[Bilimsel Haber] Islamic-Turkish Civilization and Europe

[Talip Kucukcan]

Call for Papers
International Symposium on
Islamic-Turkish Civilization and Europe
(11th-18th Centuries)
Istanbul
24-26 November 2006

Organized by the Presidency of Religious Affairs of Turkey, the Faculty of
Theology (Marmara University-Istanbul), and the Center for Islamic Studies
(ISAM-Istanbul)

The contact between Europe and the Islamic world has played an important
role in the establishment and development of Western civilization since the
11th century. This fruitful contact allowed the Europeans to transfer the
intellectual outputs of Islamic civilization into Europe. The heirs of
Islamic civilization, the Seljuks and the Ottomans, also made available the
cultural legacy of Islam to Europe in many ways. Perhaps the most fruitful
contact and interaction between the two civilizations came during the
Renaissance when the Ottomans were on the rise. The symposium, therefore,
aims to analyze the historical interaction between the Islamic and the
European worlds from 11th to 18th centuries with special reference to the
Ottomans.
The Symposium welcomes interdisciplinary approaches as well as the
historical ones as long as they focus on the interactions between the two
worlds, their images and perceptions of one another in the fields of (1)
philosophy-science, (2) politics-state, (3) economy, (4)
language-literature-art, (5) education, (6) military, and (7) daily life.
The prospective themes for papers are outlined as follows:
1. The transmission of Islamic philosophy, science, and technology into
Europe
2. The Ottomans and the humanist thinkers of the Renaissance
3. Repercussions of Ottoman thought in Europe
4. The Crusades and their cultural implications in Europe
5. The impact of Islamic thought on the rationalistic interpretation of
Christianity
6. Interactions among educational institutions
7. Flow of books between the Ottomans and Europe
8. Socio-cultural implications of the printing press
9. The role of trade routes (across land and sea) in commercial relations
10. Capitulations and money flows, companies (mudarabah, commenda, etc.),
incorporations, and valuable documents
11. Interaction in the formation of political and administrative structures
12. Interaction in language, literature, art, and architecture
13. The image of Muslims and Turks in European literature and art as well as
the image of Europe in the minds of the Ottomans
14. Interaction in war strategies, war technology, and military training
15. Socio-cultural life (clothing, culinary culture, urban life, and
urbanization) in the light of Sayahatnamas and Safaratnamas
16. The Ottomans and the Reformation
17. The Ottomans and the Orthodox world
18. Interaction in religious and mystical life
19. The exchange of words, concepts, and terminology
20. The diaries of European travelers and their reflections on the European
identity
21. Views of Enlightenment thinkers on Islam and Turks.

Application:
Abstracts not exceeding 300 (three hundred) words should be addressed to
avrupa@isam.org.tr with a short CV of the applicant before 15 April 2006.

Conveners of the symposium:
The Presidency of Religious Affairs of Turkey (Ankara)
Faculty of Theology (Marmara University-Istanbul)
Center for Islamic Studies (ISAM-Istanbul)