Projects & Scholarships Conference on Exploring Models for Peace by Re-Exploring Past: Diversity in the Ottoman Empire | Conference on Exploring Models for Peace by Re-Exploring Past: Diversity in the Ottoman Empire |
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 Over the last two decades, the focus of world politics has shifted from ideological conflicts between the two Super Powers to the so-called “clash of civilizations”, which foresees in the post-Cold War era the collision of world civilizations on global scale. Built on the essentialist assumption of the primordial and intrinsic discord of the Islamic and the Western-Christian worlds this view predicts that a major clash will take place between these two civilizations. This self-fulfilling prophecy seems to have both legitimized and also was corroborated by the unfortunate developments on the Middle Eastern scene over the last few years.Fortunately for the optimistic, however, history does not fall short of providing examples that defy the selective memory of the advocates of the ‘clash of civilizations’ thesis. The Mediterranean basin, the cradle of the world’s greatest civilizations, has presented us with the most vivid and productive instances of cultural interaction and peaceful coexistence. While the cultural impact of convivencia in medieval Spain paved the way for the intellectual transformation of Europe that changed the world forever, Ottoman rule in the Middle East and southeastern Europe created one of the most successful models of plural society in the early modern world.
As a pre-modern, non-democratic, and non-secular polity, the Ottoman State provided a thriving example of peaceful coexistence. Even though they had assumed the role of the protector and the leader of the Islamic world, the Ottomans did not hesitate to engage in a dynamic relationship with non-Islamic and non-Ottoman cultures. While maintaining active interest in the artistic, architectural, and technological advancements of other civilizations and establishing strong commercial ties with them, the Ottomans also paid special attention to the safeguarding of legal, political, and cultural mechanisms that ensured the harmonious coexistence of the diverse population of the empire. Historians agree that the Ottoman rule transformed Middle Eastern, North African, and Southeastern European societies and created a permanent impact on them that continues to shape the lives of the people living in these regions today. Interestingly, however, this transformation perpetuated the reproduction of the identities of most of the ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups rather than obliterating them. The fact that the Ottomans had given official recognition to all three Abrahamic religions certainly played an important role in this continuation. Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived, worshipped and studied side by side, enriching their distinct traditions. During their heyday, the Ottomans created a society that fostered a great degree of peaceful interaction among various religio-cultural groups. March 24-25, 2007 Saturday, March 24 Conference Location: Thompson Conference Center The University of Texas at Austin 2405 Robert Dedman Drive Austin TX 78712 9:00 - 9:30 a.m. Conference Welcome Kamran Scot Aghaie, Director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas, Austin 9:30 - 11.30 a.m. Ottoman Legacy Living Together in the Ottoman Empire Mustafa Armagan, Writers and Journalists Foundation Turkish Jews Nisya Ishman Allovi, the Jewish Museum of Turkey The Analysis of the Millet System in Light of Contact Theory Yetkin Yildirim, the Institute of Interfaith Dialog and Maria Curtis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin The Ottoman Spirit and the Multicultural Debate Bernadette Andrea, Department of English, Classics, and Philosophy, University of Texas, San Antonio 11.30 - 1.00 Break 1.00 - 2.45 Cultural Interactions: Ottoman Borderlands Living Together: Cultural Diversity in the Ottoman Empire Rhoads Murphey, Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham Christian-Muslim Interaction on the Ottoman Frontier: Ghaza and Accommodation in Early Ottoman History Linda Darling, Department of History, University of Arizona Remarks on Ottoman Peace and Presence in the Balkans Mehmet Ipsirli, Department of History, University of Fatih 2.45 - 3.15 Break 3.15 - 5.00 Demise of Ottoman Diversity: From Pax-Ottomanica to Nationalism From Ottoman Cultural and Religious Diversity to Turkish National Identity and Uniformity Kemal Karpat, Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison Facing the Threat of Separatism in a Multi-Cultural Empire in the Age of Nationalism, - an Ottoman Solution- Azmi Ozcan, Department of History, Sakarya University Pax Ottomana Mehmet Akif Aydin, School of Law, Marmara University Sunday, March 25
9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Ottoman Empire and its non-Muslim Subjects: The Millet System
Diversity, Legal Pluralism and Peaceful Co-existence in the Ottoman Centuries Ihsan Yilmaz, Law Department, SOAS, University of London
Is Millet System a Reality or a Myth? An Alternative Approach to the Administration of the non-Muslim Subjects in the Ottoman Empire Macit Kenanoglu, Department of Public Administration, Fatih University The Ottoman Administration and Non-Muslims Safsafi Ahmed Al-Katury, Department of History, Ain Shams University The Roots of Religious Tolerance in the Ottoman Empire Abdel Rahman Ahmad Salem, Department of History, Cairo University
11:30- 01:00 Break
1:00 - 2.45
Cultural Life: Literature, Architecture, Science Ottoman Palimpsests: The Past Reviewed in Architecture and Literature Tom Gage, Department of English, Humboldt State University Ottoman Tolerance Reflected in Classic Turkish Poetry Iskender Pala, Department of Turkish Literature, Kultur University
What contribution did Turks do to the science and technology of the Modern Salim Ayduz, FSTC, Manchester University
2:45 - 3:15 Closing Remarks
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