Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer

Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer

New York University

Early Modern Ottoman/Safavid History

aysebb@ias.edu

Research Statement: The long-held narrative of an uncompromising sectarian division between the Sunni Ottoman and the Shia Safavid Empires emerged as a product of their escalated rivalry in the late-fifteenth century. Throughout the next two centuries, various Ottoman and Safavid authorities, including the rulers, bureaucratic and religious actors, as well as court chroniclers, perpetuated a façade of a deeply rooted and incurable division between the two primary sects of Islam and the two mighty polities serving as their “guardians.” In my monograph, I study this period, roughly from the mid-14th to the mid-17th century, and the formation (and re-formation) of sectarian narratives and their enmeshment with non-sectarian issues, such as border formation, taxation, military recruitment, and migration.

While at IAS:
Office: B-103 Phone: 609-734-88354

First Term