xiiiAcknowledgments
The editors thank the many individuals who have worked so hard to see this
project to its conclusion. It originated as an idea to enable Ottomanists across
the field who study different time periods to engage each other on the concept
of Ottoman identity and how it originated and transformed over the empire’s
existence. We hatched this idea and set up a workshop within a conference at
the Middle East Studies Association’s (MESA) 2011 annual conference held in
Washington, DC. We express our gratitude to the MESA Organizing Committee
for taking a chance on allowing this experimental four-panel session. It was a
huge success in terms of the scholarship shared, audience participation, and at-
tendance. This book has come directly from this workshop within a conference.
We also express our sincere thanks to all those who participated in the ses-
sion, especially the discussants (Linda Darling, Heather Ferguson, Resat Kasaba,
and Julia Clancy-Smith) and all the presenters. While the majority of the panel-
ists ended up contributing to this edited volume, several were unable to do so for
a variety of reasons. We acknowledge their participation, because they enriched
the intellectual exchange and improved the finished work of all those involved.
These individuals include Julia Phillips Cohen, Deniz Kilinçoğlu, Cihan Yuksel
Muslu, Gabriel Piterberg, Ayfer Karakaya-Stump, and Sara Yildiz.
We are especially grateful to all those who contributed to this edited volume
and for their patience concerning all the deadlines, pestering, and multiple revi-
sions. We are so grateful to all the contributors for catching our vision of mak-
ing a volume for classroom use that represents cutting-edge research and brings
the Ottoman Empire alive for our students and the general public. It has been
a wonderful experience working with every contributor. Many thanks also to
those contributors who came to this project after the workshop within a confer-
ence had already been held. They each quickly caught the vision too and have
added tremendously to this volume. Unfortunately, one of the contributors is no
longer with us to see the completion of this book. On August 27, 2015, our dear
friend and colleague Vangelis Kechriotis died from cancer. He is sorely missed,
and we dedicate this volume to his memory. We are also very grateful to Antonis
Hadjikyriacou for stepping in and helping with the final copyediting of Vangelis’s
chapter after his passing.
The staff at Indiana University Press deserve special thanks for their patience
and diligence in seeing this project through to its completion. These individuals