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CORNELL GROWS AS HUB FOR OTTOMAN AND TURKISH STUDIES
Cornell Chronicle
March 31 2015
By Linda B. Glaser
Turkish election posters show candidates dressed in Ottoman Empire
clothes. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declares that Ottoman
Turkish study should be mandatory for all schoolchildren.
"The Turkish government is trying to reclaim the Ottoman past as a
way to exert power well beyond the borders of Turkey," says Mostafa
Minawi, assistant professor of history and director of Cornell's
Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative (OTSI) in the College of Arts
and Sciences. "Turkey is trying to become a regional power in part by
drawing on the complicated Ottoman histories of the region, and thus
a deep understanding of Turkey and the Ottoman Empire is essential
in order to put this into context."
As a growing hub for Ottoman and Turkish studies, OTSI - a part of the
Cornell Institute for European Studies - has hosted a wide range of
educational events this year, with more to come this spring. OTSI's
goal is to engage students, faculty and the community at large in
discussion of the region's political, cultural, economic and historic
dimensions, says Minawi, a Himan Brown Sesquicentennial Faculty
Fellow. The Ottoman Empire covered three continents for around
600 years (1922 is its official end date) and its former sphere of
influence is at the center of many of the world's most difficult
current conflicts.
"I'm delighted to see OTSI taking shape here at Cornell. The
initiative concerns a part of the world that is of growing importance
in geopolitical terms," says Fredrik Logevall, vice provost for
international affairs. "We have real and expanding strengths in Ottoman
and Turkish studies on campus, and OTSI helps to harness that in a
powerful way."
This year's OTSI theme is World War I in the Ottoman Empire, and in
addition to a course on the topic, OTSI has sponsored and co-sponsored
events across campus, including movie screenings and lectures. Two
more events are scheduled this spring: Fatma Muge Göcek (University
of Michigan) will speak on "Denial of Violence: Ottoman Past, Turkish
Present, and Collective Violence against the Armenians" on April 7;
Eugene Rogan (Oxford University) will speak on "The Arab Experience of
the Ottoman Great War" by focusing on Beirut on April 21. Both lectures
will be held in 110 White Hall at 5 pm and are co-sponsored by the
Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the Department of
Near Eastern Studies.
Turkish studies and language have long been a priority of the
Near Eastern studies department, notes Lauren Monroe, chair and
associate professor of Near Eastern studies. "We are delighted that
OTSI is providing a multidisciplinary platform to discuss, share and
promote the academic study of the Ottoman Empire and its successor
nation-states, and we are enthusiastic about and eager to support
OTSI's rich and diverse programming."
OTSI has also partnered with the Law School's Clarke Initiative for
Law and Development in the Middle East and the Einaudi Center on
a project to help sponsor Law School students' volunteer work with
Syrian, Iraqi and Sudanese refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
OTSI will again collaborate with the Clarke Initiative, and with
Weill Cornell Medical College in an October conference in New York
City that will examine the catastrophic refugee crisis in the Middle
East. While the focus will be mostly on Syrian refugees, panels are
also planned on topics such as Palestinians as protracted refugees
and the "rarely mentioned" refugees from east Africa.
"The conference will tackle real issues on the practical, as well as
the academic levels with experts on a number of dimensions of this
complex problem, including nationality, history, health, economics
and gender," says Minawi.
Linda B. Glaser is a writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/03/cornell-grows-hub-ottoman-and-turkish-studies
Cornell Chronicle
March 31 2015
By Linda B. Glaser
Turkish election posters show candidates dressed in Ottoman Empire
clothes. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declares that Ottoman
Turkish study should be mandatory for all schoolchildren.
"The Turkish government is trying to reclaim the Ottoman past as a
way to exert power well beyond the borders of Turkey," says Mostafa
Minawi, assistant professor of history and director of Cornell's
Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative (OTSI) in the College of Arts
and Sciences. "Turkey is trying to become a regional power in part by
drawing on the complicated Ottoman histories of the region, and thus
a deep understanding of Turkey and the Ottoman Empire is essential
in order to put this into context."
As a growing hub for Ottoman and Turkish studies, OTSI - a part of the
Cornell Institute for European Studies - has hosted a wide range of
educational events this year, with more to come this spring. OTSI's
goal is to engage students, faculty and the community at large in
discussion of the region's political, cultural, economic and historic
dimensions, says Minawi, a Himan Brown Sesquicentennial Faculty
Fellow. The Ottoman Empire covered three continents for around
600 years (1922 is its official end date) and its former sphere of
influence is at the center of many of the world's most difficult
current conflicts.
"I'm delighted to see OTSI taking shape here at Cornell. The
initiative concerns a part of the world that is of growing importance
in geopolitical terms," says Fredrik Logevall, vice provost for
international affairs. "We have real and expanding strengths in Ottoman
and Turkish studies on campus, and OTSI helps to harness that in a
powerful way."
This year's OTSI theme is World War I in the Ottoman Empire, and in
addition to a course on the topic, OTSI has sponsored and co-sponsored
events across campus, including movie screenings and lectures. Two
more events are scheduled this spring: Fatma Muge Göcek (University
of Michigan) will speak on "Denial of Violence: Ottoman Past, Turkish
Present, and Collective Violence against the Armenians" on April 7;
Eugene Rogan (Oxford University) will speak on "The Arab Experience of
the Ottoman Great War" by focusing on Beirut on April 21. Both lectures
will be held in 110 White Hall at 5 pm and are co-sponsored by the
Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the Department of
Near Eastern Studies.
Turkish studies and language have long been a priority of the
Near Eastern studies department, notes Lauren Monroe, chair and
associate professor of Near Eastern studies. "We are delighted that
OTSI is providing a multidisciplinary platform to discuss, share and
promote the academic study of the Ottoman Empire and its successor
nation-states, and we are enthusiastic about and eager to support
OTSI's rich and diverse programming."
OTSI has also partnered with the Law School's Clarke Initiative for
Law and Development in the Middle East and the Einaudi Center on
a project to help sponsor Law School students' volunteer work with
Syrian, Iraqi and Sudanese refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
OTSI will again collaborate with the Clarke Initiative, and with
Weill Cornell Medical College in an October conference in New York
City that will examine the catastrophic refugee crisis in the Middle
East. While the focus will be mostly on Syrian refugees, panels are
also planned on topics such as Palestinians as protracted refugees
and the "rarely mentioned" refugees from east Africa.
"The conference will tackle real issues on the practical, as well as
the academic levels with experts on a number of dimensions of this
complex problem, including nationality, history, health, economics
and gender," says Minawi.
Linda B. Glaser is a writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/03/cornell-grows-hub-ottoman-and-turkish-studies