The Dragoman Renaissance

E. Natalie Rothman

Open Access Published by Cornell University Press 2021

The Dragoman Renaissance

Diplomatic Interpreters and the Routes of Orientalism

E. Natalie Rothman

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501758485

Overview
Contents

About this book

In The Dragoman Renaissance E. Natalie Rothman traces how Istanbul-based diplomatic translator-interpreters, known as the dragomans, systematically engaged Ottoman elites in the study of the Ottoman Empire—eventually coalescing in the discipline of Orientalism—throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Rothman challenges Eurocentric assumptions still pervasive in Renaissance studies by showing the centrality of Ottoman imperial culture to the articulation of European knowledge about the Ottomans. To do so, she draws on a dazzling array of new material from a variety of archives. By studying the sustained interactions between dragomans and Ottoman courtiers in this period, Rothman disrupts common ideas about a singular moment of "cultural encounter," as well as about a "docile" and "static" Orient, simply acted upon by extraneous imperial powers.

The Dragoman Renaissance creatively uncovers how dragomans mediated Ottoman ethno-linguistic, political, and religious categories to European diplomats and scholars. Further, it shows how dragomans did not simply circulate fixed knowledge. Rather, their engagement of Ottoman imperial modes of inquiry and social reproduction shaped the discipline of Orientalism for centuries to come.

Thanks to generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through The Sustainable History Monograph Pilot, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellopen.org) and other repositories.

Author information

E. Natalie Rothman is Associate Professor and Chair of Historical & Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough. She is author of the prizewinning book, Brokering Empire. Visit her website at utsc.utoronto.ca/people/rothman/ and the Dragoman Renaissance Research Platform at dragomans.digital.utsc.utoronto.ca.

Reviews

Eric Dursteler, Brigham Young University, author of The Mediterranean World :

"E. Natalie Rothman is one of the most innovative and important scholars working on the early modern Mediterranean. Her latest book, The Dragoman Renaissance, is a tour de force of historical research."

Alexander Bevilacqua, Williams College, author of The Republic of Arabic Letters:

"Natalie Rothman's magisterial study of the dragomans restores this formerly underappreciated group of early modern intermediaries to rightful view. Using a wide range of source materials and methods, Rothman has written a truly impressive and consistently thought-provoking book."

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	i
Contents Open Access Download PDF	ix
Figures Open Access Download PDF	xi
Tables Open Access Download PDF	xv
Acknowledgments Open Access Download PDF	xvii
Abbreviations Open Access Download PDF	xxi
Note on Names, Terms, and Transliteration Open Access Download PDF	xxiii
Introduction Open Access Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. Localizing Foreignness Forging Istanbul’s Dragomanate Open Access Download PDF	20
Chapter 2. Kinshipping Casting Nets and Spawning Dynasties Open Access Download PDF	49
Chapter 3. Inscribing the Self Dragomans’ Relazioni Open Access Download PDF	80
Chapter 4. Visualizing a Space of Encounter Open Access Download PDF	113
Chapter 5. Disciplining Language Dragomans and Oriental Philology Open Access Download PDF	140
Chapter 6. Translating the Ottomans Open Access Download PDF	183
Chapter 7. Circulating “Turkish Literature” Open Access Download PDF	211
Epilogue Dragomans and the Routes of Orientalism Open Access Download PDF	241
Notes Open Access Download PDF	257
References Open Access Download PDF	323

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 402
Keywords: Early modern diplomatic interpreters; Mediterranean diplomacy; Diplomatic translation and interpreting; Dragomans and Orientalism; Dragomans in Istanbul

eBook

Published: March 24, 2021
ISBN: 9781501758485