Born and raised on the peripheries of the Russian Empire, Ahmet Caferoğlu studied Oriental Linguistics and Literature at the universities of Baku, Istanbul, Berlin, and Breslau. From 1929 up to his death in 1975, Caferoğlu had decisively contributed to shaping Turkish Turkology through his indispensable research on the dialectology of Turkish and on Old Uyghur; […]

Alevi ritual practice is a significant means in (re)producing a specific Alevi habitus and cultural identity. It is well known that the cem ritual and the emblematic semah were formative in the so-called Alevi revival. Representations of such performances became core symbols of ‘Aleviness’. Despite this, Alevis often complain of a lack of ‘authenticity’ of […]

As the second-oldest branch of Experimental Psychology, the Psychology of Aesthetics investigates the multi-factorial determination of aesthetic appreciation and production. Having focused on various questions in the visual arts, manuscripts are merely beginning to draw more attention from scholars in the field. My talk will trace potential factors influencing aesthetic valuation of manuscripts, and highlight […]

The so-called ‘Oxford Anonymous chronicle’ is a comprehensive history of the Ottoman dynasty in Turkish, compiled from various sources to tell the story of the dynasty from its rise to the year 1484 (AH 889). Like several other histories produced around the same time, some of which it influenced, it presents the Ottomans in the context of wider Islamic history and contains […]

The landscape of Sinan’s architecture in Thrace offers an opportunity to rethink the value of the famous Ottoman architect in light of his huge legacy, presented through his architectural and engineering works, which are spread out over a vast territory that once belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Especially in the Balkans, a region of conflicts […]

Doç. Dr. Kabadayı’s talk explores the planning and implementation of military campaigns from a geo-spatial perspective; the establishment and expansion of the postal service (menzil); and, the journey itineraries of Ottoman civil servants covering the long period from mid-sixteenth to mid-nineteenth century. The logbooks of four Ottoman military campaigns (Köszeg 1532, Suceava 1538, Yerevan 1635, […]

The ethnographic film ‘Shahbaz Qalandar’ explores the vital role the Qalandariyya Sufi Order plays in the religious life of the city of Sehwan Sharif, the last remaining centre of Qalandariyya dervishes world-wide. Shabbir Siraj, Nofil Naqvi and Hasan Ali Khan, conceptualized the film together. Ali Khan’s work on the Qalandariyya, in the city of Sehwan […]

In her talk, Dr. Valeska Huber revisits the Suez Canal as a connection and boundary between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Through the analysis of diverse mobilities intersecting at this global crossroads, such as tourists, troops, workers, pilgrims, caravan travellers, dhow skippers and others, she shows how in the Canal Zone, certain kinds of […]

13.08. – 15.08.2018, Kultur- und Vortragsprogramm, Worms Vom 13. bis zum 15. August veranstaltet das Orient-Institut Istanbul in Zusammenarbeit mit der Stadt Worms auf Schloss Herrnsheim/Pfalz unter dem Titel „Eine andere Türkei” ein dreitägiges Kultur- und Vortragsprogramm unter Beteiligung von Nahost- und Kunsthistorikerinnen und –historikern sowie Musikwissenschaftlerinnen und –wissenschaftlern. Hierbei wird unter anderem auch ein von Richard […]

The Turkish Collection at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland, consists of around 200 manuscripts, mainly produced in Turkey and written in Ottoman Turkish. Many of these manuscripts are illustrated poetry and history texts, and a large portion are beautifully illuminated (though not illustrated) religious texts, such as prayer books. The Turkish Collection includes several of the greatest manuscripts […]