Postcoloniality, the Ottoman Past, and the Middle East Present

During the last decade, the postcolonial approach has become influential in the humanities and the social sciences. Tracing its own historical origin to interaction with Western European modernity, it focuses on contemporary power inequality, which it intends to eliminate by demonstrating the connection between power and knowledge. Hence, this approach not only puts the present in conversation with the past but also poses power inequality as the analytical lens through which to approach states and societies. In the last decades, a number of scholars working on the Middle East have adopted the postcolonial approach. In this review essay, I initially discuss its application in the study of the region and then contextualize eight recent works within that framework

Archaeology · Conversation · Inequality · Middle East · Modernity · Political science · Power (physics · Sociology · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Turkey's Politics and Society

• Ordinary Ottomans

  Aline Schlaepfer, Jordi Tejel•Contemporary Levant•2024

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• Ottoman transcultural memories

  Open Access•Gabriel Koureas, Jay Prosser et al.•Memory Studies•2019

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• On migrants’ experiences of coloniality in the Turkish prison-industrial complex

  Open Access•Gianmaria Lenti•Punishment & Society•2025

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• Neither imperial nor national? The archival trails and legacies of (post)Ottoman-Armenians

  Open Access•Varak Ketsemanian, Bedross Der Matossian•Archival Science•2025

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• Ghosts of Empire

  Open Access•Aline Schlaepfer, Philippe Bourmaud et al.•Revue des mondes musulmans et de…•2020

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• Fantômes d’Empire

  Open Access•Aline Schlaepfer, Philippe Bourmaud et al.•Revue des mondes musulmans et de…•2020

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• Postempire

  Open Access•J F Walton•Memory Studies•2026

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• Incentivizing Immunity

  Open Access•Fernanda L Cro, Charles E Williams et al.•Journal of Racial and Ethnic…•2025

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• A Shared World

  Molly Greene•Shared World•2000

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• Building Farmsteads in the Desert

  Open Access•Lynda Carroll•The archaeology of capitalism in…•2011

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• Pluralism and the Politics of Difference

  R D Grillo, Ralph Grillo•Pluralism and the politics of…•1998

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• Rise of the Bourgeoisie, Demise of Empire

  Fatma Muge Gocek•Rise of the bourgeoisie, demise…•1996

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• The Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe

  Open Access•Daniel Goffman•Ottoman Empire and Early Modern…•2002

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• Empire of Difference

  Open Access•Karen Barkey•Empire of Difference•2008

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• Reclaiming the Land of the Bible

  Ussama Makdisi•The American Historical Review•1997

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• Defending the Plural

  Dan Stone•New Formations•2011

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• Honored by the Glory of Islam

  Marc Baer, Marc David Baer•Honored by the Glory of Islam•2008

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• Tale of Two Factions, A

  Jane Hathaway•Tale of Two Factions, A•2003

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• After the Imperial Turn

  Open Access•Antoinette M Burton, Ann Curthoys et al.•After the Imperial Turn•2003

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• Colonizing the Body

  Michael Adas, David Arnold•The American Historical Review•1994

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• The Nation and Its Fragments

  Partha Chatterjee•Nation and Its Fragments•1994

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• Colonialism in Question

  Frederick Cooper•Colonialism in question•2005

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• Venetians in Constantinople

  David Jacoby•Sixteenth Century Journal•2007

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• Neither Muslims nor Zimmis

  Open Access•Eyal Ginio•Romani Studies•2004

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• Rethinking Europe and the Islamic World in the Age of Exploration

  Linda T Darling•Journal of Early Modern History•1998

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• Gender and Empire in Late Ottoman Istanbul

  Palmira Brummett•Comparative Studies of South Asia…•2007

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• Moral judgment

  Open Access•CHRISTOPHER A BAYLY•European Review•2006

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• Suftan, Dynasty and State in the Ottoman Empire

  Open Access•I Metin Kunt, İbrahim Kunt•The Medieval History Journal•2003

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• The Commodification of Otherness and the Ethnic Unit in the Balkans

  Open Access•Isa Blumi•East European Politics and…•1998

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• The Evolution of the Ottoman Seaborne Empire in the Age of the Oceanic Discoveries, 1453-1525

  Andrew C Hess•The American Historical Review•1970

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• Cosmopolitanism and the De-colonial Option

  Open Access•Walter D Mignolo, Walter Mignolo•Studies in Philosophy and Education•2010

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• Ottoman to Turk

  Virginia H Aksan•International Journal Canada s…•2005

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• Introduction

  Levander Levander, Mignolo Mignolo•The Global South•2011

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• Studies in Eighteenth Century Mughal and Ottoman Trade

  James D Tracy•Journal of the Economic and…•1994

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• The Ottoman Algerian Elite and Its Ideology

  Open Access•Tal Shuval•International Journal Middle East…•2000

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• Ottoman Modernity, Colonialism, and Insurgency in the Interwar Arab East

  Open Access•Michael Provence•International Journal Middle East…•2011

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• Durable Empire

  Open Access•Nicholas Doumanis•The Historical Journal•2006

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• Rescuing History from the Nation

  P Duara•Rescuing History from the Nation•1995

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• Provincializing Europe

  R Bin Wong, Dipesh Chakrabarty•The American Historical Review•2001

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• The Problems of Europocentrism and Evolutionism in Marx's Writings on Colonialism

  Open Access•Katz, Stephen Katz•Political Studies•1990

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• Ottoman Response to the Discovery of America and the New Route to India

  Abbas Hamdani•Journal of the American Oriental…•1981

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• The colour of Orientalism

  Amy Aisen Elouafi•Ethnic and Racial Studies•2010

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• Diplomacy, grotesque realism, and Ottoman historiography

  Costas M Constantinou•Postcolonial Studies•2000

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• Orientalism Alla Turca

  Raoul Motika, Christoph Herzog•Die Welt des Islams•2000

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• Tarihi-i Hind-i Garbi

  Thomas Goodrich, Thomas D Goodrich•Journal of the American Oriental…•1987

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• Hegemony, Imperialism, and the Construction of Religion in East and Southeast Asia1

  Open Access•Thomas David Dubois•History and Theory•2005

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• Western Autobiography and Colonial Discourse

  Bart Moore-Gilbert, Bart Moore‐gilbert•Social Identities•2005

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• Theorizing Borders

  Open Access•Chris Rumford•European Journal of Social Theory•2006

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• Cultural Theory, Biopolitics, and the Question of Power

  Open Access•Couze Venn•Theory Culture & Society•2007

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• An Ancien Régime Revisited

  Open Access•Ariel Salzmann•Latin American Politics and Society•1993

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• They Live in a State of Nomadism and Savagery

  Selim Deringil•Comparative Studies in Society…•2003

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