Rethinking Sufism and Imperial Politics in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire

Intervention en anglais
The session will be moderated by Denis Hermann (IFEA) and Yavuz Aykan Université Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne)

 

This paper investigates how Sufis conceptualized Ottoman imperial politics and their place in it from the reign of Murad III (1574-1595) until the end of the reign of Ahmed III (1703-1730). In this period, Ottoman state institutions and state-society relations underwent significant changes, resulting ultimately in a new imperial arrangement in which power was dispersed between a greater number of players than before. In this altered social and political landscape, Islamic law became an even more important arbiter of legitimacy than previously, reshaping the Ottoman discourses on rulership as well as the boundaries of acceptable forms of Sufism. But, did these changes also spell the end of imperial mysticism?

This paper will try to answer this question by drawing on Sufi texts from a variety of genres (works of political advice, hagiographies, letters, diaries, etc.) written between the late sixteenth and early eighteenth centuries. 

Légende de l'illustration: Tezakir-i Hüdayi, Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Fatih MS. 2572

Date de l'événement 10/12/2021 6:00 pm
Places 30
Inscrit.e.s 22
Places disponibles 8

Les inscriptions pour cet événement sont closes.

Vies fragiles des réfugiés : migration, citoyenneté et protection temporaire en Turquie

Séminaire Enjeux actuels des migrations
Organisé par l'axe aMiMo de l'IFEA en collaboration avec l'Association pour les recherches sur les migratiıns (GAR)
Intervention en turc
Prof. Dr. Feyzi Baban

 

Date de l'événement 25/11/2021 6:00 pm
Places Illimitée
Inscrit.e.s 4

Les inscriptions pour cet événement sont closes.

Afghan Migration: Global and Local Perspectives

Simultaneous Turkish-English translation will be provided during the conference

Afghan migration has re-appeared on the political agenda and public media, following the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in August 2021. In the contexts of Turkey and Europe, this coincided with the rise in hate discourse and anti-refugee sentiments. The hostile attitude towards in host countries did not hinder movement, as thousands of Afghans struggle to escape from the political instability in their country. In fleeing, they join the 2.2 million Afghan refugees already settled in neighboring countries.

The Afghan exodus necessitates a deeper understanding that takes into consideration both global and local perspectives. For this aim, IFEA and GAR jointly organize a half day event (in hybrid format) in order to better discuss multiple aspects of Afghan migration. Our objective is to shed light on Afghan migrants' present situation and future prospects with the participation of experts on these topics.

The event starts with a panel composed (in order of appearance) of Prof. Orhan Deniz, Dr. Sibel Karadağ and Dr. Angeliki Dimitriadi who will discuss the situation of Afghan migrants at different points of their migration journey, namely in Van, Istanbul, and Greece, respectively. It will be followed by a keynote speech by Prof. Alessandro Monsutti, who will provide a tour du monde on Afghan mobilities based on his more than two decades of research in this field.

Date de l'événement 04/11/2021 4:30 pm
Date de fin 04/11/2021 8:00 pm
Places 50
Le rôle des municipalités dans la gestion des migrations : une gouvernance à plusieurs niveaux à Istanbul

Séminaire « Enjeux actuels des migrations »
Organisé par l’Axe AMiMo de l'IFEA en collaboration avec l’Association pour les recherches sur les migrations (GAR)

Intervention en turc

Prof. Dr. Rabia Karakaya Polat

 

Date de l'événement 26/10/2021 6:00 pm
Places 30
Inscrit.e.s 0
Places disponibles 30

Les inscriptions pour cet événement sont closes.

Turquie et Chine : une nouvelle entente en Eurasie ?

Tolga Bilener (Université Galatasaray)

Situés aux deux extrémités du continent asiatique, la République de Turquie et la République populaire de Chine continuent d’approfondir leurs relations bilatérales dans plusieurs domaines, notamment en ce qui concerne les échanges économiques depuis le début du 21ème siècle. Alors qu’elle n’était qu’un partenaire marginal il y a une dizaine d’années, la Chine est désormais devenue, avec un volume commercial annuel de 26 milliards de dollars, le troisième partenaire commercial de la Turquie. Même si le déficit commercial en faveur de la Chine demeure un problème structurel, les liens économiques se développent et se diversifient. Les investissements et acquisitions chinois augmentent dans le secteur minier, dans les infrastructures portuaires et autoroutières, dans le commerce numérique ou dans le secteur énergétique, sans oublier la diplomatie vaccinale de la Chine.  

