Journal Articles & Book Chapters by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
The Safavid World, ed. Rudi Matthee , 2021
The Safavid World brings together thirty chapters on many aspects of the complex Safavid state, 1... more The Safavid World brings together thirty chapters on many aspects of the complex Safavid state, 1501–1722. With the latest insights and arguments, some offer overviews of the period or topic at hand, and others present new interpretations of old questions based on newly found sources.
Historicizing Sunni Islam in the Ottoman Empire, 1450-1750 (Tijana Krstic and Derin Terzioglu), 2020
Ottoman Sunnism: New Perspectives (ed. Vefa Erginbaş), Edinburgh University Press, 2019
This chapter aims to explore the origins, as well as the often-neglected variances, in the meanin... more This chapter aims to explore the origins, as well as the often-neglected variances, in the meaning of the term “Kızılbaş” within the context of early modern Ottoman literature (defined here as the period from the late fifteenth century to the mid-seventeenth-century). I argue that Ottoman central authorities began to refer the sympathizers (both Ottoman and non-Ottoman) of the Safavid court as “Kızılbaş” immediately before the reign of Sultan Selim I, who changed the nature of the relationship between Istanbul and the Safavid court with open military engagements and economic sanctions. In this earlier context, the term “Kızılbaş” provided the negative labeling that the Ottoman central authority required to identify and pursue the enemy of the “religion and state” (dīn ü devlet), given that the geopolitical legitimacy of Istanbul was at stake with the rapid emergence and expansion of the Safavid state on its eastern frontier. As Guy Burak has cogently argued, this period also corresponds with Ottomans’ adoption of the Hanafi sect (madhab/mezhep) as the official school of law under the aegis of the office of the chief mufti (or shaikh al-islam/şeyhülislam), bridging the gap between the religious and sultanic laws. Therefore, Ottoman policy-makers, more often than not, disguised their non-religious concerns with increasingly sectarian rhetoric provided by various influential members of the same religious elite group. But in the wake of this foundational period, I also argue that after the short reign of Selim I, the Ottoman court embraced a more complex approach to both its Kızılbaş subjects and its rival, the Safavids. In this subsequent era, the term Kızılbaş carried different, and in many cases, conflicting meanings depending on the context, as well as the genre of the documents making these references. These documents include imperial chancery records (mühimme defterleri), edicts (fermans), religious rulings (fetvas), chronicles, and polemical literature, each of which targeted different audiences for different purposes. Therefore, a meticulous examination of the origins and use of the term Kızılbaş in the early modern Ottoman context reveals a significant fluidity in terms of the loyalties of various groups, along with their religious, regional, and political identities, which have often been assumed to be non-existent during the so-called “age of confessionalization” in the Middle East.
Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, Vol. 6, No. 1, Ceremonies, Festivals, and Rituals in the Ottoman World (Spring 2019), pp. 39-60, 2019
The sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth centuries was a period when the Safavid Empir... more The sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth centuries was a period when the Safavid Empire, following its consolidation of power in Iran, infiltrated Anatolia and Iraq with a meticulous propaganda machine; while the Ottoman Empire completed its control in the very same region. As the number of Ottoman supporters of the Safavid religio-political movement increased and constituted the majority of the populations in these regions, Istanbul’s initial policy of caution and alertness vis-à-vis its Qizilbash population gave way to a policy of constant surveillance. In its efforts, first to stop and then to reverse pro-Safavid efforts, the Ottoman capital deemed Qizilbash gatherings, rituals, and ceremonies within its borders as potential places where Ottoman subjects forged alternative identities under the influence of Safavid disciples, or halifes, eventually tying their loyalties to the Safavid Shah, the spiritual protector of the Qizilbash. On the other hand, these rituals and gatherings, due to their secretive nature, were used to imagine, define, create, and circulate a metanarrative by various Ottoman religious and political authorities, in which they positioned themselves as the guardians of the “true faith” (i.e., Sunnism) against the wide-spread “heresy” (i.e., Shi‘ism). This article, in this regard, examines early modern Qizilbash rituals and ceremonies within the context of the Ottoman central authority’s efforts to establish its geo-political and religious authority vis-à-vis its Qizilbash subjects, as well as its major rival to the east, the Safavids, by analyzing the corpus of early modern Ottoman and Safavid texts, including imperial documents, fetvas, court chronicles, and polemical literature.
