AH527 CULTURAL PRODUCTION IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

Course Objectives

• The purpose of the course is to introduce graduate students to the history of cultural production in the Ottoman Empire in the early modern and modern periods. 
• Through a thematic and chronological framework, lectures will help trace the transformation and contours of Ottoman objects and cultural practices in their social and historical dimensions, including histories of artistic production, patronage, collecting, and display.  
• Students will be introduced to selected historical objects from Ottoman visual and material culture, as well as a range of primary sources and archival materials, to foster discussion and help them chose their own object-specific research topics. 
• Students will be familiarised with some ongoing critical debates on Ottoman history and will be encouraged to develop methodologies to study cultural production in a historical and cross-cultural perspective, spanning the disciplines of material culture studies, art and architectural history, and cultural studies.

Course Content

This is a one-semester survey course designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills to understand and interpret some of the major aspects of Ottoman cultural production and its history throughout the six centuries of Ottoman Empire. Emphasis is placed upon certain objects -- including buildings, illustrated books, paintings, photographs, calligraphy, postcards, and domestic furnishing-- chosen to explore the dynamics of cross-cultural contacts, the mobility of artworks, networks of artists and patrons, and multiple sites of production, circulation, and reception. The secondary readings, organised in a loosely chronological narrative, are selected to introduce students to the wide range of approaches, methodologies, and sources in the study of Ottoman cultural history, exploring the complex and multi-layered interactions between Ottoman cultural production and its regional and historical contexts in a comparative network.

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course the successful students are expected to:

• Demonstrate knowledge and sophisticated understanding of some of the principal cultural products produced in the Ottoman Empire and of their historical and social contexts.
• Understand the role of patronage, audience, institutions and the wider historical and social context in shaping cultural production in the Ottoman Empire. 
• Nurture an appreciation for artistic production and its cultural diversity and the value of understanding different cultural traditions both within the Ottoman Empire and its global networks.  
• Critically engage with secondary sources on Ottoman cultural history in order to identify gaps and problems and suggest directions for future scholarship. 
• Develop an original research question and frame an argument and anticipate counterarguments.
• Produce an argument-driven and logically organized paper that positions themselves within the scholarship and is supported by primary sources, both visual and textual
• Understand the genre and purpose of a book review and how to prepare it for publication.  
• Plan and perform well-crafted and engaging presentations to contextualise and communicate their knowledge of Ottoman history effectively. 
• Locate and analyse relevant primary sources, both published and unpublished, that are essential to studying Ottoman cultural production.