The Global City (378-0-1)
Topic
The Global City: Ottoman Istanbul
Instructors
Thadeus Jay Dare Dowad
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-331: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
As the capital of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 500 years, Istanbul flourished as one of the largest and most culturally diverse cities in the world. Multilingual, multiethnic, and multiconfessional, Istanbul's cosmopolitan society inhabited a bustling port city at the crossroads of three continents whose syncretic architecture and urban design reflected both the social diversity and political authority of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman dynasty transformed the ancient Byzantine metropolis of Constantinople into the material embodiment of its imperial ambitions over Europe, Africa, and Asia. Yet these top-down efforts to recast Istanbul in the Ottoman image did not go unchallenged by Istanbulites themselves, who imagined alternative social orders for their city and reappropriated urban spaces as sites of public resistance.
This course explores the art, architecture, and urban history of Ottoman Istanbul from the city's conquest by Sultan Mehmed II in 1453 to its occupation by the Allied Powers at the end of World War I (1918). The course studies Ottoman Istanbul's urban life in a wide range of spaces, from mosques, churches, palaces, and royal mansions to marketplaces, public baths, and coffee houses. In addition to key monuments like the Hagia Sophia and Topkapı Palace, we will also study manuscript paintings, calligraphy, photography, public festivals, urban design, and large-scale engineering projects. We will pay special attention to the relationship between the city and questions of class, politics, gender and sexuality. We will also consider Ottoman Istanbul's connections to other global centers of art and architecture, such as Cairo and Paris.
Class Materials (Required)
No textbook required.
Class Notes
Please use the following link for Art History waitlist information: https://arthistory.northwestern.edu/courses/2023-2024/registration_waitlist.html
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area