Les deux pays célèbrent en 2021 le cinquantenaire de leurs relations diplomatiques et affichent à l’occasion la volonté d’aller plus loin parce que, d’une part, les relations de la Turquie avec ses alliés traditionnels occidentaux sont de plus en plus dégradées, et de l’autre, la stratégie chinoise concernant les nouvelles routes de la Soie voit la Turquie comme un pays important. Même si les points de convergence et la détermination de coopérer ne manquent pas, ce rapprochement est quand même limité par des facteurs tant internes qu’externes, comme la question ouïghoure ou l’appartenance institutionnelle de la Turquie à l’alliance occidentale. Quoi qu’il en soit, l’avenir des relations entre la Turquie et la Chine sera aussi déterminé par l’évolution de l’équilibre des puissances sur le plan international.

Tolga BILENER, docteur en sciences politiques, après une licence à la Faculté des Sciences politiques de l’Université d’Istanbul, a fait son master en relations internationales à l'Université Paris-II (Panthéon-Assas) en tant que boursier de la Commission européenne dans le cadre du programme Jean Monnet Sa thèse de doctorat, sous la direction de M. Jean Marcou, à Sciences-Po Grenoble, porte sur les relations turco-chinoises. Soutenu en 2018, ce travail est publié chez l’Harmattan l'année suivante, sous le titre "La Turquie et la Chine: une nouvelle convergence en Eurasie?". Il a publié en 2020 (en turc) “Diplomatie et traités internationaux en Anatolie ancienne selon les tablettes de Kültepe/Kanesh”. T. Bilener travaille actuellement à l’Université Galatasaray (Istanbul) comme maître de conférences associé, au sein du département de relations internationales. Il est chargé des cours sur le Moyen-Orient, l'Asie orientale, la Sécurité internationale, ainsi que l'Histoire de la diplomatie.

Interventions en français

Date de l'événement 23/06/2021 6:00 pm
Places Illimitée
Inscrit.e.s 0

Les inscriptions pour cet événement sont closes.

Living the Love of the Imams in Twelver Shi’a Islam in Iran. Objects and Materials as a Vehicle for Devotion

Sepideh Parsapajouh (CNRS-CéSor/EHESS)

Event hosted by Orient-Institut Istanbul in Cooperation with the Institut Français d’Études Anatoliennes (IFEA).

In Twelver Shi’ism, as in many other religions, devotion and piety are not merely conceptual and ideational nor are they directed towards a purely abstract God. Twelver Shi’a consists of a set of beliefs and practices dedicated primarily to fourteen holy figures: The Prophet Muhammad, his daughter, Fatimah al-Zahrâ, and the twelve Imams are known as the fourteen infallibles or 14 ma'sum that are woven together and developed by believers in order to lead them to God. Concrete materials such as time, places, objects, and even persons mediate believers’ connections to the holy figures and act as vehicles for devotion. In this presentation, after a short introduction to Twelver Shi’ism, I will address the issue of religious materiality in the life of some Iranian Imamite Shi’a groups on three levels: in their daily lives; in the ceremonies and particular rituals on annual occasions, and finally in pious visits (ziyârat). This presentation is based on the results of field research, the methodology of which I will briefly discuss. It will also be articulated with some anthropological concepts and ideas that my colleagues, Michel Boivin, Annabelle Collinet and Delphine Ortis, and I put forward and discussed in a seminar based on research conducted over four years (2015-2019) at the EHESS (Paris), entitled “Material Culture and Devotional Practices in Shi’a Societies”.   

Sepideh Parsapajouh is an anthropologist at the National Center for Scientific Research - Center for
Social Research on Religion (CéSor-EHESS). Her first research focused on an Iranian slum where she
uncovered an order based on various solidarity mechanisms. This research led her to the importance of
value systems and religious beliefs in the balance of a society. Since 2010, she has been studying various
aspects of popular Shi'a religion, individual and collective, intimate and spectacular, in Iran and beyond,
in particular practices related to death, devotion, and the worship of saints and martyrs, faith and acts in
which the material and the spiritual are intertwined. Her publications include: Au coeur d'un bidonville
Iranien, Paris, Karthala-IFRI, 2016 ; Cimetières et tombes dans les mondes musulmans à la croisée des
enjeux religieux, politiques et mémoriels, Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée, Université
de Provence, n° 146 (with Mathieu Terrier), 2019 ; Religions en Iran, special issue Archives de sciences
sociales des religions (ASSR), éditions de l’EHESS, n° 189, (with Sabrina Mervin), 2020 ; Bodies and
Artefacts : Relics and other devotional supports in Shia societies in the Indic and Iranian worlds, special
issue of Islamic Material Culture, édition de Brill, n° 1, (with Annabelle Collinet and Michel
Boivin), 20221

Intervention en anglais

Image: Procession participants carrying a standard (Karaj, Ashura, 2007). kindly provided by Sepideh Parsapajouh.

To attend this online lecture, prior registration is necessary: Please send an email specifying your name and academic affiliation to Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.  by 14 June 2021 (Monday) at the latest.

