Course content
Until the 1960s, scholarship on Turkey’s development from the Ottoman Empire to a modern republic was dominated by the same basic framework with which the Turkish reformers of the 1920s and 1930s saw the world. In this “modernization” framework, the Ottoman Empire was seen as a traditionalist, capricious and inward-looking state far removed from its heterogeneous society and consequently unable to govern it after the worldwide rise of nationalism and the Empire’s incorporation into the world economy. The Kemalist reformers, on the other hand, were in the process of shaping the remains of the empire into a successful and homogeneous nation-state by bringing modern education, rational and law-based governance, and a sense of national belonging to Turkish citizens.
Since the 1960s, the emergence of religiously and ethnically based oppositional movements on the one hand and persistent state authoritarianism on the other hand has caused scholars to question many of the basic dichotomies of the modernization framework. Among these dichotomies are the modernizing “center” vs. the unruly “periphery,” the “modern” and “secular” Turkey vs. the “traditional” and “Islamic” Ottoman Empire, the governing “state” vs. the governed “society,” and the “rule of law” vs. the “state of exception.” This class aims to familiarize MA-level students with some of this scholarship. Readings include both classic texts of the modernization approach and scholarship that has re-examined these dichotomies.
Learning outcomes
Students will become familiar with several of the most important scholarly debates concerning the transition from the Ottoman Empire to Modern Turkey.
Prerequisites
Some knowledge of Turkish history.