Becoming Ottoman: Converts, Renegades and Identity in Early Modern and Modern Context

(Hardback)

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This book examines the role of Europeans who settled in the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries and assumed Ottoman identity, be it by way of conversion to Islam and assimilating to the host society or by becoming loyal servants or subjects of the Ottoman state, identifying themselves as Ottomans, but retaining their faith. Bringing together a variety of case studies that reflect a broad range of individual experiences in changing historical circumstances, the book provides a detailed study of the process of Ottomanization. The book draws upon a variety of archival and other sources such as travelogues, diaries and folk epics, including lesser known examples, from early-modern Czech, Venetian and Wallachian views of converts, to case studies of 19th century British, German and Austrians who switched loyalty. They show that this process depended on a range of factors, from conversion, to integration into the culture of the ruling elites, fluency in the language, affiliation through family ties or marriage, and, most importantly, social status and professional rank.

Author Bio

Yavuz Kse is Professor of Turkish Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. His recent titles includeBuyurdum ki. The Whole World of Ottomanica and Beyond: Studies in Honour of Claudia Rmer (2023) and Seeds of Power. Explorations in the Environmental History of the Ottoman Empire (2019). Petr Kucera is Professor of Turkish Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. He is the co-editor of Selected Studies on Genre in Middle Eastern Literatures: From Epics to Novels (2023) and Texts, Contexts, Intertexts. Studies in Honor of Orhan Pamuk (2022) and co-author with J. Maleckov of From Istanbul to the End of the World: Ottoman Travel Writings from the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries (2019). Tobias Vlker is PhD candidate at the University of Vienna, Austria. He has published several articles on the late Ottoman Empire in transcultural perspective.