SPS Speaker Series Presents:
"Historiography and Politics:
Mehmed F. Koprulu's Genealogy of the 'National Turkish Spirit'"
by
Assistant Professor Markus Dressler
Istanbul Technical University
15th April 2009, Wednesday
14.40
FASS 2034
Abstract:
Mehmed Fuad Koprulu (1890-1966) is widely recognized as one of the
founding fathers of modern Turkish historiography. He aimed to trace
the historical evolution and extension of the 'national Turkish taste
and spirit' from Central Asian origins to its arrival and flourishing
in
Anatolia in the Rum-Seljuk and
Ottoman periods, until modern times. While this project was genuinely
historical, it was also informed by the politics of Turkish
nationalism, which was at the time of Koprulu's academic maturing in
urgent need for a historical anchoring of its ideals. This talk will
discuss the influence of Koprulu's nationalism on his scholarly writing.
