Call for Papers
The first International Ottoman Studies Congress (OSARK) took place in Sakarya, Turkey, from October 14-17, 2015. The OSARK 2018 was held in Tirana, Albania, from October 17-20. We would like to inform you that the third OSARK will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, from September 7-9, 2022, at Istanbul Medeniyet University. OSARK 2022 welcomes and encourages individual paper and thematic panel proposals within any field of Ottoman History.
OSARK's Objective
OSARK primarily aims to contribute to the growing body of research on Ottoman History. It has an intention to provide a platform for researchers to discuss their findings and share knowledge in an environment open to interdisciplinarity and new approaches to the field. OSARK 2022 aims to bring together diverse mainstream understandings and recent subfields and methodologies, such as digital humanities, ego studies and book culture.
Ottoman historians have more distinct boundaries in their research than the historians of other fields in terms of time period and geography. Their sources and the ways of focusing and approaching them are more definite. Besides, they tend to ignore related research fields to the interest of other disciplines such as art history, philology and others. One can say that the newly-emerged vitality, diversity and approaches in the field trigger a trend of polarization in the growing body of literature of Ottoman Studies. This fact has the potential to increase the number of interdisciplinary studies. Still, it has also led to an alienation of diverse fields and subfields by making following the knowledge and findings of each other complex. In this regard, OSARK 2022 aims to provide an interdisciplinary and comprehensive environment for discussing the recent studies in Ottoman history, presenting a perspective towards the future of studies in the field and contributing to the formation of a roadmap for Ottoman Studies.
OSARK's Importance
Ottoman Studies is now at a turning point with the impact of novelties brought by digital technologies to the humanities. Sharing ideas by researchers specialized in different subjects will pave the way for extensive use of knowledge reserve while the field's literature is increasing in number, diversified and enlarging by various topics and perspectives. Together with the opportunities and risks of this significant transformation, it is necessary to discuss and revisit the potential of Ottoman historiography in multiple fields such as cultural, intellectual, urban, diplomatic and military histories. Likewise, it is also essential to understand the opportunities of revisiting the traditional methods/approaches.
Therefore, OSARK presents panels determined by the executive committee. In addition to applying for individual presentations and new panels, OSARK also welcomes researchers to submit their proposals to the following panels:
- Theoretical Thought in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, organized by İhsan Fazlıoğlu, discusses the introduction of “the new science” to the Ottoman Empire and related debates together with interdisciplinary problems.
- Theoretical Sciences: Education and Curricula, organized by İhsan Fazlıoğlu, examines the practices of reading and teaching texts in various disciplines such as logic, philosophy and theology from the beginning to the end of Ottoman history. It investigates the latest developments in intellectual history and presents a perspective for future studies.
- Ottoman Ego Documents organized by Selim Karahasanoğlu, examines sources in Ottoman Literature such as diaries, memoirs, and autobiographies.
- A Tulip Age Legend, organized by Selim Karahasanoğlu, reframes the myth of the Tulip Age.
- Ottoman Food Culture organized by Arif Bilgin, discusses foodstuffs in the context of supply, distribution, consumption, food etiquette, food and symbolism, kitchen utensils, and dietary habits of various segments of society.
- Historiography on Education, organized by Adem Ölmez, discusses the latest updates and new perspectives in the studies on Ottoman education.
- Revisiting the Ottoman Rhetoric, organized by Mücahit Kaçar, presents papers on Ottoman contribution to the discipline of rhetoric and Turkification of this field.
- Translation Studies, organized by Sadık Yazar, presents papers on an unresearched field of study, the oral and written translations in language and culture during the Ottoman period, especially by focusing on cultural and temporal specificity of oral and written transmission.
- Digital Ottoman Studies, organized by Yunus Uğur, discusses the digital humanities as a new field receiving a rapidly growing interest in the international academic circles, and especially the digital history perspective in the context of Ottoman history. The session plans to examine the potential of the digital humanities for analyzing the big data of the empire extending to vast geography and long period, the approaches and methods in the field, and well as the existing studies and their impact on Ottoman historiography. It also aims to present suggestions of ideas and applications concerning the opportunities, training, problems and the future of digital history in Ottoman studies.
- What Do Estate Inventories Tell Us? organized by Kenan Yıldız, discusses the potential information collected from estate inventories that draw the interest of researchers working on various subjects such as material culture, lifestyle, wealth, consumption, demography, inheritance.
- Arab Tribes During the Late Ottoman Period, organized by Talha Çiçek, presents papers on the social conditions of tribes in the Modern period, the relations between the empire and tribes, the relations between desert areas, agricultural lands and cities.
- Ottoman Book Culture, organized by Berat Açıl, presents papers on Ottoman literary culture, which has recently received considerable attention in international academia.
- Theoretical Background of Applied Sciences in Ottoman Classical Scholarly Tradition organized by Elif Baga, presents papers on the theoretical background of applied sciences such as mathematics, engineering, astronomy, scientific tools, medicine in the classical age of the Ottoman Empire.
- Science as a Social and Cultural Activity in the Ottoman Modernization, organized by Zehra Bilgin, investigates the science-centered transformations during the modernization process in the Ottoman cultural and intellectual milieu and the scientific modernization in its social context.
- Historiography and Philosophy of Life-Sciences, organized by Mustafa Yavuz, presents papers on theoretical, practical and/or applied life-sciences such as medicine, pharmaceutics, agriculture, veterinary medicine, health-care services, botany and animal science until the twentieth century.
In addition to these panels, OSARK encourages researchers to apply for an additional panel in the Congress. In this case, organizers determine the names of the panels. Each presenter should sign up for the application system individually and upload an abstract under the name of the panel title they apply. To create or apply for a panel, please proceed with your application with the “Panel Applications” option at ottomanstudies.org/apply .
Please refer to the abstract guideline during your application.
Researchers may present a paper on all subjects related to Ottoman History in the Congress. The number of papers under this category may be limited.
All applications submitted for panels, workshops or individual presentations will be reviewed. For the papers presented in panels and workshops, relevant organizers will accept abstracts.
Selim Karahasanoğlu & İsmail Hakkı Kadı
Chairs of OSARK 2022
Arif Bilgin
Director of OSAMER
Dates & Deadlines
March 15 The deadline for submitting proposals.
June 15 The Executive Committee announces accepted presentations.
August 1 Announcement of sessions and the program
September 7 OSARK 2022 begins at İstanbul Medeniyet University
For more information and updates, please visit osmanliarastirmalari.org and ottomanstudies.org. Please click to submit your abstract.
Contact us at osark.medeniyet@gmail.com
Phone: (+90) 216 280 26 33