Selected Topics: Islamic Civilizations, The Ottoman Empire

HIST 38500

Tuesday/Thursday 2:35-3:50PM, Friends 307

Jason Freitag

Muller Faculty Center Room 423

Phone x4-5798

E-mail:

Website: faculty.ithaca.edu/jfreitag

Office Hours: Noon-1:30 Wednesday, 11-Noon Thursday and by appointment.

This course will provide a survey of major aspects of the Ottoman Empire, including the history of the empire, Ottoman political and commercial culture and relations with other world powers, religious culture, art, architecture, literature and music of the Ottoman period. The course will treat the empire as a case study of a diverse, multi-ethnic and multi-religious state composed of aspects of the earlier Byzantine Christian and Jewish cultures with Turkic and Islamic cultural elements. This layering of histories allows us to address long-term issues of cultural interaction and diversity, and helps to shape a discussion on the encounters between peoples and the ways that diverse groups have negotiated their relationships over time. This course will be interdisciplinary, with faculty from the departments of History, Politics and Religion, Jewish Studies and possible outside scholars forming the itinerary of instructors.

Finally, this course is designed to provide students the background history that will prepare them for a post-semester, short-term trip abroad to Istanbul. The study abroad component seeks to deepen the students’ classroom experience through visits to some of the major historical and cultural sites discussed during the semester. Additionally, the trip to Turkey would provide an introduction to modern Turkish culture and expose students to a dynamic and increasingly important player in the global community.

Attendance Policy:

Attendance at lecture is extremely important, and you will be held responsible not only for the material in the texts, but in the lectures and class discussions as well. Accordingly, attendance will be taken on a regular basis. More than 3 unexcused absences will result in a 1/2 step reduction in your final grade (instead of an A-, there will be a step down to a B+). Documented illnesses or emergencies, as well as religious holidays, may be excused. More than 7 unexcused, undocumented absences from class will result in an ‘F’ for the course. If you are having issues or special circumstances that prevent you from coming to class, please come and see me so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

Etiquette:

·  Turn off cell phones during class.

·  Do not text message during class (a corollary of the first rule…)

·  Please print your papers and hand them in to me. I will not accept papers by e-mail.

Written Assignments:

The major assignment for this class will be a 15-20 page research paper due during finals week. The paper topic will be of your choosing, and we will develop it together over the course of the semester. We will begin the process with individual meetings in the weeks before the spring break. Just after spring break, a proposal and preliminary bibliographies for the papers will be due, and a paper draft will be due by the 4th of April. More information about the process of drafting and editing/peer editing will be forthcoming as the semester progresses.

There will also be one short paper (4-5 pages) due February 18th and a take-home midterm examination.

Oral Presentations:

I will ask that each person make one short presentation to begin one class over the course of the semester. The purpose of the presentation is to raise issues from the day’s reading and stimulate a lively discussion to carry us through the conference. Please do not summarize the text, as we will all have read the work before coming to class (hint). A written outline of the presentation will be due on the day you present. This document should outline the major themes in the texts, your assessment of their relationships to the historical context and the context of the course, and the basic set of questions you have devised to stimulate discussion.

Evaluation:
The short paper will be worth 15% of the final grade.

The midterm essay will be worth 20% of the final grade.

The class presentation and written report will be worth 10% of the final grade.

Attendance and class participation will count for 20% of the final grade.

The final paper, with consideration of the work products leading to the paper, will count for 35% of the final grade.

Texts:

Two texts are available for purchase from the Ithaca College Book Store

Finkel, Caroline Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire

Pamuk, Orhan My Name is Red

A packet of readings will be available from the History Department secretary. Some readings (marked as such on the syllabus) will be available on the web or through JSTOR, and should be printed for reference.

Schedule of Readings:

Date / Topic and Reading
January / 22 / Introduction: Rationale for the Course
24 / Why Study the Ottomans?
The Rise of Islam, The Byzantine Empire and the Emergence of the Mongols
·  Quataert, “Why Study Ottoman History?”
·  Greene, “The Ottoman Experience”
29 / Rise of the Ottomans: Foundations of the Empire and the conquest of Constantinople
·  Finkel, Chs. 1-4
·  Saunders, “The Turkish Irruption” (link on web)
·  Imber, 1-27
·  Malcolm, “The Islamicization of Bosnia”
·  Kritovoulos, History of Mehmed the Conqueror
31 / Ottoman Expansion: Anatolia and Beyond
·  Finkel, Ch. 5
·  Lapidus, 248-258
·  Imber 27-87