[MES Forum] FW: Upcoming Lecture in Ottoman & Turkish History (by Edhem Eldem)

[McClimans, Melinda]

MES Forum members, please share this opportunity with your colleagues and students:
The Challenge of Equality in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey
Dr. Edhem Eldem (Columbia University)

Date/Time: Friday, October 31, 2025, 4:00-5:30 pm
Location: Dulles Hall 168

Abstract
How present was the notion of equality in Ottoman political culture and social practice during the era of reforms and modernization? Even a cursory glance at contemporary sources shows that the term was only rarely used, contrary to frequent references to justice as a driving ethical and social principle. An investigation into the factors behind these choices reveals some fundamental differences between the tradition of a plural empire and the principles governing the Western powers that were pushing it towards equality. It may also explain the resilience of a political culture responsible for Turkey’s constant struggle with democracy.

About Edhem Eldem
Prof. Edhem Eldem<https://www.college-de-france.fr/en/chair/edhem-eldem-turkish-and-ottoman-history-international-chair/biography>, one of the foremost historians of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey, currently serves as the Sabancı Visiting Professor in the Department of History at Columbia University. From 2017 to 2022, he held the International Chair of Turkish and Ottoman History at the Collège de France. He was named Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 2022. A specialist in the last two centuries of the Ottoman Empire, Professor Eldem’s scholarship spans a wide range of subjects, including Levantine trade, Muslim funerary epigraphy, the history of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, the history of archaeology and photography in the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul during the long nineteenth century, Westernization and Orientalism, the cultural elite of the late Empire and (auto)biographical sources from this period.

This event is part of the Department of History Lecture Series in Ottoman and Turkish History. For questions, please contact Yiğit Akın (akin.16 at osu.edu<mailto:akin.16 at osu.edu>).



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[signature_1345232158]
Yiğit Akın
Associate Professor and Carter V. Findley Chair of Ottoman and Turkish History
Director, Graduate Studies Committee, 2025-27
Department of History
The Ohio State University
https://history.osu.edu/people/akin.16


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