Conference - Frontiers in the Umma: On the Sunni-Shii Borderlands in the Ottoman Middle East

In English

In hybrid

Zoom Registration 29 May

Zoom Registration 30 May

Registration in person

Organised with the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII), Koç Üniversitesi and Centre de Recherche sur le Monde iranien (CeRMI)

Program

The eastern regions of the Ottoman Empire remain somewhat understudied in Ottoman historiography, especially in comparison to the institutional history of the empire, its dynasty, its elites, and its capital. Even in comparison with other regions of the empire (Rumelia, Egypt, the Levant), the history of the Anatolian and Iraqi East is yet to be properly explored. Instead of reductives simplifications along sectarian and national lines (Sunni vs. Shia, Turkish vs. Iranian), we insist on the rich confessional and linguistic tapestry of these regions,  and the de facto convivencia between its communities who, much of the time, inhabited a largely shared world, with often common concerns, modes of life, living conditions, and sacred sites.
 
We intend to bring together scholars from various locations and fields of study for a two-day workshop to explore the diverse and dynamic history of the Ottoman East in the 18th and 19th centuries, thus contributing to the integration of the neglected Eastern borderlands into Ottoman studies proper.

Two dimensions of the eastern Ottoman borderlands merit particular mention: the presence of large Shia, and more broadly non-Sunni, communities, and the potential impact of Iran’s proximity on their lives.
 
When these aspects have been addressed in Ottoman historiography, it is often through the lens of conflict — Ottoman-Iranian wars –  and the persecution of communities deemed heterodox (and therefore suspected of disloyalty). This workshop seeks to contribute to an understanding of the daily existence of these populations within the Ottoman Empire, including their lives in times of peace, their relations with imperial authorities, with their Ottoman Sunni neighbors, and with the neighboring Iranian state.
By focusing on the vastness of this East—from the Caucasus region to the Persian Gulf—and on a period extending from 1722, marking the fall of the Safavid dynasty in Iran, to the fall of Ottoman absolutism in 1908, we hope to offer a broad overview of these Ottoman borderlands and their peoples during a period of relative stability in terms of confessional relations.

In an age of heightened sectarian strife in the region, it is urgently important to remember and take seriously the fact that it was not always this way, and that, even under explicitly confessional states, various communities found ways to live together in meaningful ways, even as they cultivated their differences. This is of course not to paint a rosy picture of ideal harmony, but merely to take as a point of departure the simple fact that different confessional communities shared these wide borderlands peacefully most of the time.