Ottomans Imagining Japan: East, Middle East, and Non-Western Modernity at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Palgrave Macmillan Transnational History Series)

Today's "clash of civilizations" between the Islamic world and the West are in many ways rooted in 19th-century resistance to Western hegemony. This compellingly argued and carefully researched transnational study details the ways in which Japan served as a model for Ottomans in attaining "non-Western" modernity in a Western-dominated global order. The roots of today's "clash of civilizations" between the Islamic world and the West are not solely anchored in the legacy of the crusades or the early Islamic conquests: in many ways, it is a more contemporary story rooted in the nineteenth-century history of resistance to Western hegemony. And as this compellingly argued and carefully researched transnational study shows, the Ottoman Middle East believed it had found an ally and exemplar for this resistance in Meiji Japan. Here, author Renee Worringer details the ways in which Japan loomed in Ottoman consciousness at the turn of the twentieth century, exploring the role of the Japanese nation as a model for Ottomans in attaining "non-Western" modernity in a global order dominated by the West. Japan's domestic and international achievements kindled a century-long fascination with the nation in Ottoman lands, one that arguably reached its ironic culmination with the arrival of Japanese troops in Iraq in 2004 "The roots of today's "clash of civilizations" between the Islamic world and the West are not solely anchored in the legacy of the crusades or the early Islamic conquests: in many ways, it is a more contemporary story rooted in the nineteenth-century history of resistance to Western hegemony. And as this compellingly argued and carefully researched transnational study shows, the Ottoman Middle East believed it had found an ally and exemplar for this resistance in Meiji Japan. Here, author Renee Worringer details the ways in which Japan loomed in Ottoman consciousness at the turn of the twentieth century, exploring the role of the Japanese nation as a model for Ottomans in attaining "non-Western" modernity in a global order dominated by the West. Japan's domestic and international achievements kindled a century-long fascination with the nation in Ottoman lands, one that arguably reached its ironic culmination with the arrival of Japanese troops in Iraq in 2004"-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Introduction....Pages 1-22 Front Matter....Pages 23-23 Framing Power and the Need to Reverse....Pages 25-42 The Ottoman Empire between Europe and Asia....Pages 43-78 Asia in Danger: Ottoman-Japanese Diplomacy and Failures....Pages 79-107 Front Matter....Pages 109-110 Ottoman Politics and the Japanese Model....Pages 111-151 The Young Turk Regime and the Japanese Model after 1908: “Eastern” Essence, “Western” Science, Ottoman Notions of “Terakkî” and “Medeniyet” (Progress and Civilization)....Pages 153-182 Politics, Cultural Identity, and the Japanese Example....Pages 183-217 Ottoman Egypt Demands Independence: Egyptian Identity, East and West, Christian and Muslim....Pages 219-250 Conclusion: Competing Narratives, Ottoman Successor States, and “Non-Western” Modernity....Pages 251-262 Back Matter....Pages 263-350