Call for Papers - International Symposium:

"From Sahn-ı Seman to Darülfünun – VI:

The First Ottoman University (Darülfünun) and

Reformation of Higher Education in Turkey"
 
(12-13 May 2022 / Zeytinburnu Culture and Art Center – Istanbul)

        The sixth and last meeting of the “From Sahn-ı Seman to Darülfünun” symposium series will take place in Istanbul.

         Since 2014 Istanbul University’s Faculty of Theology has been organizing the symposium series entitled “From Sahn-ı Seman to Darülfünun” with the support of Istanbul Zeytinburnu Municipality, to explore various aspects of Ottoman scientific and intellectual life. Until now, five meetings were held, and each of them covered a century of the Ottoman period starting from the 15th century. The next meeting, which will be the sixth in the series, will be held on 12-13 May 2022 in Istanbul, and will focus on the late Ottoman period and the early Republican Period of Turkey.

          The most important feature that distinguishes the period in question from the earlier centuries is that the Ottoman scientific and intellectual world faced an intellectual challenge which led to subsequent radical reforms. Although the Ottoman classical intellectual life had also faced various difficulties and challenges and had overcome them through their indigenous methods drawn from the legacy of the classical Islamic scholarship, new challenges that appeared with the rise of Western Europe paved the way for the reshaping of the scholarly and intellectual life of the Ottoman Empire, which in turn resulted in the introduction of the new systems of knowledge and schooling. They existed along with the traditional Islamic institutions, the typical example of which is medreses. Having embarked on modernizing the education system and curriculum from top to bottom, Tanzimat leaders first opened new schools for higher education including the Engineering School (Mühendishane), Medical School (Tıbbiyye), Law School (Hukuk), and School of Civil Service (Mülkiye). Subsequently they wanted to realize the idea of a university to bring these schools under one roof. Darülfünun, the first modern Turkish university, aimed to adapt the university model developed in Western Europe in the Ottoman context.

        The main focus of the upcoming symposium will be Darülfünun and its organization and departments. In this institution, scholarly disciplines were reclassified and restructured as different from the ones that had been prevalent in the medrese context for centuries. Thanks to this institution, many new disciplines were introduced to Ottoman and then Republican intellectual life. This symposium will therefore scrutinize ways through which the institutional change from the medrese to the university in the late Ottoman period took place.

         Papers that shed light on the early history of each department at Darülfünun will be given priority. The symposium organizing committee will especially welcome previously unpublished, original research papers related to the history of the formation of the faculties and departments at Darülfünun. Considering that the medreses continued to function until 1924, the symposium also invites contributions dealing with efforts of improving the medrese institutionally and in terms of their curriculum.


Abstracts: Those who wish to participate in the symposium are expected to send their abstracts at sahniseman20yy@istanbul.edu.tr by November 1, 2021. Abstracts should not exceed 200 words.


Language: Papers might be presented in Turkish, Arabic or English.

Accommodation and travel expenses: Accommodation will be provided for those who will attend from outside of Istanbul and their travel expenses will also be covered.

Publication: Presented papers will be published in an edited volume, if they pass blind review procedure successfully following the symposium.

Original research papers are expected on the following, but not limited to, themes:

· The idea of modern university and efforts made to realize it in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

· Modernization of the higher education institutions prior to the Darülfünun

· Introduction of the modern sciences to Ottoman and Islamic societies and its early representatives

· Controversies and interactions between the Medrese and the Mekteb

· Reforming the Medrese Curriculum

· Developments in the Application of Modern Education at the Darülfünun and Creating New Departments

· The Law School and its branches (economics, sociology, etc.)

· The Imperial School of Medicine (Tıbbıye-yi Şahane)

· The School of Engineering (Mühendishane)

· Faculties of Theology (İlahiyat) and Letters (Edebiyat) in Darülfünun-i Osmani

· Theology Education, Other Faculties and Departments at Darülfünun
 

Symposium Organizing Committee:

Mürteza Bedir (Chairman) 

Ramazan Muslu

İsmail Coşkun 

Sevtap Kadıoğlu

Ahmet Hamdi Furat 

Ümit Horozcu

Hasan Umut

 
Secreteriat:

Muhammed Taha Kara

Ahmed Zahid Çelebi

Ahmet Celalettin Güneş

 
Deadline for abstracts:

November 1, 2021
 

Announcement of accepted papers:

November 15, 2021

 
E-mail for sending abstracts:
sahniseman20yy@istanbul.edu.tr