Religious Minorities & the Ottoman Empire

This program is fully enrolled. Registration is closed.

The program will begin with an orientation session on Tuesday, 24 February. Online zoom sessions will be held on Tuesdays March 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31.

Sessions will begin at 5pm Istanbul time / 2pm UK / 9am Eastern US / 7pm Lahore / 9pm Jakarta. Please note the change in time! We are beginning one hour earlier than we previously posted to accommodate participants in Turkey who are observing the Ramadan fast.

This intensive five-week course examines the complex and multifaceted experiences of religious minorities within the Ottoman Empire from its inception through its territorial expansion across three continents. By tracing the transformation from Byzantine Constantinople to Ottoman Istanbul and beyond, students will develop a nuanced understanding of how imperial transitions and the evolution of Ottoman policies reshaped religious minority communities, legal frameworks, and social hierarchies. 

This course challenges prevailing assumptions about religious coexistence under Ottoman rule by critically examining both documentary evidence and material culture. Each week, students will have the opportunity to read English translations of primary archival sources and thereby explore the lived experiences of religious minorities across diverse geographical contexts, from Istanbul and Anatolia to the Balkans and Arab provinces. Through a multi-disciplinary approach, students will investigate how religious minorities navigated Ottoman society as both subjects and active participants in imperial culture, from palace physicians and painters to princesses. 

By concluding with a study of exopraxis (the sharing of sacred spaces and devotional practices across faith boundaries) throughout Ottoman domains, students will gain insight into popular religious pluralism which continues until today, challenging simplistic narratives of either harmonious coexistence or systematic persecution. The course culminates in understanding how Ottoman expansion created new patterns of religious interaction, conversion, and cultural synthesis that left lasting legacies across the Mediterranean world and beyond. Students will emerge with critical analytical skills for evaluating primary sources, historiographical debates, and the political uses of historical narratives about religious diversity.

Schedule of topics:

1. 24 February. Orientation session & introduction to the sources
2. 3 March. Transitioning Empires from Byzantium to the Ottomans
3. 10 March. Ottoman Conquests and Imperial Capitals
4. 17 March. Ottoman Law: Doctrine & Practice
5. 24 March. Minorities in the Palace: Princesses and Physicians
6. 31 March . Ottoman Expansion: Conversion & Shared Spaces

Sessions will last 2 hours, ending promptly at 8pm Istanbul time. Session recordings will be available to participants following our sessions. However, your participation in live Zoom sessions is essential to the success of the program. Please note that we will not hold a class session on September 9.

Vanessa R. de Obaldía is an Arabist and Ottomanist with a multidisciplinary background in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Law, and Ottoman History. She was awarded a BA in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from the University of Cambridge (2009); an MA in Islamic Law from Marmara University (2014); a Graduate Diploma in Law from BPP University (2017); and a Ph.D. in History from Aix-Marseille University (2018) with a thesis about an historical and legal study of Ottoman Istanbul’s Latin Catholic Church. Her research explores religious minorities with a particular focus on ecclesiastical and monastic archival collections, multireligious relations, and religious and cultural heritage.