CAS Workshop. Becoming and Unbecoming Imperial Subjects: Mobility, Exclusion, and (Real/Discursive) Borders

This workshop explores the making and unmaking of Ottoman imperial subjecthood, and its legacy in the post-Ottoman states. It investigates the bureaucratic and legal reforms that enabled to define the Ottoman membership and the limits of belonging. Although the term “imperial citizenship” gained popularity in recent decades, there are doubts about whether citizenship is suitable for the age of empires, since imperial subjecthood was based on a rule of difference and exclusion rather than equality. By contextualizing the Ottoman nationality regime within other colonial empires of the late nineteenth century, the workshop aims to demonstrate how colonial perceptions of governability and malleability informed the question of becoming Ottoman. The late Ottoman governments, especially under Sultan Abdülhamid II and the Committee of Union and Progress perceived Ottoman nationality as a status that could be granted or revoked based on the perceived loyalty or sedition of various ethnoreligious communities.

The workshop integrates the themes of mobility and nationality, exploring how the management of nationality was intertwined with various forms of mobility, such as non-Muslim emigration, Muslim immigration, pilgrimage, exile, and punitive displacement. The Ottoman state's differential treatment of the migrations of diverse ethnoreligious groups created a distinction among its subjects—some enjoyed the freedom to move with state permission, while others faced forced relocation or restrictions on their mobility. This workshop convenes scholars who investigate how various ethnoreligious communities experienced Ottoman subjecthood across different regions, including Istanbul, the Ottoman East, the Gulf, Russian borderlands, and the Balkans. The primary goal is to explore diverse perspectives on subjecthood, nationality, and citizenship, and to assess the inclusivity or exclusivity of Ottoman nationality laws. The workshop aims to illuminate how the bureaucratic methods used to define Ottoman membership were integral to the broader governance strategies employed in the empire's final years.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

9.45-10.00 Welcome & Opening Remarks
Gottfried Hagen & Hazal Özdemir

10.00-11.15 Keynote: Jessica Marglin, University of Southern California

11.15-11.30 Break

11.30-1.30 - 1st panel: Becoming and Unbecoming Imperial Subjects
• Berke Torunoğlu, Bilkent University
• Leyla Amzi-Erdogdular, Rutgers University
• Camile Cole, Illinois State University
• Marie Bossaert, Université Clermont Auvergne

1.30-2.30 Lunch

2.30 – 4.15 - 2nd panel: Denationalization from Imperial Decree to Practice
• Hazal Özdemir, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Emmanuel Szurek, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
• Elif Becan, FRS-FNRS, Metices, Université libre de Bruxelles

4.15 – 4.30 Break
4.30- 5.30 Roundtable Discussion

Register at https://umich.zoom.us/j/93600848029