International Journal of Turkish Studies, Vol. 20, Nos. 1&2, 2014, pp. 21-48., Nov 2014
The development of Kızılbaş Islam in Anatolia and the early modern Ottoman bureaucracy’s role in ... more The development of Kızılbaş Islam in Anatolia and the early modern Ottoman bureaucracy’s role in the persecution of Kızılbaş communities have been the subject of sustained scholarly interest. While scholarship from the 1960s through the 1980s explained Ottoman policies against the Kızılbaş in the context of mere security concerns, revisionist historians, who have dominated the field since the 1990s, have approached the topic from new, yet problematic, angles. Not only have the new approaches reduced the relationship between the Ottomans and the Kızılbaş to a policy of persecution, but they also have presented the state’s creation of a Sunni “orthodox” identity for its subjects as a reason for these repressive policies. In contrast to these one-dimensional explanations for the Ottoman central authority’s “never-ending struggle against rebellious heretics,” I argue that a more complex relationship between İstanbul and its Kızılbaş subjects led to wildly varying Ottoman state policies, ranging from financial support for the Safaviyya order and the Kızılbaş subjects of the empire to execution of the same populations. A more precise examination of primary sources, focused mainly on Ottoman imperial decrees (or mühimmes), reveals three main dynamics that explain this complexity: the Ottomans’ relationship with the Safavids and the issues of Kızılbaş tax evasion and conversion.
Online Articles, Podcasts & Book Reviews by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
Berkley Forum, 2021
This month marks the tenth-year anniversary of the Syrian Civil War, where Bashar al-Assad succes... more This month marks the tenth-year anniversary of the Syrian Civil War, where Bashar al-Assad successfully turned a primarily local socioeconomic uprising—stemming from unemployment, inflation, and corruption—into a global sectarian conflict involving Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States, and others. How did Bashar al-Assad manage to implement his strategy so successfully and so quickly? The answer lies in the long and often-neglected history of his approach to religion and sects in the region. In fact, the current geographical configuration of the Middle East— Sunnis and Shiites facing off in Iraq and Syria, with two major Sunni powers (Turkey and Saudi Arabia) and a major Shiite power (Iran)—dates back to the sixteenth century. It was then when the two mighty powers, the Turkish Ottoman Empire (1299–1923) and the Persian Safavid Empire (1499–1722), transformed an emerging geopolitical conflict into a series of seemingly sectarian wars in which they stood up as the “representors” and “guardians” of Sunnism and Shiism, respectively, in the region that now consists of Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Iraq.
Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, Vol. 7, Issue 4 , Jan 2014
The Civil War in Syria has become one of the most bloody and geopolitically important events to c... more The Civil War in Syria has become one of the most bloody and geopolitically important events to come out of the Arab Spring. While the war has become in many ways a sectarian Shi’a-Sunni battle, in Syria there is a third religious group that has played a pivotal role in the history of that country: the Alawites. This article outlines the history of this little known community and describes how they became perhaps the most important power bloc in Syria after the 1970s and reminds the reader that we cannot understand the civil war raging in Syria without understanding the Alawites.
http://origins.osu.edu/article/alawites-and-fate-syria#:~:text=The%20first%20proponents%20of%20the,of%20the%20Alawites%20ever%20since.
April 24, 2015 marks the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Beginni... more April 24, 2015 marks the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Beginning in 1915 in the midst of the strains of World War I, Ottoman officials oversaw the deportation and massacre of anywhere between several hundred thousand and 1.5 million Armenian people. The result was the physical annihilation of the Armenian communities that had lived in the Anatolian peninsula for more than 2500 years. But labeling it as a “genocide” has proven controversial and unacceptable for the Turkish Republic. Join your History Talk hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy as they interview Ronald Grigor Suny, Ayse Baltacioglu-Brammer, and John Quigley to discuss what is now known about the history of these events, the meaning of the legal and historical label “genocide,” and why coming to terms with mass atrocities is so difficult today.
In a recent, much publicized lecture — “It Takes a Historian to Understand the Middle East…Doesn’... more In a recent, much publicized lecture — “It Takes a Historian to Understand the Middle East…Doesn’t It?” — Jane Hathaway of Ohio State's History Department offered a challenge to pundits and policymakers who seem unable to offer sound strategies for the Mideast. In this episode, hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy ask three historians — Ayse Baltacioglu-Brammer, Patrick Scharfe, and Jane Hathaway — to lay out what you really need to know to understand this troubled region.
