Sub-projects
Mirrors for Princes & Historiography
Philip Bockholt is examining translations of advice literature, especially mirrors for princes and historiographies that were translated from Arabic and Persian into Ottoman Turkish. Both genres were important to the shaping of the Ottoman Empire. Among the mirrors for princes, the Anatolian-Turkish versions of the widespread anonymous fable Kalīla wa-Dimna, ʿAlī Çelebi’s Hümāyūnnāme from the 16th century in particular, and translations of the Qābūsnāma (an 11th-century text originally from Northeast Iran) are the focus of his analysis. Both works are available in several textual witnesses and translations, whose time span ranges from the 14th to the 18th century and includes Anatolian princely courts, such as those of the Aydınids and Germiyanids, in addition to the Ottoman court. Including these texts enables the actor-centred study of diachronic tendencies in the adaptation of norms of didactic literature.
See the profile page of Philip Bockholt
Encyclopaedia
The project focuses on Ottoman translations of Persian manuals of arts and crafts. Related to an encyclopaedic interest in the natural world and its phenomena, these manuals are brief, practically-oriented texts that explore such diverse activities as papermaking, soapmaking, swordmaking, gemology, blacksmithery, and many more. Sometimes devoted to a single one of these crafts, they also exist as compendiums and were circulated in different environments from artisans’ guilds to local courts and religious brotherhoods. Through the examination of such little-studied texts, this project will open new venues of research in the cultural history of the early modern Islamic world.
See the profile page of Sacha Alsancakli
Ottomans and Mamluks Compared
This sub-project explores the role of translation in the formation and early stages of the Ottoman-Turkic literary corpus, by juxtaposing this with its role in the development of the Mamluk-Turkic literary corpus. In a first phase, it zooms in on the latter corpus, taking stock of its translated titles and the various agents involved, and looking into the translation process itself and possible rationales left for translation. In a second phase, it compares these findings with those of the better-researched Anatolian beylicates and the early Ottoman sultanate, hereby mapping the con- and divergences in aforesaid terms. Applying this macro-perspective, this sub-project seeks to bring the pivotal role of translation in the formation of the Mamluk, Anatolian and Ottoman literary fields into sharper focus: to what extent can one recognize translation not only as a form of inter-linguistic transfer but also as a crucial site of Turkic social identity-making?
See the profile page of Kristof D'hulster
Biography and Hagiography
This project examines translations of biographical dictionaries and hagiographies from Arabic into Ottoman Turkish during the early modern Ottoman Empire (approximately 1400 to 1750). This period witnessed various political, religious, and intellectual transformations in the Ottoman identity, leading to the emergence of a noteworthy translational activity. Given the importance of biographical and hagiographical writing in Islamic intellectual history, numerous works from both genres were translated into Turkish and presented to Ottoman audiences. These translations played a pivotal role in shaping Eastern Mediterranean intellectual history and found a diverse readership across various regional and socio-cultural networks.
See the profile page of Hicham Bouhadi
Hadith
This research project investigates translations of works related to the religious science of hadith, i.e., relating the Prophet’s deeds, sayings, and approvals, in addition to providing information on his biography, physical features, and personality characteristics. The project explores the role hadith translations had as a means of disseminating religious knowledge and what contribution they made to the emergence of religious belief and confessional thought in the Ottoman Empire. As hadith was, and still is, generally considered the second source for Islamic jurisprudence after the Qur’an, hadith translations are of particular importance in this context.