The Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage, the Ottomans and the Balkans: A Discussion of Historiography

This discussion of historiography concerning the Ottoman Empire should be viewed in the context of our discipline's self-examination, which certainly has been encouraged by recent conflicts in southeastern Europe and the Middle East. Our contributors analyse the fashion in which the historiographies established in various national states have viewed the Ottoman Empire and its legacy. At the same time they discuss the links of twentieth-century historiography with the rich historical tradition of the Ottoman Empire itself, both in its metropolitan and its provincial forms. The struggle against anachronisms born from the nationalist paradigm in history doubtless constitutes the most important common feature of these otherwise very diverse studies. Frontmatter Acknowledgements (page vii) Introduction (Suraiya Faroqhi and Fikret Adanir, page 1) Chapter One. Bad Times and Better Self: Definitions of Identity and Strategies for Development in Late Ottoman Historiography, 1850-1900 (Christoph Neumann, page 57) Chapter Two. Research Problems concerning the Transition to Tourkokratia: the Byzantinist Standpoint (Klaus-Peter Matschke, page 79) Chapter Three. The Ottoman Empire in the Historiography of the Kemalist Era: a Theory of Fatal Decline (Büşra Ersanli, page 115) Chapter Four. Non-Muslim Minorities in the Historiography of Republican Turkey: the Greek Case (Hercules Millas, page 155) Chapter Five. Ottoman Rule Experienced and Remembered: Remarks on Some Local Greek Chronicles of the Tourkokratia (Johann Strauss, page 193) Chapter Six. Islamization in the Balkans as a Historiographical Problem: the Southeast-European Perspective (Antonina Zhelyazkova, page 223) Chapter Seven. The Formation of a 'Muslim' Nation in Bosnia-Hercegovina: a Historiographic Discussion (Fikret Adanir, page 267) Chapter Eight. Hungarian Studies in Ottoman History (Géza Dávid and Pál Fodor, page 305) Chapter Nine. Coping with the Central State, Coping with Local Power: Ottoman Regions and Notables from the Sixteenth to the Early Nineteenth Century (Suraiya Faroqhi, page 351) List of contributors (page 383) Bibliography (page 385) Index (page 429) A discussion of historiography concerning the Ottoman Empire. It analyzes how the historiographies established in various national states have viewed the Empire and its legacy, and explores the links of 20th-century historiography with the rich historical tradition of the Ottoman Empire itself