OTTOMAN MODERNIZATION THROUGH LITERARY TEXTS

POLI356

Course Code: POLI356
Semester: -
Theory+Practice: 3 + 0
ECTS: 5

Course Type

Elective Course

Course Level

Bachelor's Degree

Year of Study

Semester

ECTS

Name of Lecturer(s)

Instructor Halil İlteriş Kutlu

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the students;

Evaluate Ottoman modernization from cultural and intellectual perspectives.
Interpret literary texts within their historical and political contexts.
Examine political ideas that emerged from the Tanzimat period to the Second Constitutional Era through literary works.
Assess the Ottoman manifestations of modern political concepts such as the public sphere, citizenship, liberty, and nationhood.
Develop original evaluations of political and social transformations based on literary texts.

Mode of Delivery

Face to face

Prerequisites

Recommended Optional Programme Components

No recommended optional programme components.

Course Description

This course aims to examine Ottoman modernization through literary texts that reveal the cultural and intellectual manifestations of the modernization process. Focusing on novels, poetry, theatre, newspapers, memoirs, and intellectual writings produced between the eighteenth century and the early twentieth century, the course analyzes the transformations in mentality, social imagination, and cultural perception that occurred within Ottoman society. Particular attention is given to major themes and concepts associated with modernization, including the emergence of the modern state, the formation of the public sphere, the rise of a new intellectual class, the changing position of women in Ottoman public life, liberty, nationhood, perceptions of the West, and debates on civilization. By reading literary works as historical and intellectual sources, the course approaches Ottoman modernization not merely as a political and institutional process, but also as a transformation of cultural imagination and collective mentality.

Course Contents

WEEK	TOPICS
1^st Week	How Should Ottoman Modernization Be Read Through Literary Texts? History, Literature, and Mentalities
2^nd Week	From the Tulip Era to the Tanzimat: The Discovery of the West and the First Aesthetic Encounters
3^rd Week	The Printing Press, Newspapers, and the Emergence of the Public Sphere
4^th Week	The Young Ottomans and the Idea of Liberty in Literature
5^th Week	The Emergence of Theatre and the Representation of Ottoman Politics on Stage
6^th Week	The Rise of the Novel and New Conceptions of the Individual
7^th Week	Midterm Exam
8^th Week	Westernization and the Crisis of Identity in Literature
9^th Week	Women, Family, and Social Transformation in Literary Representation
10^th Week	Literature and Society During the Reign of Abdülhamid II (The Hamidian Period)
11^th Week	The Modern Individual and the Experience of Alienation in Constitutional-Period Literature
12^th Week	Civilization, Progress, and Critique in Modern Ottoman Poetry
13^th Week	From Empire to Nation: Literary Narratives of Identity and Belonging
14^th Week	The Dissolution of the Empire and the Emergence of a New Intellectual Paradigm

