Introduction The Issue of Transformation within the Ottoman Empire

In: Dimensions of Transformation in the Ottoman Empire from the Late Medieval Age to Modernity
Authors:
Selçuk Akşin Somel
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Seyfi Kenan
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Abstract

The Introduction, titled “The Issue of Transformation within the Ottoman Empire” aims to introduce the reader to basic issues related to the concept of transformation, its application to historiography and its importance for reassessing Ottoman history. It consists of three parts; the first discusses the category of transformation, its perception by the Ottomans, and the evolution of historiographical notions of change from Antiquity to the present time. This part is concluded by elaborating on W. H. Sewell Jr’s methodology, which synthesizes structuralist and Marxist approaches and proposes synchronic analyses of historical institutions. The second part examines twentieth-century historiographical tendencies and discussions on the issue of the ‘decline’ of the Ottoman Empire, an interpretation reinforced by late Ottoman organicist approaches, Orientalist notions and modernization theory. It is shown that it was Metin Kunt, who for the first time proved the indefensibility of the decline paradigm and proposed instead the existence of particular historical eras with distinct political, economic and cultural qualities. Changes following the Ottoman classical era, accordingly, constituted comprehensive transformations rather than processes of degeneration. The final part reviews the historiography of the Ottoman Empire of recent decades and ascertains the increasing integration of Ottoman historiography into global historical studies. At the end, short summaries of volume chapters are provided.

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