TradModernity LateOttomanSch

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course is an exploration of late Ottoman Islamic thought, with a focus on the legal corpus of the Mecelle legal code, the Ottoman Family Law Code of 1917 and the prolific and diverse writings of Mehmet Zahit Kevseri (d. 1952), the last academic Shaykh al-Islam of the Ottoman Empire. The class will consist of two aspects: first, close readings of primary source texts; second, an exploration of secondary source scholarship on the subject. Students will be given flexibility in pursuing their own research interests linked to the topic of late Ottoman thought, and this will culminate in a seminar paper for the class.