Symposium on Ottoman consumption

ISTANBUL

Istanbul Bilgi University will organize a symposium titled “Food, Drink, Fine Clothes and the Good Things of Life: Consumption in the Ottoman Empire” on Dec. 19 and 20. 

The conference will approach the subject of Ottoman consumption during the early modern period (1450-1850) using two main avenues: Food and drink on the one hand, and clothes and jewelry on the other. 

Apart from houses and other dwelling places, most people interested in the material lives of the Ottomans tend to favor these two types of consumption. As the present conference was scheduled before the end of 2015, leaving very little time for preparation, the organizers thought it was best to focus on what seemed to be the two biggest interests – at least in the eyes of the present convener.

Among the speakers of the symposium will be a leading authority on Ottoman history, Suraiya Faroqhi, Gülhan Balsoy (Bilgi University), Tülay Artan, Marloes Cornelissen (Sabancı University), Arif Bilgin (Sakarya University), Rosita D’Amora (Università del Salento), Malte Fuhrmann (Turkish-German University), researcher and author Priscilla Mary Işın, Philippa Lacey (University of East Anglia), Rhoads Murphey (İpek University), Hedda Reindl-Kiel (Universitaet Bonn), Stefan Rohdewald (Universitaet Giessen), Aslı Sağıroğlu Arslan (Erciyes University), Özge Samancı (Yeditepe University), İklil Oya Selçuk (Özyeğin University) and Ahmet Yaşar (Fatih University). 

The language of the symposium, which will be held at the santralistanbul campus in the Board of Trustees Meeting Room, will be English.