New Trajectories in the Study of Early Modern Ottoman Historiography

Year 2022, , 281 - 296, 03.02.2023

Şaban Ağalar

https://doi.org/10.55842/talid.1161366

Abstract

Since the early 1980s, literature on early modern Ottoman historiography witnessed a significant expansion in tandem with the rising interest in narrative sources and archival documents. The research, especially during the last two decades, is characterized by the use of new sources and methodology, which in turn, enabled the examination of previously overlooked features and dynamics of early modern history writing. This review argues that the imprint of the new trajectories in the study of early modern Ottoman historiography is particularly manifest in two themes of research. First, the field has undergone a shift from an emphasis on the narrowly defined political function of history writing to the acknowledgment of the multiplicity of purposes, agents, and messages. Studies in the field of art history have particularly contributed to this transformation by expanding the repertoire of historiographical sources beyond textual materials and raising productive questions regarding the authorship and audience of official histories. Second, thought-provoking studies on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century historiography challenged the conventional categories of historian and historiographical work. Historiographers who were neither bureaucrats nor scholars integrated otherwise marginalized voices into the study of Ottoman historiography. Despite the promising developments in the field, there is still a lack of research on the theoretical dimensions and cross-cultural connections ofearly modern Ottoman history writing.

Keywords

historiography, history writing, early modern Ottoman Empire, Ottoman intellectual history, tarihyazımı, erken modern Osmanlı İmparatorluğu, Osmanlı entelektüel tarihi, erken modern Osmanlı İmparatorluğu

Erken Modern Osmanlı Tarihyazımı Çalışmalarında Yeni Yönelimler

Abstract

Erken modern Osmanlı tarihyazımı literatürü, 1980’lerin başından itibaren arşiv belgelerinin yanı sıra, anlatı kaynaklarına yönelik artan ilginin sonucu dikkate değer bir genişlemeye tanık olmuştur. Özellikle son yirmi yılda, yeni kaynakların ve metodolojilerin kullanılmaya başlanmasıyla erken modern tarih yazımının daha önce gözden kaçan özelliklerinin ve dinamiklerinin incelenmesi mümkün hale gelmiştir. Bu değerlendirme yazısı, erken modern Osmanlı tarihyazımı araştırmalarındaki yeni yönelimlerin izlerinin özellikle iki araştırma temasında kendini gösterdiğini iddia etmektedir. İlk olarak; literatür, tarih yazımının dar bir biçimde tanımlanmış siyasi işlevine yapılan vurgudan, amaçların, faillerin ve mesajların çokluğunun kabulüne doğru bir kayma geçirdi. Sanat tarihi alanındaki çalışmalar, tarihyazımı kaynakları repertuarını metinsel materyallerin ötesinde genişleterek ve eserlerin yazarları ve okuyucuları hakkında yeni sorular üreterek bu dönüşüme katkıda bulunmuştur. İkincisi, on yedinci ve on sekizinci yüzyıllarda yazılmış tarih metinlerini ele alan son çalışmalar, geleneksel tarihçi ve tarih eseri kategorilerini yeniden düşünmemizi sağlamıştır. Ne bürokratik ne de ilmî hiyerarşinin bir parçası olan tarihçiler üzerine yapılan çalışmalarla, marjinalleştirilmiş sesler Osmanlı tarihyazımı incelemesine entegre edilmiştir. Alandaki umut verici gelişmelere rağmen erken modern Osmanlı tarih yazımının teorik boyutları ve kültürler arası bağlantıları hakkında daha fazla araştırmaya ihtiyaç vardır.

Keywords

tarihyazımı, Osmanlı entelektüel tarihi, erken modern Osmanlı İmparatorluğu

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