Seeing the Ottomans in Sixteenth Century Travel Writing: A Comparative Ethnography of Dernschwam and Busbecq

Year 2025, Issue: 9, 71 - 96, 15.04.2025

Aynülhayat Uybadın

https://doi.org/10.54462/kadim.1641863

Abstract

In sixteenth-century Europe, Renaissance Humanism and the Reformation challenged scholastic knowledge and emphasized experiential authority, turning travel writing into a key site of knowledge production. This article compares Hans Dernschwam’s Tagebuch and Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq’s Turcicae Epistolae, arguing that early modern travelogues functioned not only as historical documents but also as ethnographic narratives. It positions these texts as historical-ethnographic sources and analyzes their discursive strategies and modes of cultural representation. Using comparative textual analysis, the study reveals a tension between Busbecq’s pragmatic narrative that frames the Ottoman Empire as a reformist model, and Dernschwam’s exclusionary discourse shaped by Protestant moral codes. These accounts are read as ideologically and epistemologically embedded texts rather than mere personal impressions. The article concludes that early modern travel writing provided a field for ethnographic reflection and that a historical-ethnographic reading of such sources offers significant methodological and theoretical insights for both contemporary Ottoman studies and the broader field of cultural studies.

Keywords

Early Modern Travel Writing, Busbecq, Dernschwam, Ethnography, Cultural studies

16. Yüzyıl Seyahat Yazınında Osmanlı’yı Görmek: Dernschwam ve Busbecq’in Karşılaştırmalı Etnografisi

Abstract

16. yüzyıl Avrupa’sında skolastik bilginin sarsıldığı, deneyimin otorite kazandığı Rönesans hümanizmi ve Reform atmosferinde seyahat yazını, yeni bilgi biçimlerinin üretildiği önemli bir alana dönüşmüştür. Bu makale, 16. yüzyılda Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nu ziyaret eden iki Avrupalı seyyahı, Hans Dernschwam’ın Tagebuch’u (Seyahat Günlüğü) ile Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq’in Turcicae Epistolae’sini (Türk Mektupları) karşılaştırmalı olarak inceleyerek, erken modern seyahat yazınının tarihi belge niteliğinin yanı sıra etnografik-anlatısal bilgi üretim pratikleri içerdiğini de ileri sürmektedir. Çalışmanın amacı, bu seyahatnameleri tarihsel-etnografik malzemeler olarak konumlandırmak ve seyahat anlatılarının kültürel temsil biçimleri ile söylemsel stratejilerini analiz etmektir. Karşılaştırmalı metin analizi yöntemiyle gerçekleştirilen çalışmada, Busbecq’in Osmanlı’yı reformcu bir model olarak sunan pragmatik anlatısıyla, Dernschwam’ın Protestan ahlâkının perspektifinden Osmanlı’yı dini ve kültürel yozlaşmanın simgesi olarak dışlayan yaklaşımı arasındaki söylemsel gerilim ortaya konmaktadır. Bu metinlerin, yalnızca bireysel izlenimlerden ibaret olmayan; ideolojik, kültürel ve epistemolojik kodlarla örülü metinler olduğu savunulmaktadır. Makale, Dernschwam ve Busbecq karşılaştırması üzerinden, erken modern seyahat anlatılarının modern etnografi için bir “saha” oluşturduğunu savunarak, örnek metinlerin tarihsel-etnografik yöntemle okunmasının, günümüz Osmanlı araştırmaları ve kültürel çalışmalar alanı için sunduğu özgün metodolojik ve teorik katkılara dikkat çekmektedir.

Keywords

Erken Modern Seyahat Yazını, Busbecq, Dernschwam, Etnografi, Kültürel Çalışmalar

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