A review of M. Sukru Hanioglu's Atatürk: An Intellectual Biography (Princeton University Press, 2... more A review of M. Sukru Hanioglu's Atatürk: An Intellectual Biography (Princeton University Press, 2011)
A review of Michael Axworthy's A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind (Basic Books, 2008) publishe... more A review of Michael Axworthy's A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind (Basic Books, 2008) published in Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective in May 2010.
MA Thesis by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
When Pope Paul III issued the Bull Licet Ab Inito, in 21 July 1542, he established the Italian In... more When Pope Paul III issued the Bull Licet Ab Inito, in 21 July 1542, he established the Italian Inquisition, with its main task being to guarantee the supremacy of the Catholic belief in Italy, which was being challenged by the Protestant “hereticism.” Italian Protestantism, throughout the sixteenth century, however, was not a common phenomenon. Ultimately within a few decades, the focus of the Inquisition expanded to include the Muslims as their new targets. Even though Islam were not considered as a source of heresy, and according to the bull, non-baptized Muslims were not subjected to the Inquisition; in practice, however, hundreds of them were interrogated and/or experienced the Inquisition within different circumstances. I argue that Muslims/Turcos constituted a significant part in the Roman Inquisition and the religious agenda dictated by the inquisatory authorities concerning how to approach to the Muslims/Turcos was closely associated with social and economic considerations, location of the autonomous tribunal, as well as the nature of the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and a certain Italian city-state. In other words, while religious doctrines played a significant role in determining the nature of the relationships between the Inquisition and its targets, geographical location of the certain inquisatory tribune, relationships of the political authority with the Ottomans, and Ottoman central authority’s geo-political and financial legitimacy in the region determined inquisition’s intensity towards its Muslim/Turco subjects. Research done for this project found that Muslim of the Inquisition, Mohammedans or as more commonly called the Turcos, went through the inquisatory era in three different situations: I-Christians, who had converted to Islam, willingly or unwillingly and wanted to “clear their names” through reconverting to Christianity before the Inquisitors, II-Muslim Italians or Europeans, in general, who were denounced by their neighbors, family members or were captured by Italian pirates, and III-Ottoman subjects, who converted to Christianity through different institutions established during the Inquisition.
Workshops & Conferences by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
We are pleased to announce that New York University’s Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative (OTS... more We are pleased to announce that New York University’s Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative (OTS-NYU) will host the second meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Ottoman Studies Workshop on March 27-29, 2020 at Hagop Kevorkian Center for the Near Eastern Studies. This workshop will provide an opportunity for scholars of Ottoman studies to gather, discuss their research, and receive substantive feedback.
The Mid-Atlantic Ottoman Studies Workshop series was launched in March 2019 at Salisbury University, MD with over 20 participants. The main aim of this initiative is to bring together scholars of all stages based in the mid-Atlantic region (mainly -but not only- in NY, NJ, PA, DA, VA, MD, NC, WV, and DC) who are working to advance the study of the Ottoman Empire and its interactions with the wider world from the period of the late thirteenth century up until the early decades of the twentieth century.
The theme of the workshop at NYU in 2020 will be “Global Ottoman Empire,” emphasizing the connectivity not only between the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding polities, but also among communities, individuals, and many other groups within and beyond its imperial boundaries. We encourage submissions from fields including -but not limited to- history, literary studies, manuscript studies, art & architectural history. Our hope is to promote cooperation and interdisciplinary dialogue among academics whose scholarship is focused on transregional and transimperial connections, situating Ottoman Empire and its study within broader discussions. Works in progress are specifically welcomed.
We are currently accepting abstract submissions for the workshop. Please submit an abstract (max 300 words) via e-mail to maow2020nyu@gmail.com by January 10, 2020 5:00pm. We request that you submit your abstracts with the following email subject title: "MAOW 2020 Abstract Submission"
Applicants should also include the following information in their email:
1. Name & Current institutional affiliation (title, department/program, institution)
2. Contact information (email, telephone number, and preferred mailing address)
Participation announcements will be sent out in late January. Accepted participants will be asked to submit an extensive summary of their research (between 2000 and 2500 words) by March 1, 2020 for pre-circulation. At the end of the workshop, we plan to invite participants to submit short thought pieces on the theme of “Global Ottoman Empire” based on their research. The ultimate goal is to produce a publication that would give the debates and discussions held at the workshop a much longer lasting and wider reaching impact.
