Muawiya Ibn Abi Sufyan would become Caliph and establish a dynasty for his clan: the Banu Umayyah. The next centuries of Islamic history would be defined by the imperial Caliphates of the Umayyads and Abbasids, who controlled empires stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to India. This episode of The Making of the Islamic World focuses on the creation of these Islamic empires, their institutional legacy, and the intellectual life of the Abbasid Caliphate during its height. We conclude with the Abbasid luminary al-Jahiz and what his writings tell us about the changing social fabric of the Abbasid world during the 9th century. « Click for More »

Buket Kitapçı Bayrı Sunucu: Can Gümüş | Bu bölümde Dr. Buket Kitapçı Bayrı ile 2019’da Brill yayınevinden çıkan Warriors, Martyrs, and Dervishes. Moving Frontiers, Shifting Identities in the Land of Rome (13th-15th Centuries) başlıklı kitabı üzerine söyleşiyoruz. Bayrı bu çalışmasında, orta çağ Anadolu’sunda Türkçe yazılmış Battalname ve Danişmendname gibi kahramanları savaşçı ve Saltukname gibi kahramanı Abdalan-ı Rum’u dervişi olan epiklerin yanı sıra 13. ve 15. yüzyıllar arasında Bizanslılar tarafından yazılmış Yunanca şehitlik hikayelerini de incelenmektedir. Kitabın başlığı kahramanlara hikayelerde biçilen savaşçı, şehit ve derviş gibi temel rol kimliklerine gönderme yapar. Ancak kitap savaş, ölüm ve tasavvuftan ziyade bu hikayeleri birleştiren ana mekân Diyar-ı Rum’un tasvirini, sınırlarını ve algılanışını; karakterlerin bu mekândaki hareketlerini, bu mekânın Rum/Romalı, Müslüman ve Hıristiyan gibi kimlikleri belirlenmesindeki rolünü, yazar, bani ve dinleyici/okuyucu ilişkisi çerçevesinde tartışmaktadır. Bayrı’nın çalışması, yemek, aşk ve seyahat gibi başlığın okuyucuda hemen çağrışım yapmadığı ancak hikayelerde kimlikleri tanımlamada etkin olan konuları da inceler. « Click for More »

Episode 324
with Elise Burton hosted by Shireen Hamza, Chris Gratien, and Maryam Patton
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Genetics have emerged as a new scientific tool for studying human ancestry and historical migration. And as research into the history of genetics demonstrates, genetics and other bioscientific approaches to studying ancestry were also integral to the transformation of the very national and racial categories through which ancestry has come to be described over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. In this podcast, we speak to Elise Burton about her research on the development of human genetics in the Middle East. Burton has studied the history of genetics within a comparative framework, examining the interrelated cases of human genetics research in Turkey, Israel, Iran, and elsewhere. In this episode, we focus in particular on the history of genetics in Turkey and its relationship to changing understandings of nation and race within the early Republic. In a bonus segment (see below), we also look under the hood of commercial genetic ancestry tests to understand present-day science within the context of these historical developments.
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with Jyoti Balachandran hosted by Shireen Hamza
| How did Sufis shape the identity of Gujarat, a region in northwest India? Gujarat is best known for its ancient port cities and its connectivity to the broader Indian Ocean world. It is also the site of some of the oldest Muslim settlements in the Indian subcontinent. In this interview, Jyoti Balachandran traces the way Sufi saints and communities settled the region in the fifteenth century, with lasting impacts for Gujarat's regional identity. Taking us on a tour of the vast Sarkhej tomb complex outside Ahmedabad where Sufis and Sultans are buried side by side, and through a variety of historical texts from the Sultanate to the Mughal periods, Balachandran explores the many layers of this story of Muslim belonging. « Click for More »

with Özge Calafato hosted by Zeinab Azarbadegan | What can family and individual studio photographs tell us about social life in the early Republic of Turkey? In this episode, Özge Calafato highlights the negotiations between the Kemalist state, the photographers, and the people being photographed that led to classed and gendered representation of modern Turkish citizens in vernacular photography. Calafato analyzes not only the image, but also the context of production and the inscriptions written behind photographs. Looking at photos of subjects as ranging from beauty queens and feminist activists to bank employees and soldiers, she considers the production and circulation of photos not only in urban studios and within families but also in rural areas and within friendship groups. « Click for More »