The Perception of China in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire:
The Narration of Katip Chalabi in his World History in the 17th Century

 
      【主讲】Seyfi Kenan  教授 （土耳其马尔马拉大学）
      【时间】2013年4月 2日（周二 ）下午14：00——15：30
      【地点】人文楼三层历史学院会议室
      【主持】王大庆（中国人民大学历史学院副教授）
      【评议】侯  深（中国人民大学历史学院讲师）
 
      内容提要：In this lecture, I aim to examine how one of the leading Ottoman intellectuals Katip Chalabi perceived China and also East Asia as he endeavored to reshape his contemporaries’ vision of world geography in 17th century Ottoman world.  In one of his major works called Cihannüma/ World History where Chalabi sought to compile a global geography by including information taken from European writers and map makers about discoveries accomplished during the Age of Exploration, we can gain some ideas about the extent of Turkish-Ottoman knowledge about the global changes that were taking place during the early modern period of world history.  By critically examining his work, we can also identify the context and interests of Katip Chalabi about these places and the way he used certain sources to provide information about them to the Ottoman world. Against many of his contemporaries, Chalabi refuted many muslim geographies as lacking quality and authentic knowledge about other cultures and geographies after discovering new translated sources.

      主讲人简介：He received his B.A. from Marmara University (1989), worked as a research associate at TDV ISAM (Centre for Islamic Studies) between 1990-1994, and went to New York City to pursue his doctoral studies in arts and humanities. He completed his graduate studies with a doctoral degree at Columbia University in 2003 by using an interdisciplinary method with a concentration on the history of Turkish modernization and the educational philosophy and sciences. At Columbia University, he has carried out, as a research coordinator, a number of researches for a variety of projects (1996-2003) including Muslim Communities in New York City Project. He returned to Istanbul in 2003 and worked as a research fellow at TDV ISAM (Centre of Islamic Studies), an independent largest research institute in Turkey specializing in humanities as well as in Islamic and social studies. He is currently full-time associate professor in the department of educational sciences at Marmara University in Istanbul.
      In addition, he also offers courses such as Introduction to Islamic Culture and Civilization, history of Islamic thought, phases of Turkish educational modernization in -Istanbul and abroad. Among his interests are how to know and study other cultures and socities, and realms of interactions between the Ottomans and Europe and the formation of Turkish educational thought. He wrote a number of articles and edited books on areas of interactions between Ottomans and Europe, the process of Turkish educational modernization and history of ethical and educational thought.