Logistics: Hotel accommodation and food (lunch & dinner) will be provided for the workshop participants.
Please feel free to contact us, Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer (abb12@nyu.edu), James Ryan (james.ryan@nyu.edu), or Ahmet Yusuf Yüksek (ayy236@nyu.edu) if you have any questions or concerns.
Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
Assistant Professor
Departments of History & Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
Director, Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative (OTS-NYU), NYU
by Emin Lelić, B. Harun Küçük, Şaban Ağalar, Duygu Yildirim, Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer, Cornell Fleischer, Kameliya Atanasova, Ahmet Yusuf Yuksek, Burcak Ozludil, Pinar Odabasi Tasci, Ella Fratantuono, and Nikolay Antov
We are pleased to announce that Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD, will host the inaugural meet... more We are pleased to announce that Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD, will host the inaugural meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Ottoman Studies Workshop on March 29-31, 2019. This workshop is meant to provide a forum for discussion and collaboration between scholars of Ottoman studies in the Mid-Atlantic region.
The theme of the workshop is Knowledge & Empire. The alliance between knowledge and empire transcended mere utility and opportunity. The pursuit of knowledge, religious piety, and imperial politics and governance, were tightly bound together. Indeed, the idea that knowledge led to more efficient statecraft was near ubiquitous. At the same time, knowledge was employed by imperial critics and opponents as a way of creating alternative socio-politic visions or reforming existing ones.
We encourage inter-disciplinary submissions, including but not limited to history, literary studies, manuscript studies, and art history. Early career scholars are especially encouraged to apply.
We kindly encourage scholars in the region to also consider attending the workshop as a respondent, particularly those not interested in presenting.
Please submit a roughly 250 word abstract via e-mail to Emin Lelić, exlelic@salisbury.edu by January 14, 2019.
Books by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
Ottoman Sunnism: New Perspectives, 2019
Addressing the contested nature of Ottoman Sunnism from the 14th to the early 20th century, this ... more Addressing the contested nature of Ottoman Sunnism from the 14th to the early 20th century, this book draws on diverse perspectives across the empire. Closely reading intellectual, social and mystical traditions within the empire, it clarifies the possibilities that existed within Ottoman Sunnism, presenting it as a complex, nuanced and evolving concept.
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Journal Articles & Book Chapters by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
Online Articles, Podcasts & Book Reviews by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
http://origins.osu.edu/article/alawites-and-fate-syria#:~:text=The%20first%20proponents%20of%20the,of%20the%20Alawites%20ever%20since.
MA Thesis by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
Workshops & Conferences by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
The Mid-Atlantic Ottoman Studies Workshop series was launched in March 2019 at Salisbury University, MD with over 20 participants. The main aim of this initiative is to bring together scholars of all stages based in the mid-Atlantic region (mainly -but not only- in NY, NJ, PA, DA, VA, MD, NC, WV, and DC) who are working to advance the study of the Ottoman Empire and its interactions with the wider world from the period of the late thirteenth century up until the early decades of the twentieth century.
The theme of the workshop at NYU in 2020 will be “Global Ottoman Empire,” emphasizing the connectivity not only between the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding polities, but also among communities, individuals, and many other groups within and beyond its imperial boundaries. We encourage submissions from fields including -but not limited to- history, literary studies, manuscript studies, art & architectural history. Our hope is to promote cooperation and interdisciplinary dialogue among academics whose scholarship is focused on transregional and transimperial connections, situating Ottoman Empire and its study within broader discussions. Works in progress are specifically welcomed.
We are currently accepting abstract submissions for the workshop. Please submit an abstract (max 300 words) via e-mail to maow2020nyu@gmail.com by January 10, 2020 5:00pm. We request that you submit your abstracts with the following email subject title: "MAOW 2020 Abstract Submission"
Applicants should also include the following information in their email:
1. Name & Current institutional affiliation (title, department/program, institution)
2. Contact information (email, telephone number, and preferred mailing address)
Participation announcements will be sent out in late January. Accepted participants will be asked to submit an extensive summary of their research (between 2000 and 2500 words) by March 1, 2020 for pre-circulation. At the end of the workshop, we plan to invite participants to submit short thought pieces on the theme of “Global Ottoman Empire” based on their research. The ultimate goal is to produce a publication that would give the debates and discussions held at the workshop a much longer lasting and wider reaching impact.
