Professor of Middle East History Nabil Al-Tikriti

Professor of Middle East History Nabil Al-Tikriti’s article entitled “Prince with Daddy Issues Seeks Sisterly Support: Two Ego Documents Penned by Şehzade Korkud (d. 1513),” was recently published by The Journal of Ottoman Studies / Osmanlı Araştırmaları [Issue LXIV (Winter 2024), pp. 71-98]. This journal issue was a double-blind, peer-reviewed scholarly publication which originated with the 2022 “Ottoman Ego Documents/Ben-Anlatıları” Symposium that Al-Tikriti attended (with UMW faculty travel support) in Istanbul, Turkey.

The article’s abstract: “Following a brief analysis of self-narrative writing among Ottoman royals towards the turn of the sixteenth century, this article argues for consideration of “collective biography” as a methodological approach before presenting two “ego-documents” by one of those royals. Şehzade Korkud (d. 1513), who left behind several small samples of self-narrative, also wrote two clear examples of ego-documents, a treatise to his father Bayezid II (d. 1512) defending his decision to go on the ḥajj, and a fearful letter to his sister Sofu Fatma (fl. 1512) seeking political guidance in the midst of a politically tense succession struggle. The treatise, Wasīlat al-aḥbāb, is summarized and analyzed here, while the letter is transliterated and translated in full.” Read the article.

Professor of Middle Eastern History Nabil Al-Tikriti

On 23 September 2024, Professor of Middle East History Dr. Nabil Al-Tikriti provided a lecture entitled “Imperial Legacies, Ethnic Cleansing, and Today’s Balkans and Caucasus,” to the Global Learning Center, affiliated with Wichita State University, and taking place on their campus.

The lecture description:
“What drives sectarian politics from the Balkans to the Caucasus? What has caused such widespread ongoing ethnic and religious disputes, debates, and conflicts? In this talk, Prof. Nabil Al-Tikriti will analyze how yesterday’s imperial dissolutions led to today’s sectarian conflict.”

In the course of this lecture, Prof. Al-Tikriti summarized theses about national homogeneity in the 19th-21st centuries by Eric Weitz and Yuri Slezkine, and the construction of the modern international law regime following European Great Power interventions in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century by Davide Rodogno, before analyzing the role that ethnic mapping has played in international diplomacy geared towards encouraging, implementing, and consolidating ethnic cleansing on multiple fronts — all for the elusive goal of nation-state homogeneity.

Prof. Al-Tikriti thanks UMW Visitors Virginia “Ginny” Gentles, Tim Pohanka, and Terris E. Todd for their particularly staunch support of UMW faculty research, creativity, and educational pursuits. This was an invited lecture.

Professor of Middle Eastern History Nabil Al-Tikriti

On 27 March 2024, Professor of Middle East History Dr. Nabil Al-Tikriti joined a panel entitled “The Roots of a Nation to Forced Migration: Contravention of International Law,” jointly organized by Interfaith G-20 and Islamic Relief USA. Panelists included: Cynthia Lange (Senior Counsel, Fragomen), Anna Greene (Senior Protection Officer, UNHCR), Parisa Dada (Program Officer, USRAP Capacity Building Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration, International Rescue Committee), and Alia Boltakke (Founder & Attorney, The Boltakke Law Group). 

The panel description:

Professor of Middle East History Nabil Al-Tikriti

On 6 November 2023, Dr. Nabil Al-Tikriti, Professor of Middle East History, was honored to join Marya Hannun of the Middle East Report (MERIP) and the University of Exeter in discussing both the general history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the specific ongoing crisis in Gaza, together with the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) Youth and College Division. This lengthy conference call was joined by roughly 50-60 NAACP collegiate leaders as well as several senior NAACP leaders.

Professor of Middle East History Nabil Al-Tikriti

Professor of Middle East History Nabil Al-Tikriti presented a paper entitled “Greatness Denied: Firdevsī-yi Rūmī on the Cusp of Ottoman Sunnism” on Friday, December 16. In this presentation, he provided a summary biography of the polymath Ottoman author Firdevsī-yi Rūmī (fl. 1512), and offered a preliminary set of reasons why he was subsequently expelled from the Ottoman literary canon. This presentation was offered as part of the “Osmanlı’da İlm-i Tarih Sempozyumu: Ālimler, Eserler ve Meseleler / Ottoman Historiography Symposium: Scholars, Works, Problems,” the eighth of a series of symposiums on Ottoman scientific history hosted by İSAR, an Istanbul foundation supporting research on various fields of Islamic history. The symposium website includes further information, and the complete symposium program is available. This was an invited appearance.

Here is Prof. Al-Tikriti’s presentation abstract: “Ilyas Çelebi “Firdevsi-yi Rumi” (fl. 1512) served primarily at the courts of Sultan Bayezid II (d. 1512) and Prince Korkud (d. 1513), authoring works of narrative history, elegiac poetry, gestes, and hagiography. In this paper, I will summarize what is known of his biography and analyze his presentation of Ottoman, Turkish, and Muslim identity.

Firdevsi, a litterateur with a considerable sense of self, completed more than twenty works while serving at the apex of Ottoman cultural production. While very successful at attracting patronage and support for lengthy and ornate literary works, his oeuvre was mostly lampooned by those who followed in the decades after his death.

Why would a writer who was so successful in his own lifetime be so reviled within a few decades of his death? Analyzing the political content and identity positions staked out by Firdevsi provides a tentative answer – societal views changed abruptly in the first tumultuous decades of the early 16^th century. Firdevsi’s use of the term “Sunni” in his Qutb-name, explanation of Turkish conversion to Islam in his Süleyman-name, and portrayal of Anatolian Sufism in his Vilayet-name each provide clues as to why subsequent literary critics found his scholarship unreliable, his poetry unspeakable, and his views objectionable.”