Participants
İrfan Kokdaş (İzmir Katip Çelebi University)
Mehmet Mert Sunar (İstanbul Medeniyet University)
Aysel Yıldız (IMS/FORTH)

The lecture is part of a series launched in collaboration with the Institute for Mediterranean Studies-FORTH and the Institute of European Studies of the University of California, Berkeley for the research in history undertaken in both establishments to enhance communication, knowledge and exchange of ideas. This lecture is also co-organized by the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association (OTSA). This is one of four ERC projects carried out by the research groups of IMS-FORTH.

The JaNet project investigates the economic and sociopolitical role of the Janissaries in the 18th and early 19th centuries through their examination as a complex of interconnected networks in the ‘extended Mediterranean’ (including major Black Sea and Danubian ports). According to our thesis, in the period under examination, the Janissary corps became one of the main channels for the participation of various Muslim social strata of the Ottoman periphery in the Empire’s developing credit market and commercial life, as well as a gateway for their involvement in local and imperial politics. Moreover, it became a platform for the exchange of people, goods, and ideas between different localities covering a vast geographical area. When examined from a Mediterranean perspective, this view allows us to look beyond the information provided by Europe-centered sources and to drastically redefine the sociopolitical and financial role of Muslims in the area, an approach which historical analysis sorely lacks.

https://ucdavis.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMqfu-hpzstGtJubZ3zH8VJys4wgnrHcCey

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

You may also view the presentation livestream on youtube: https://youtu.be/w17NWrWgeco