Ottomans and Mamluks Compared

The Role of Translation in the Development of Western Turkic Literacy: The Ottoman Case and the Mamluk Case Compared

Researcher: Kristof D'hulster

Whereas TRANSLAPT’s other sub-projects investigate the role of translation within a particular genre of Ottoman Turkish literature, this sub-project focuses on the role of translation within the genesis and early stages of Western Turkic literacy as a whole. While in the other sub-projects, translations are first and foremost considered a function of knowledge transfer from a source language into Turkic (often with a fascinating display of “noise”), in this sub-project, translation is considered, first and foremost, an effect of Turkic, the target language, itself, by framing translation as something that helped (trans)form Turkic into a literary language.

In its first phase, this sub-project zooms in on the Mamluk Sultanate as a second important hub of early Western Turkic literacy (next to the Golden Horde as a third important one). It explores the role of translation in the small yet important Mamluk-Turkic literary corpus as it developed within the Mamluk sultanate from its birth in the mid-13th century up to its demise at the hands of the Ottomans in 1517. More specifically, this study takes detailed stock of the translated works that were added to this corpus. By identifying the various actors involved (translators, patrons, commissioners, owners, etc.), this analysis examines the translation process itself and outlines all the possible rationales for translation.

In its second phase, this sub-project zooms out from the Mamluk sultanate and instead examines translation from the macro-level perspective of Western Turkic literacy as a whole. It compares its findings regarding the Mamluk sultanate with those regarding the better-researched Anatolian beylicates and the early Ottoman sultanate, mapping all possible convergences and divergences of the aspects examined in phase one. In particular, the analysis considers which titles or genres were (not) translated in these three hubs, which actors were (not) involved, what rationales were (not) stated, etc. In doing so, this sub-project aims to bring the pivotal role of translation in the formation of the Mamluk, Anatolian and Ottoman literary fields into sharper focus. The primary research questions addressed by this sub-project are: To what extent can one consider translation not only as a form of inter-linguistic transfer but also as a crucial site of Turkic social identity-making? To what extent should one understand translation as a discursively constructed yet socially constructive process in its own right and as a process that helped Turkic as a spoken language earn its place as a written language on a competitive literary market?