Recommended or Required Reading

Yirmisekiz Çelebi Mehmed Efendi (1993). Paris Sefaretnamesi. Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları.
Ahmed Resmi Efendi. Viyana Sefaretnamesi; Ebubekir Ratıb Efendi.
Nemse Sefaretnamesi; Mustafa Sami Paşa.
Avrupa Risalesi; Sadık Rıfat Paşa.
Avrupa Ahvaline Dair Risaleler; Şinasi.
Şair Evlenmesi. MEB Yayınları; Şinasi.
Tercüman-ı Ahval Mukaddimesi; Münif Paşa.
Muhaverat-ı Hikemiyye; Münif Paşa.
Mecmua-i Fünun Yazıları; Ali Suavi.
Muhbir Gazetesi Yazıları; Ali Suavi.
UlUm Gazetesi Yazıları; Ziya Paşa.
Ziya Paşa; Şiir ve İnşa.
Namık Kemal. İntibah. Dergah Yayınları.
Namık Kemal. (2017). Cezmi. Dergah Yayınları.
Namık Kemal. (2017). Vatan Yahut Silistre. Dergah Yayınları; Namık Kemal.
Namık Kemal. Renan Müdafaanamesi.
Şemsettin Sami. Taaşşuk-ı Talat ve Fitnat.
Ahmet Mithat Efendi. (2019). Felatun Bey ile Rakım Efendi.
Ahmet Mithat Efendi. Henüz On Yedi Yaşında.
Ahmet Mithat Efendi. Jön Türk.
Mehmet Celal. Hayal-i Celal.
Mehmet Celal. Venüs.
Mizancı Murad. Turfanda mı Turfa mı?
Fatma Aliye. Muhadarat.
Fatma Aliye. Refet.
Fatma Aliye. Udi.
Emine Semiye. Bikes.
Nigar Hanım. Şiirler ve Mektuplar.
Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem. Araba Sevdası. Dergah Yayınları.
Recaizade Mahmud Ekrem. Zemzeme.
Abdülhak Hamid Tarhan. Sahra.
Abdülhak Hamid Tarhan. Makber.
Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil. Mai ve Siyah.
Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil. Aşk-ı Memnu.
Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil. Kırık Hayatlar.
Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil. Kırk Yıl.
Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil. Saray ve Ötesi.
Mehmet Rauf. Eylül.
Cenap Şahabettin. Avrupa Mektupları.
Tevfik Fikret. Rübab-ı Şikeste;
Tevfik Fikret. Tarih-i Kadim.
Mehmet Akif Ersoy. Safahat. Dergah Yayınları;
Mehmet Akif Ersoy. Süleymaniye Kürsüsünde
Mehmet Akif Ersoy. Asım.
Ömer Seyfettin. Primo Türk Çocuğu.
Ömer Seyfettin. Beyaz Lale
Ziya Gökalp. Kızıl Elma.
Ziya Gökalp. Türkçülüğün Esasları.
Ahmet Ağaoğlu. Üç Medeniyet.
Prens Sabahaddin. Türkiye Nasıl Kurtarılabilir?
Ahmet İhsan Tokgöz. Matbuat Hatıralarım.
Halide Edib Adıvar. Mor Salkımlı Ev.
Halide Edib Adıvar. Türkün Ateşle İmtihanı.
Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar. (2013). 19. Asır Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi. Dergah Yayınları.
Mehmet Kaplan. (2018). Şiir Tahlilleri. Dergah Yayınları.
Niyazi Berkes. (2016). Türkiye?de Çağdaşlaşma. Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
Şerif Mardin. (2010). Yeni Osmanlı Düşüncesinin Doğuşu. İletişim Yayınları.
Şerif Mardin. (2017). Türk Modernleşmesi. İletişim Yayınları.
Kemal H. Karpat. Osmanlı?dan Günümüze Edebiyat ve Toplum.
İlber Ortaylı. (2021). İmparatorluğun En Uzun Yüzyılı. Kronik Kitap.
Carter V. Findley. (1980). Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire. Princeton University Press.
Carter V. Findley. (2010). Turkey, Islam, Nationalism, and Modernity. Yale University Press.
Şükrü Hanioğlu. (2008). A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire. Princeton University Press.
Donald Quataert. (2005). The Ottoman Empire, 1700?1922. Cambridge University Press.
Erik Jan Zürcher. (2017). Turkey: A Modern History.
I.B. Tauris; Selim Deringil. (1998). The Well-Protected Domains: Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in the Ottoman Empire, 1876?1909.
I.B. Tauris; Elizabeth B. Frierson. (2000). Unimagined Communities: State, Press and Gender in the Hamidian Era, Critical Matrix, 13(1), 55?90.
Benedict Anderson. (2006). Imagined Communities. Verso.
Jürgen Habermas. (1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. MIT Press.
Reinhart Koselleck. (2004). Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time. Columbia University Press.
Christoph K. Neumann. (1994). Das Osmanische Reich in der Moderne. Oldenbourg Verlag.
Klaus Kreiser. (2012). Geschichte der Türkei. C.H. Beck.
Maurus Reinkowski. (2005). Die Dinge der Ordnung. Oldenbourg Verlag; Raoul Motika (Hrsg.). (2010). Osmanische Welten. Hamburger Edition.
Ahmet Evin. (1983). Origins and Development of the Turkish; Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

Lecture
Discussion
Presentation

Assessment Methods and Criteria

	Quantity	Percentage (%)
Mid-term	1	40
Presentation of Book	1	10
Total(%)		50
Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%)		50
Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%)		50
Total(%)		100

ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload

Activities	Quantity	Duration (Hour)	Total Workload (Hour)
Midterm exam	1	1	1
Preparation for Quiz
Individual or group work	15	3	45
Preparation for Final exam	1	35	35
Course hours	15	3	45
Preparation for Midterm exam	1	20	20
Laboratory (including preparation)
Final exam	1	1	1
Homework
Total Work Load			147
Total Work Load / 30 (h)			4.9
ECTS Credit of the Course			5

Language of Instruction

English

Work Placement(s)

Programme Qualifications / Learning Outcomes

	LO1	LO2	LO3	LO4	LO5
K1	X
K2
K3	X		X	X
K4
K5	X	X		X
K6		X
K7			X
K8
K9
K10					X
K11		X			X
K12
K13