1st Edition
Architecture and the Late Ottoman Historical Imaginary Reconfiguring the Architectural Past in a Modernizing Empire
Biography
Ahmet A. Ersoy is Associate Professor at the History Department at Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. He is the co-author, with Vangelis Kechriotis and Maciej Gorny, of Discourses of Collective Identity in Central and Southeastern Europe (1775-1945): Texts and Commentaries, Vol. III / I (2010).
'Critical historiography at its best ... This refreshing account of the art, architecture and culture of Tanzimat takes issue with traditional frameworks of analysis and thrives on attention to nuance, contingency, ambivalence, syncretism and cultural reciprocity in explaining late Ottoman Empire’s engagement with Europe ... A timely contribution to Ottoman/Turkish studies as well as to broader theoretical debates on orientalism, historicism, revivalism, authenticity, cultural difference and identity formation in the modern world... Above all, a much-needed cosmopolitan perspective to counteract the nationist neo-orientalism of political Islam in Turkey today.'
-- Sibel Bozdogan, Harvard University, USA
'Ersoy proves himself to be a perceptive historian who recognizes both the aspirations and ingenuity of his actors and the tenuousness of their political, economic, and cultural position on the world stage. On the whole, I would recommend this book as an invaluable addition to the libraries of not just those interested in the history of the Late Ottoman Empire, but to anyone who seeks a thoughtful reading of the polyvalent, multi-local, and mutually transformative aspects of modernization processes.'
-- CAA Reviews
