Introduction | 13to the formation of communal institutions was not a straight one; it was one full
of twists and turns, with no consistent and uniform evolutionary character of
its own.
Part IV. th through th Centuries: Modernity, Mass Politics,
and Nationalism: From Empire to Nation-State
Part IV focuses on how identity transformed within the empire through the
onset of modernity, particularly as influenced by nationalism, modern science,
mass politics, modern state practices, nationalist secessionist movements, and
European imperialism. As Ottoman identity expanded to include all the empire’s
subjects and shifted from dynastic to state loyalty, many Ottoman subjects at-
tempted to negotiate new identities within the era of nationalism and national
self-determination. These negotiations had both a centripetal and a centrifugal
effect on identity within the empire.
In chapter 18 Darin Stephanov sketches the stages of formation of modern
public space and group consciousness in the late Ottoman Empire through the
changes in ruler visibility and ruler-ruled ceremonial engagement. These new
public ceremonies and celebrations were meant to transform the sultanate into
a national monarchy and inculcate loyalty between the Ottoman sultan and his
subjects, particularly non-Muslims. Over time, their articulation, under the
guise of ruler commemoration, led to group demarcation and gradual mobiliza-
tion. Therefore, in the long run, the escalating sultanic celebrations contributed
directly to the creation of new, horizontal ties of attachment and ethnonational
belonging, precipitating national movements and, after the empire’s demise, suc-
cessor-state national monarchies.
In chapter 19 M. Alper Yalçınkaya investigates the impact that engagement
with European sciences had on Ottoman elite conceptualizations of identity
during the nineteenth century. This impact came from Ottoman encounters
with European science being simultaneously an encounter with a Eurocentric
historiographical narrative of the history of science. These works exhibited the
influence of orientalism and acknowledged the contributions of Muslim schol-
ars to science during Islam’s golden era. Because this narrative emphasized that
these contributions linked antiquity and the Renaissance and, hence, could be
interpreted as evidence that Islam did not impede progress, it appealed to many
Ottoman intellectuals throughout the nineteenth century. There was, however,
an observable unease in the writings of Ottoman Turkish litterateurs, as the
Eurocentric narrative not only had no room for the Ottomans but commonly
referred to Muslim scientists as Arabs. After the 1850s, it became common to as-
sert that Muslims’ contributions constituted the common legacy for all Ottoman
Muslims. Furthermore, even authors who espoused the Muslims’ contribution