Logistics: Hotel accommodation and food (lunch & dinner) will be provided for the workshop participants.
Please feel free to contact us, Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer (abb12@nyu.edu), James Ryan (james.ryan@nyu.edu), or Ahmet Yusuf Yüksek (ayy236@nyu.edu) if you have any questions or concerns.
Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
Assistant Professor
Departments of History & Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
Director, Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative (OTS-NYU), NYU
The theme of the workshop is Knowledge & Empire. The alliance between knowledge and empire transcended mere utility and opportunity. The pursuit of knowledge, religious piety, and imperial politics and governance, were tightly bound together. Indeed, the idea that knowledge led to more efficient statecraft was near ubiquitous. At the same time, knowledge was employed by imperial critics and opponents as a way of creating alternative socio-politic visions or reforming existing ones.
We encourage inter-disciplinary submissions, including but not limited to history, literary studies, manuscript studies, and art history. Early career scholars are especially encouraged to apply.
We kindly encourage scholars in the region to also consider attending the workshop as a respondent, particularly those not interested in presenting.
Please submit a roughly 250 word abstract via e-mail to Emin Lelić, exlelic@salisbury.edu by January 14, 2019.
Books by Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
http://origins.osu.edu/article/alawites-and-fate-syria#:~:text=The%20first%20proponents%20of%20the,of%20the%20Alawites%20ever%20since.
The Mid-Atlantic Ottoman Studies Workshop series was launched in March 2019 at Salisbury University, MD with over 20 participants. The main aim of this initiative is to bring together scholars of all stages based in the mid-Atlantic region (mainly -but not only- in NY, NJ, PA, DA, VA, MD, NC, WV, and DC) who are working to advance the study of the Ottoman Empire and its interactions with the wider world from the period of the late thirteenth century up until the early decades of the twentieth century.
The theme of the workshop at NYU in 2020 will be “Global Ottoman Empire,” emphasizing the connectivity not only between the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding polities, but also among communities, individuals, and many other groups within and beyond its imperial boundaries. We encourage submissions from fields including -but not limited to- history, literary studies, manuscript studies, art & architectural history. Our hope is to promote cooperation and interdisciplinary dialogue among academics whose scholarship is focused on transregional and transimperial connections, situating Ottoman Empire and its study within broader discussions. Works in progress are specifically welcomed.
We are currently accepting abstract submissions for the workshop. Please submit an abstract (max 300 words) via e-mail to maow2020nyu@gmail.com by January 10, 2020 5:00pm. We request that you submit your abstracts with the following email subject title: "MAOW 2020 Abstract Submission"
Applicants should also include the following information in their email:
1. Name & Current institutional affiliation (title, department/program, institution)
2. Contact information (email, telephone number, and preferred mailing address)
Participation announcements will be sent out in late January. Accepted participants will be asked to submit an extensive summary of their research (between 2000 and 2500 words) by March 1, 2020 for pre-circulation. At the end of the workshop, we plan to invite participants to submit short thought pieces on the theme of “Global Ottoman Empire” based on their research. The ultimate goal is to produce a publication that would give the debates and discussions held at the workshop a much longer lasting and wider reaching impact.
Logistics: Hotel accommodation and food (lunch & dinner) will be provided for the workshop participants.
Please feel free to contact us, Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer (abb12@nyu.edu), James Ryan (james.ryan@nyu.edu), or Ahmet Yusuf Yüksek (ayy236@nyu.edu) if you have any questions or concerns.
Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer
Assistant Professor
Departments of History & Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
Director, Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative (OTS-NYU), NYU
The theme of the workshop is Knowledge & Empire. The alliance between knowledge and empire transcended mere utility and opportunity. The pursuit of knowledge, religious piety, and imperial politics and governance, were tightly bound together. Indeed, the idea that knowledge led to more efficient statecraft was near ubiquitous. At the same time, knowledge was employed by imperial critics and opponents as a way of creating alternative socio-politic visions or reforming existing ones.
We encourage inter-disciplinary submissions, including but not limited to history, literary studies, manuscript studies, and art history. Early career scholars are especially encouraged to apply.
We kindly encourage scholars in the region to also consider attending the workshop as a respondent, particularly those not interested in presenting.
Please submit a roughly 250 word abstract via e-mail to Emin Lelić, exlelic@salisbury.edu by January 14, 2019.