TAR 407 - Ottoman History-Selected Texts-I

The chronicles or the writings on dynastic history are one of the important genres of sources in studying the Ottoman history. During this course, we will read and analyze a variety of Ottoman chronicles by making use of the historical source criticism. We will look among others to the narrative style used by the Ottoman historians in their works, the style of construction, the reason for writing the work, the specific discourse the author used to frame the events, the identity of the chronicler and what is known about his social status, political view and cultural milieu, his interest and biases, etc. This course is devised as a kind of practical course or seminar in which we will read, analyze and interpret the chronicles by applying the historical criticism.

The issues of interpreting sources and producing textual evidences forms one of the challenges in writing history. The sources or the raw material on the past can be used after they were selected and gathered; and after the techniques of source criticism have been applied to them. Then, the interpretation and analysis of the sources can start. In this course, we will read and analyze a variety of Ottoman chronicles by asking to these texts a series of questions in order to interpret their discourse, which will reveal us interesting knowledge on the historical context, the cultural milieu and the social imperatives that surrounded the events these texts described.  

It is known that the Ottoman chronicles, especially those of the early period, are few in number and insufficient in their description of the events. However, as long as no new sources emerge, our knowledge of Ottoman history is mainly based on these texts. A meaningful reading of these existing sources depends on the ability to develop new approaches to these texts. During this course, we will make use of the discourse analysis model and ask questions to the discourse of the Ottoman chroniclers. As such, the students will be introduced to new interpretations and critical approaches to the sources, which will renew and deepen their knowledge in the field which were previously overlooked.