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Abstract

Environmental history in general and especially within Ottoman studies is an emerging and dynamic field, which attracts an increasing number of young researchers. The history of the Ottoman Empire on the one hand promises rich and hitherto mostly undiscovered sources concerning environmental history, and on the other hand, the vast geography of the empire offers a great diversity in regard to environmental issues. Being situated in Beirut, we especially aim to include this geographical diversity in this workshop. The workshop is open to all researchers who show interest in the Ottoman environmental history and to all subfields of the Ottoman studies, especially historians, geographers, theologians, natural scientists, sociologists, political scientists, botanists and zoologists.

Live Streaming Link:
https://live.starleaf.com/ODYyNzg6OTQxMzcz

Programme

Thursday, December 10, 2020

9:45 – 10:00 
Welcome and introduction
Fatih Ermiş (Orient-Institut Beirut)

10:00 – 11:00
Panel 1: Sources of the Ottoman Environmental History
Chair: Fatih Ermiş (Orient-Institut Beirut)
M. Fatih Çalışır (Kırklareli University)
Where Intellectual and Environmental Histories Meet:
Kashf al-ẓunūn and its Addenda as a Source for Ottoman Environmental History

11:00 – 11:15 Coffee Break

11:15 – 13:15
Panel 2: Agriculture and Climate
Chair: Ayşe Nur Akdal (Boğaziçi University)
Mehmet Kuru (Sabancı University)
The Limits of The Little Ice Age in Early Modern Ottoman Anatolia
Elçin Arabacı (independent researcher)
“Either enforce the law, or we will abandon our villages”
Contested disputes on rice cultivation in Post-Tanzimat Bursa

13:15 – 14:30 Lunch

14:30 – 16:30
Panel 3: Natural Resources and Ecology
Chair: Mehmet Kuru (Sabancı University)
Georgios C. Liakopoulos (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History)
Ethnicity and the use of natural resources in the Early Ottoman Peloponnese
Graham Auman Pitts (Georgetown University)
The Ecology of Silk in Mount Lebanon (1845-1920)

Friday, December 11, 2020

10:30 – 12:30
Panel 4: Gardens and Parks as Constructed Environments
Chair: Muhamed Valjevac (Marmara University)
Ayşe Nur Akdal (Boğaziçi University)
Market Gardens and Gardeners of Imperial Istanbul: Reconsidering Urban-Rural
Relationship in Ottoman Environmental History
Mustafa Emir Küçük (Boğaziçi University)
Urban Parks in Late Ottoman Istanbul:
Constructed Nature for Recreation

12:30 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 17:00
Panel 5: Environment and Epidemics
Chair: Georgios C. Liakopoulos (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History)
Muhamed Valjevac (Marmara University)
The Bosnian Great Plague 1729-1739
Nükhet Varlık (University of South Carolina)
Climate, Migration, and Plague in Ottoman Anatolia
Benan Grams (Georgetown University)
Water supply and public health in Damascus (1903-1910)

17:00 – 17:30
Concluding Discussion

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