CfP:Ottoman Empire-Hungarian-Habsburg Contacts and Suleiman the Magnificent, 23-27 November 2016, Budapest/Hungary

Ottoman relations with the Habsburg dynasty and Hungary started in the late fourteenth century and quickly entered into a military engagement period after the Hungarians and the Habsburgs sided with the Byzantine Empire in the crusades against the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman-Hungarian struggle further intensified in the fifteenth century because of their disputes over Serbia.
After Suleiman the Magnificent brought a big part of Hungary under the Ottoman rule, the Habsburgs claimed the same lands and the two powers entered into a centuries-long rivalry. The Ottoman domination of Hungary until the second siege of Vienna in 1683 created long lasting effects on the cultural, political and economic history of Hungary. The Hungarian kings Thököly Imre (1657-1705), Rákóczi Frenc (1676-1735) and Lajos Kossuth (1802-1894) took refuge in the Ottoman Empire and added another dimention to Ottoman-Hungarian relations.
In the eighteenth century, the military rivalry between the Ottoman and the Habsburg empires entered into a new stage with the French Revolution. The emerging threat of separatist nationalism not only ended the ensuing Ottoman-Habsburg War in 1791 but also demonstrated that the two multi-ethnic empires had to cooperate to remain intact in the age nationalism.
Despite some Austrian interferences against the Ottomans, after the Congress of Vienna the relations between the Ottoman and the Austrian empires relied on mutual interests. The Austrian compromise to satisfy both monarchists and nationalists created the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1868 and delayed the disintegration of the empire until the end of World War I. Likewise, after dealing with separatist Balkan nationalisms and World War I, the Ottoman Empire shared the same destiny. Nation states emerged from the ashes of two empires.
The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was one of the most influential figures in Ottoman, Hungarian and Habsburg relations. He died during the siege of Szigetwar in 1566. Prof. Dr. Pál Fudor and his crew from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences discovered the tomb of Suleiman I in 2015. On the 450th anniversary of his death, this symposium aims to shed light on Ottoman, Hungarian and Habsburg relations. The symposium will hold a special panel on Suleiman the Magnificent and his key role in the outcome of Ottoman relations with Hungary and Habsburgs.
Existing academic literature on the history of Ottoman relations with Hungary and the Habsburgs is insufficient to cover the multi-dimentional aspects of relations among these three powers. By attracting the works of scholars, this symposium aims to fill the gap in the field and pioneer more works on the political, economic, military, cultural and social relations among these countries.

Topics & Themes:
- Ottoman-Hungarian-Habsburg relations from beginning to 1918,
Ottoman-Hungarian-Habsburg relations in the Age of Suleiman the Magnificent,
- The last campaign of Suleiman the Magnificent and his death,
- Treaties between the Ottoman Empire and Hungarys,
- Treaties between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empire,
Diplomatic, economic and social and cultural relations between these powers,
- The first and second sieges of Vienna and their ramifications,
- The Congress of Vienna (1815) and its consequences,
- The Congress of Berlin (1878) and its impact on Ottoman-Austria/Hungary relations,
- Habsburg and Hungarian Influence on Ottoman modernization,
- Hungarian sources on Ottoman history,
- Ottoman sources on Hungarian history

Contact: 
Abidin Temizer, Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, Turkey
e-mail: atemizer@mehmetakif.edu.tr
Peri Benedek, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
e-mail: peribenedek@gmail.com

http://sempozyum.ttk.gov.tr/eng/2016-eng-sempozyum3.html

 

Research Fellowships: Empires of Memory: The Cultural Politics of Historicity in Former Habsburg and Ottoman Cities

The Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen 

Postdoctoral and Doctoral Research Fellowships

A new Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, under the direction of Dr. Jeremy F. Walton, seeks to appoint postdoctoral and doctoral research fellows with outstanding academic records. We welcome applicants from a variety of fields in the social sciences and humanities, including Anthropology, History, Sociology, Geography, Urban Studies, Art History, Architectural History, and Comparative Literature, to work on a collaborative, five-year research project titled “Empires of Memory: The Cultural Politics of Historicity in Former Habsburg and Ottoman Cities.” The overarching objective of our project is to examine the forms, textures, and effects of imperial memories in relation to contemporary urban culture and politics in six cities: Vienna, Istanbul, Budapest, Sarajevo, Trieste, and Thessaloniki. Fellows will be expected to pursue their own individual projects in light of the following set of broad research questions: In what forums, genres, and media—narrative, visual, architectural, scholarly, etc.—are memories of Habsburg and Ottoman pasts articulated and elaborated? How do imperial memories, both positive and negative, inform and underwrite contemporary projects of urban preservation and transformation? In what ways and contexts do the imperial pasts of cities link up with national and EU-wide political debates and projects? What frictions do narratives of imperial pasts provoke in contemporary political life? Finally, how do memories of empire inform the politics of nationalism and the nation-state in these various cities? We especially encourage applications from scholars with linguistic expertise pertinent to one or more of our six sites. Awards will be made on the basis of scholarly excellence and research promise.

The Institute operates in English and is located in the scenic university town of Göttingen. All research fellows in residence are expected to devote the majority of their time to their individual research projects, take leadership in organizing international conferences and other academic events, publish their work in leading academic venues, and participate fully in the intellectual life of the Institute. 

Postdoctoral fellows will be appointed for an initial period of two years, while doctoral fellows will be appointed for an initial period of three years. Compensation will be based on the German public service scale TVöD, level E 13 (50% for PhDs). The envisaged starting date is 1 May 2016.

The deadline for applications is 31 December 2015. Applications should include a cover letter, CV, writing sample, a brief research statement (approximately 1000 words), and the names and contact details of two academic referees. Applicants should also send a record of university diplomas and transcripts. Interviews for positions will occur via Skype in January 2016. 

The Max Planck Society wishes to increase the participation of women wherever they are underrepresented; therefore, applications from women are particularly welcome.

Following its commitment to an equal opportunities employment policy, the Max Planck Society also especially encourages persons with disabilities to submit applications.

Please submit your application electronically to jeremyfwalton@gmail.co