Historians of the MENA

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Hist7615 examines the historians and historiography of the broader MENA region from the classical era to the early nineteenth century, divided into two parts. The first part reviews classical Islamic historiographical modes prior to the institutionalization of historical studies in the nineteenth century. This section emphasizes the intellectual frameworks and methodologies that shaped early historical narratives. The second part explores the historians and historiography of the Ottoman and Safavid Empires, including their court and local chronicles, which range from annalistic chronicles of dynasties, individual rulers, and campaigns to the works of littérateur-historians and official court historians. It also reviews Ottoman Ibn Khaldunism, the declinist and reform literature known as “Mirror for Princes,” and the Byzantine and European history writing about the Ottomans. Selected primary sources and assigned secondary readings aim to investigate the evolution of Arabo-Ottoman historical writing and recent historical scholarship.