Modern Turkey came into existence in the period 1908-1945, in which traumatic and revolutionary developments followed each other in quick succession: the constitutional revolution, eleven years of war, mass migration and mass murder, the end of a 600-year old empire and almost the partition of the remains among the victors in World War I. At the same time it is the period of political experiments, the building of a national economy and the birth of Turkish nationalism. The republic is both heir to all of these developments and a daring experiment in nation building and modernization.
Rooster
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Onderwijsvorm
The course will start with an introductory lecture and a logistical session during which assignments will be handed out. This will be followed by four blocks of four classes each. Students are required to independently read chapters 5-12 of E.J. Zurcher, Turkey. A Modern History (second edition, 2005) by way of preparation for the course.
Each of the themes will be treated in a block of four classes of two hours each. Texts will be made available for each class, and a discussion of these texts will form the basis for the presentations by one or more of the students (dependent on the number of participants). Each of the classes will be divided between a lecture by Prof. Zürcher before the break and a discussion of the readings by one of the students after the break. The readings are not meant to summarize the texts as all students are required to read these. Instead, a contrastive analysis of the texts is aimed for.
Leerdoelen
The course aims to use the historical context of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of a new nation state, the Republic of Turkey, to discuss and analyze four major issues that played a dominant role in the history of this period: the emergence of the modern state, the impact of war, nationalism and nation building, and the role of religion and secularism.
Literatuur
Erik-Jan Zürcher, Turkey. A modern history. New edition (London: I.B. Tauris, 2005). Students are required to independently read chapters 5-12 of this book by way of preparation for the course.
A full set of selected texts in photocopy is available in the office of Prof. Zürcher, building 1173, room 108B. Students are requested to copy the texts for themselves.
Toetsing
The final grade of this course will be composed of the following elements:
Participation in group discussions (20%)
Presentation of a paper on a special topic in class (30%)
3000-word essay (term paper) (50%)
Students who earn a mark lower than 6 owing to insufficient participation, including the presentation of papers, will have to sit a written examination on the subjects discussed during the course. The result will contribute 50% to the final mark.
Informatie
Blackboard/webpagina
Not applicable.
Overzicht
Block 1: the emergence of the modern state
1.1 Lecture: Towards new notions of legitimate rule
Discussion: Niyazi Berkes, The development of secularism in Turkey (Montreal, 1964), 253-288; Selim Deringil, The well-protected domains (London, 1998), 16-43.
1.2 Lecture: Incorporation – Trade, loans and investments Discussion: Sevket Pamuk, The Ottoman Empire and European capitalism (Cambridge, 1987), 55-81; Donald Quataert, Ottoman manufacturing in the age of the industrial revolution (Cambridge, 1993),134-160; Reşat Kasaba, ‘Was there a compradore bourgeoisie in mid-Nineteenth Century western Anatolia?”, Review XI/2 (1988), 215-230.
1.3 Lecture: The growth of the bureaucracy and the army
Discussion: Carter V. Findley, Bureaucratic reform in the Ottoman Empire (Princeton, 1980), 113-150; Erik-Jan Zürcher (ed.), Arming the state. Military conscription in the Middle East and Central Asia 1775-1925 (London, 1999), 79-94; Yakup Bektaş, The Sultan’s Messenger: Cultural Constructions of Ottoman Telegraphy, 1847-1880. Technology and Culture, Vol. 41, No. 4, (2001) 669-696;
1.4 Lecture: The lost provinces Discussion: Justin McCarthy, Death and exile. The ethnic cleansing of Ottoman Muslims 1821-1922 (Princeton, 1995), 1-58; Gawrych, George W., “The Culture and Politics of Violence in Turkish Society, 1903-1914”. Middle Eastern Studies, XXII-3. (July 1986), 307-330
Block 2: The impact of war
2.1 Lecture: A pre-industrial state in an industrial war 1914-18 Discussion: Erickson, Ordered to Die (Westport/London, 2001), 1-49; Erik-Jan Zurcher, Between Death and Desertion. The Experience of Ottoman Soldier in World War I, Turcica 28 (1996), 235-258.
2.2 Lecture: The Armenian genocide Discussion: Ronald Gregor Suny, “The holocaust before the holocaust: reflections on the Armenian genocide”, in Hans Lukas Kieser, Dominik Schaller (ed.), The Armenian genocide and the shoah (Zürich, 2002), 83-100; Donald Bloxham, The Great game of Genocide, (Oxford, 2005), 69-96.
2.3 Lecture: The war continues 1918-1922 Discussion: Erik-Jan Zürcher, Young Turks, Ottoman Muslims and Turkish Nationalists: Identity Politics 1908-1938, in Kemal H. Karpat (ed.), Ottoman Past and Today’s Turkey (Leiden, 2000) 150-179; Halide Edib, The Turkish ordeal (New York, 1928), 3-64.
2.4 Lecture: New borders, new states Discussion: Elie Kedourie, England and the Middle East (Londen, 1987 (3e ed.)), 29-66; Paul Hemreich,_ From Paris to Sèvres_ (Columbus OH, 1974), 265-290.
Block 3: Nationalism and nation building, religion and secularism
3.1 Lecture: Creating the Turkish nation
Discussion: Geoffrey Lewis, The Turkish language reform. A catastrophic succ_ess, (Oxford, 2002), 40-74; Ayşe Kadioğlu, “The paradox of Turkish nationalism and the construction of official identity,” in: Sylvia Kedourie (ed.), Turkey Identity, democracy, politics (London, 1996), 177-193. Martin van Bruinessen, “Genocide in Kurdistan? The suppression of the Dersim rebellion in Turkey (1937-1938) and the chemical war against the Iraqi Kurds (1988), in: George Andreopoulos (ed.), Conceptual and historical dimensions of genocide (Philadelphia, 1994), 141-170.
3.2 Lecture: Ataturk, the founding father
Discussion: Harold Armstrong, Grey Wolf (London, 1937), 254-284; Nazli Ökten, “An endless death and an eternal mourning”, in: Esra Özyürek, The politics of public memory in Turkey (Syracuse, 2007), 95-113.
3.3 Lecture: The legacy of positivism and materialism Discussion: Şükrü Hanioğlu, “Blueprints for a future society: the late Ottoman materialists on science, religion and art”, in: Elizabeth Ozdalga (ed.), Late Ottoman society. The intellectual legacy (London, 2005), 28-89; Şerif Mardin, Continuity and change in the ideas of the Young Turks, (Istanbul, 1969).
3.4 Lecture: The Turkish version of secularism, or: Good and bad Islam Discussion: Andrew Davison, “Turkey, a “secular” state? The challenge of description,” South Atlantic Quarterly 102: 2/3 (2003), 333-350; Erik-Jan Zürcher, Turkish secularism in a European context, in: Nimrod Goren and Amikam Nachmani (ed.), The importance of being European: Turkey, the EU, and the Middle East (Jerusalem, 2007), 131-140. Esra Özyürek, _State secularism and everyday politics in Turkey _(Durham NC, 2006), 125-177.
Opmerkingen
The course is primarily intended for MA and MPhil students in the Turkish Studies programme, but PhD students whose work has a historical slant, as well as selected seniors may be admitted upon request (contact Prof. E.J. Zürcher).
Registration via U-twist
Students who take this course within the context of the MPhil Middle Eastern Studies will have to do extra reading (or make an extra assignment) in consultation with the professors.