- Phone:
- (812) 856-0309
- Email:
- iksahin@indiana.edu
- Campus:
- IU Bloomington
GA 4071
I am a historian of the early modern Ottoman Empire, with a particular interest in history writing, governance, religious/confessional identity, and ceremonies and rituals. The Ottoman Empire expanded over three continents, played an active role in global political and economic struggles, and ruled over various ethnic, linguistic, and religious communities. To do justice to the depth and breadth of the historical experiences faced by individuals and groups who entered the empire’s orbit, I particularly emphasize comparative and regional/global perspectives.
My first book revolves around the life and writings of an Ottoman career bureaucrat, Celalzade Mustafa (ca. 1490-1567), and discusses the rise of a new Ottoman bureaucracy, the emergence of a new historical consciousness, and the creation of an Ottoman imperial culture that saw itself in direct competition with the Habsburgs and the Safavids. I argue that Ottoman attempts at empire-building in the first half of the sixteenth century reflect the general trends of a world-historical moment, and that the Ottomans have to be evaluated together with a host of other polities extending from Tudor England to Mughal India and beyond.
Without ignoring the specificity of any local/regional experiences, I continue to use a comparative approach in my current research and writing projects. My biography of the Ottoman sultan Süleyman (r. 1520-1566) will be published by Oxford University Press as Peerless among Princes: The Life and Times of Sultan Süleyman in 2023. Other forthcoming publications include a co-edited volume on Ottoman political thought, under contract with Oxford University Press, and a co-edited special issue of the Journal of Early Modern History on ceremonies and rituals in the early modern period.
Service to the Profession (selected)