[Bilimsel Haber] CFA: Ottoman and Turkish Studies at Central European University

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GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY AND GRADUATE PROGRAM IN MEDIEVAL STUDIES
AT CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY

The Departments of History and Medieval Studies at Central European
University (Budapest, Hungary) are proud to announce the introduction
of courses in Ottoman and Turkish history, culture, and languages to
their respective teaching and research offers.

Administered through the Departments of Medieval Studies and History,
the curriculum in Ottoman and Turkish Studies at CEU draws on a wide
range of graduate courses in early Islamic, Byzantine, Renaissance
European, Habsburg, Russian, modern Balkan and Middle Eastern history
which highlight the Departments? particular strength in comparative
history of empires from medieval to modern eras (see below for the
list of sample courses and affiliated faculty).  Taught by an
international faculty with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and
regional specializations, courses at CEU approach Ottoman history from
an angle that neither privileges the perspective of the imperial
center nor views the Ottoman past through the lenses of its numerous
successor nation-states.  Rather, the students are encouraged to think
about the role of the empire?s many regions in the overall imperial
system as well as these regions? contribution to the articulation of
the Ottoman ideology and culture over time.  Moreover, the courses at
CEU situate the study of the Ottoman Empire into the lager framework
of medieval, early modern and modern history by exploring the Empire?s
relationships to its predecessors (Byzantium, medieval Islamic
states), contemporaries (especially Venice, the Habsburg and Russian
Empires), and successors (in the Balkans, Turkey and the Middle East).

The curriculum in Ottoman and Turkish Studies at CEU combines
empirical research and reflection on cutting-edge methodological and
theoretical developments in social sciences and humanities with
intensive language study.  In academic year 2010/11 the University
plans to debut its Source Language Center which will offer intensive
courses in modern Turkish and Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, modern and
classical Greek, Latin, and Russian, while Old Church Slavonic,
Bulgarian, BCS (Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian), Armenian and Hebrew
might be offered according to the students? needs.  Graduate students
interested in Ottoman and Turkish Studies at CEU would thus have an
opportunity to learn not only the languages of the Ottoman
administrative and literary sources but of the Empire?s diverse
peoples as well.

In addition to offering an exciting combination of courses in Ottoman
history and languages, CEU is also ideally placed for research in some
of the premier archives and libraries in close proximity to the
university (in Budapest, Vienna, Sofia, Sarajevo, etc.).  Moreover,
Hungary boasts of a long tradition in Ottoman and Oriental studies
currently represented by a dynamic community of scholars and
researchers at the Eötvös Loránd University, University of Szeged, the
Historical Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and other
local institutions.

Central European University is a graduate institution, accredited in
both the USA and Europe, with faculty and students coming from over
100 countries (www.ceu.hu/about/whyceu). There is no predominant
national majority.  CEU is committed to promoting merit, not
privilege, and its unparalleled financial aid program has therefore
always been extensive and generous ? enabling equal opportunity for
admission, regardless of income. With a 6:1 student/professor ratio
and an extremely international group of students and faculty CEU
provides an excellent forum for intense dialogue and exchange across
cultural, linguistic, geographic and disciplinary boundaries.  The
language of instruction is English!

Application Information:

Students interested in Ottoman and Turkish Studies at CEU have a
choice of applying to a One Year MA, Two Year MA or PhD.  For research
topics that focus on the period up to the end of the 17th century
students are encouraged to apply to the Medieval Studies Department
(medievalstudies.ceu.hu), which will also offer an additional
Specialization in Late Antique, Byzantine and Early Ottoman Studies.
Those interested in later topics should apply to the History
Department (www.ceu.hu/history).

Applications are accepted through an on-line system at
http://www.ceu.hu/admissions/apply beginning on November 10, 2009 (all
details on what an application package should include are described
here).  Candidates applying by January 25, 2010 are eligible to take
the CEU-administered institutional Test of English as a Foreign
Language (TOEFL). Candidates who can provide evidence of proficiency
in English or organize their own TOEFL examination may apply by March
15, 2010.

Full fellowships and stipends are available!

For more information, please visit our website at
http://www.ceu.hu/ots or contact Tijana Krstic (krstict at ceu.hu) or
Tolga Esmer (tuesmer at ceu.hu)

Sample courses:

*Sources for Ottoman History (I-II)

*The Ottomans and the Challenges of Building a Multi-Confessional Empire

*Social Discontent and Rebellion in the Ottoman Empire

*Islamic Borderlands

*Constantinople/Istanbul

*Islam in the Balkans

*The Late Ottoman Empire and Balkan Nationalism: The View from Istanbul

*Topics in modern Balkan History

*Ottoman Istanbul and Arab Provincial Capitals

*Secularism and Islam?Comparative Perspectives and Case Studies

*Imperial Order and Nationalism in Contiguous Empires

*The Ottomans and Europeans in the Early Modern Era

*Religious Conversion in the Early Modern Mediterranean

*From Empire to Republic

Associated CEU Faculty:

Aziz al-Azmeh (Medieval Studies)?Islam, historical anthropology

Nadia al-Bagdadi (History, Director of the Religious Studies
Program)?Islamic Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, History and Culture
of the Late Ottoman Empire, Comparative Religion

Tolga Esmer (History)?social and cultural history of the Ottoman
Empire (18th-19th centuries); rebellion and social discontent in the
Ottoman Empire; Islamic frontiers and borderlands; modern Middle
Eastern and Balkan history; modern Turkey

Niels Gaul (Medieval Studies, Director of the Center for Hellenic
Studies)?Late Byzantine history, Greek paleography and Byzantine
manuscript studies

Andras Gero (History, Director of the Institute of Habsburg
Studies)?history of the Habsburg Empire

Constantin Iordachi (History, Head of the Department of
History)?modern history of Southeast Europe; transition from the
Ottoman Empire to nation states in the Balkans

Tijana Krstic (Medieval Studies)?social and cultural history of the
Ottoman Empire, 14th-17th centuries (especially Ottoman
historiography; Ottoman Islam; inter-confessional relations); early
modern imperial encounters in Central Europe and the Mediterranean

Michael Miller (Nationalism Studies Program; Jewish Studies
Program)?Jewish and Central European History; impact of nationality
conflicts on the religious, cultural and political development of
Central European Jewry in the nineteenth century

Istvan Perczel (Medieval Studies)?Byzantine history and philosophy

Carsten Wilke (History, Medieval Studies, Jewish Studies
Program)?intellectual and cultural history of European Jewry; medieval
Jewish mysticism, Jewish-Christian relations, Iberian crypto-Judaism,
19th century religious modernization.

Balazs Trencsenyi (History)?intellectual history, nationalism, East
Central Europe, history of political thought

Selim Deringil (recurrent visiting professor, Nationalism
Studies)--cultural and intellectual history of the late Ottoman
Empire; religious conversion and apostasy in the late Ottoman Empire;
comparative themes in Ottoman/European history.

Roumen Daskalov (recurrent visiting professor, History)--Modernization
of the Balkans, Cultural and Social History of Modern Eastern Europe,
Anthropological Theories of Culture


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