The Janus Face of Kātib Çelebi: Reflecting on the Ottoman Saddle Period

Zemmin, Florian (2019). The Janus Face of Kātib Çelebi: Reflecting on the Ottoman Saddle Period. Turcica, 50, pp. 327-354. Peeters 10.2143/TURC.50.0.3286579

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With an interest in genealogies of modernity, this article analyzes Kātib Çelebi’s usage of concepts of collective life and history, highlighting their Janus-faced nature, which can moreover indicate conceptual transformations with potential significance for the Ottoman saddle period. I first introduce the metaphor of the saddle period, coined by Reinhart Koselleck to depict the transitional period between premodernity and modernity. Furthermore, I substantiate the productive potential of conceptual histories of Near Eastern languages, but also point to the hermeneutical pitfalls inherent in this avenue of research. Building on extant research, I then show the sense in which Kātib Çelebi pioneered a novel employment of devlet as referring to the whole social collectivity and also foreshadowed the collective singularity of history, with its desacralizing implications. On this basis, I suggest it is worthwhile to further explore the possibility that conceptual transformations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries later facilitated the conceptualization of the modern order under the influence of European hegemony.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institut für Studien zum Nahen Osten und zu muslimischen Gesellschaften
UniBE Contributor:	Zemmin, Florian
Subjects:	200 Religion > 290 Other religions 400 Language > 490 Other languages
ISSN:	0082-6847
Publisher:	Peeters
Language:	English
Submitter:	Florian Zemmin
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2020 10:22
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 15:34
Publisher DOI:	10.2143/TURC.50.0.3286579
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/137342