For technical reasons, the number of participants is limited. You will be informed about the organizational and technical procedure before the lecture starts.

Date de l'événement 16/06/2021 7:00 pm
Places Illimitée
Inscrit.e.s 0

Les inscriptions pour cet événement sont closes.

Napoléon et l’Islam

Faruk Bilici [Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO), Paris]

Romantique représentant des Lumières en faveur de l’islam, fin politique pour instrumentaliser les sentiments religieux, lecteur assidu des « Ruines » de Volney, de « Mahomet politique » de Savary et de la traduction du Coran de ce « littérateur déiste », Napoléon Bonaparte est tout cela à la fois. Souvent confondu avec ses ambitions politiques orientales et ses sentiments religieux, il aura des idées parfois naïves, souvent ambigües envers l’islam pendant son règne sur l’Empire français et encore plus lors de son exil à l’ile de Sainte-Hélène.

Historien, spécialiste de l'Empire ottoman, Faruk Bilici est professeur émérite des universités à l’Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO) à Paris. Ancien membre de l’IFEA et du Centre d’études alexandrines (CeAlex), il travaille essentiellement sur les relations franco-ottomanes (XVIe-XIXe siècles) et l’histoire de l’Égypte ottomane. Il a dirigé la collection Bibliothèque turque chez Actes-Sud/Sindbad et a co-dirigé La Turquie : d'une révolution à l'autre (Hachette, 2013). Ses deux derniers ouvrages portent sur L’expédition d’Egypte, Alexandrie et les Ottomans : l’autre histoire (Alexandrie, Centre d’études alexandrines, 2017) ; Le Canal de Suez et l’empire ottoman (Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2019).

Intervention en français

Illustration: le 23 aout 1789, Napoléon Bonaparte à la fête de Mevlut  devant la mosquée Al-Azhar.

Date de l'événement 15/06/2021 6:00 pm
Places Illimitée
Inscrit.e.s 0

Les inscriptions pour cet événement sont closes.

Film Screening and Discussion. "A year in Exile"

Film Screening and Discussion. "A year in Exile" by Malaz Usta.

Discussant: Eda Elif Tibet.

An immigrant’s first year in a metropolitan city outside his small country. Through a collection of moving images and sounds the film exhibits what he faces, the pictures that he sees, the crowded thoughts in his head, and the state of emotional shock that he lives throughout the year.
 
Damascus born Malaz Usta moved to Turkey in the beginning of 2016. In 2014 he started working as a graphic designer and film editor. In 2018 he started studying Radio, TV, and Cinema at the Faculty of Communication in Marmara University. He is also continuing his double major studies in Film Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts.
 
Dr.Eda Elif Tibet is a postdoctoral researcher at the Critical Sustainability Unit at the Institute of Geography, University of Bern (Switzerland) where she works on the High Atlas Cultural Landscapes Programme in Morocco together with the Global Diversity Foundation (UK). She is the founder of KARMAMOTION a film collective of visual anthropologists and various artists in which to date they have produced 7 award winning films (Ait Atta Nomads of the High Atlas, Awakening a Fairy Tale, Refugee Here I Am, Ballad for Syria, Hey Goat!, AMCHI, 28 Days on the Moon) that has circulated at film festivals around the world and has been broadcast. She is an advisory member of the Enacting Global Transformation Initiative and a core faculty member of Global Environments Summer Academy, both taking place at the University of Oxford. She is a founding member of ETHNOKINO www.ethnokino.com  a curatorial ethnographic film screening program taking place at the Kino in der Reitschule cinema in Bern. She presents the first TV series ever made on Anthropology in Turkey through the documentary episodes she films and produces; "Antropolojik" at HABITAT TV.
 
Intervention en anglais
 

 

Date de l'événement 27/05/2021 6:00 pm
Places Illimitée
Inscrit.e.s 0

Les inscriptions pour cet événement sont closes.

Russia and Turkey in the Middle East

Evren Balta (Özyeğin University)
Vasily Kuznetsov (Head of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Science)

Session moderated by Bayram Balcı (IFEA) and Mitat Çelikpala (Kadir Has University)

Turkey and Russia have unbalanced bilateral relations that influence broad geography- almost all Eurasian territories that cover both countries' immediate surroundings from the Black Sea to the Caucasus but Central Asia and the Middle East. Both states’ relations with Western actors also play a significant role in shaping their foreign and security policies and their bilateral relations. During the last decade, Turkish and Russian leaders focused on prospective areas of cooperation and left the traditional issues of contention to hibernate. Thus, the two parties reframed their relations based on the principle of 'compartmentalization' of issues. Through this compartmentalization policy, Ankara and Moscow managed to segregate geopolitical and economic issues, especially in different regions, including the Middle East. The ebbs and flows of events in Syria since 2012 and their reflections on the Turkish-Russian relations are worth analyzing the fickle nature of Turkish-Russian relations. This seminar seeks to analyze the ebbs and flows of Turkish-Russian relations with a particular reference to the Syrian war and the Middle East with the participation of two distinguished scholars.

