In this seminar we will learn about historical conceptions and practices of statehood in the late Ottoman empire. To this end, we will focus on the relations between the imperial center and the region of Palestine. On one hand, we will learn about some instruments of state control such as censuses, conscription, and travel documents. We will also study Ottoman officials’ state reports about Palestine and their views of this region within the Empire. On the other hand, we will look at the production of collective identities (such as ethnic and religious ones) and discourses on identity and empire (Ottoman imperialism, Ottomanism, nationalism, “minorities”). An important question will be how these discourses and practices linked together race, racialization and collective identities. To situate these discussions in the wider debates on the Ottoman empire and modern statehood, we will also acquaint ourselves with historically grounded theories of the state and empire.
- Kursleiter/in: Annika Jung
- Kursleiter/in: Nils Riecken