Evren Balta is a Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Ozyegin University and Senior Scholar at Istanbul Policy Center. Her main research interests include political violence, security, foreign policy and politics of identity. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from The Graduate Center, CUNY (2007) and an MA in Sociology from the Middle East Technical University (1999) and an MIA from Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (2001). She is the co-author of The American Passport (Upenn Press,2020), author of Age of Uneasiness (Iletisim Publications, 2019) and Global Security Complex (İletisim Publications, 2012); editor of Introduction to Global Politics (Iletisim Publications, 2014); co-editor of Military, State and Politics in Turkey  (Bilgi University Publications, 2010) and Neighbors with Suspicion: Dynamics of Turkish-Russian Relations (İletisim Publications, 2017).

Vasily Kuznetsov PhD in history (2010), Head of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences, associate professor of the Faculty of World Politics, Moscow State University, senior policy adviser of the Russian Contact Group for Inter-Libyan Settlement under Russian Foreign Ministry and Parliament.

From the very beginning of his scientific career, he tries to combine researches in the field of classical Arabic studies to analysis of the current political process in the Arab World and especially in the Maghreb States.

As a medievalist, he defended under the supervision of Professor Isaak Filshtinsky thesis on the medieval Arab-Muslim historical knowledge and has published several articles on the topic.

He is author of several Analytical Reports for the International Discussion Club “Valdai”, for Russia’s International Affairs Council, author of a monograph on political transformation in post-revolutionary Tunisia written on fieldwork (2011-2017). He is contributed with Al-Monitor.

He is interested in studying of socio-political processes, problems of statehood and religion life in the contemporary Arab societies. Also, he is involved in several track-two initiatives on the Russian politics in the Middle East.

Interventions en anglais

Date de l'événement 03/05/2021 6:00 pm
Places Illimitée
Inscrit.e.s 0

Les inscriptions pour cet événement sont closes.

Seda Altuğ (The Ataturk Institute for Modern Turkish History)

Session moderated by Alexis Wick (American University of Beirut)

Scholars working on refugees and the refugee issue in the Middle East usually operate within the fields of minority, refugee, diaspora and area studies. Many scholars assume that refugees, as victims of state violence can solely be understood with reference to the past violence that they were exposed to in their home country. Similarly, these groups are considered as self-made and self-enclosed entities whose history, present and future stand out as marginal annexes to the national history. These historiographical claims hold true for the scholarly work on the post-WW1 Christian and Kurdish refugees in Syria under the French mandate (1921- 1946). This talk attempts to nuance these claims and demonstrate the ways in which these internally diverse groups of refugees who are survivors of genocide and state-sponsored mass violence in Turkey and British-Iraq (1915-1931) have cultivated novel subjectivities and articulated the terms of their belonging in French-Syria. Through reflecting on the experiences of these refugee groups, this talk will argue that the refugee issue, namely the debates about the arrival of refugees, the French colonial state’s governing of the issue and the refugees’ involvement in Syrian politics in mid-1930s reveals the terms of Syrianness-in-making in the first half of the 20th century in Syria.

Seda Altuğ, Historian, is a lecturer at the Atatürk Institute for Modern Turkish History at Boğaziçi
University, Istanbul. She received her PhD from Utrecht University, Netherlands. Her
dissertation is entitled "Sectarianism in the Syrian Jazira: Community, Land and Violence in
the Memories of World War I and the French Mandate (1915–1939)". Her research interests
are state-society relations in French-Syria, sectarianism, land question, empire, border
and memory. Her recent work concerns land, property regimes and citizenship
practices in the late Ottoman East and Syria under the French mandate.
 
Intervention en anglais
Date de l'événement 28/04/2021 6:00 pm
Places Illimitée
Inscrit.e.s 0

Les inscriptions pour cet événement sont closes.

Conférences en ligne

Installé dans les locaux du drogmanat du Palais de France (ancienne Ambassade de France auprès de la Sublime Porte), l'Institut français d'études anatoliennes "Georges Dumézil" a succédé en 1975 à l'institut français d'archéologie d'Istanbul fondé en 1930. À l'origine orienté vers l'histoire ancienne et l'archéologie, il a ensuite étendu ses activités à la turcologie (linguistique et histoire ottomane en particulier). Il a commencé à s'ouvrir au contemporain à la fin des années 1980, notamment a Institut Français d'Études Anatoliennes Georges Dumézil