Huseyin Yilmaz

Huseyin Yilmaz

Huseyin Yilmaz

Associate Professor

Ottoman History; Middle East; Early Modern Political Thought; Translation and Transmission of Knowledge

Dr. Yilmaz holds a Ph.D. in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University. His research interests focus on the early modern Middle East including political thought, geographic imageries, social movements, and cultural history. His most recent publications are “The Eastern Question and the Ottoman Empire: The Genesis of the Near and Middle East in the Nineteenth Century” and “From Serbestiyet to Hürriyet: Ottoman Statesmen and the Question of Freedom During the Late Enlightenment.”

Prior to his appointment at George Mason, Dr. Yilmaz taught for the Introduction to the Humanities Program and Department of History at Stanford University and the Department of History at University of South Florida. Prior to that, he was appointed Research Fellow with the Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften in Vienna, Austria.

His new book, Caliphate Redefined: The Mystical Turn in Ottoman Political Thought, is the first comprehensive study of pre-modern Ottoman political thought, and was published by Princeton University Press in January 2018.

Dr. Yilmaz is also the Research Director for the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University.

 

Selected Publications

  • Caliphate Redefined: The Mystical Turn in Ottoman Political Thought. Princeton: Princeton University Press, January 2018
  • “From Serbestiyet to Hürriyet: Ottoman Statesmen and the Question of Freedom during the Late Enlightenment.” Studia Islamica 111 (2016): 202-230 (ISSN: 0585-5292)
  • “Containing Sultanic Authority: Constitutionalism in the Ottoman Empire before Westernization.” The Journal of Ottoman Studies 45 (2015): 231-264 (ISSN: 0255063602550636)
  • “Osmanlı Devleti’nde Batılılaşma Öncesi Meşrutiyetçi Gelişmeler.” Divan Disiplinlerarası Çalışmalar Dergisi 13 (2008): 1-30 (ISSN: 13009648)
  • “Osmanlı Tarihçiliğinde Tanzimat Öncesi Siyaset Düşüncesine Yaklaşımlar.” Türkiye Araştırmaları Literatür Dergisi 1/2 (2003): 231-98 (ISSN: 13039369)
  • “On Kingship and Legitimacy: The Ottomans.” In Hani Khafipour ed., The Empires of the Near East and India: Sources Studies of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal Literate Communities. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. (ISBN: 9780231174367)
  • “Books on Ethics and Politics: The Art of Governing the Self and Others at the Ottoman Court.” In Gülru Necipoğlu, Cemal Kafadar, and Cornell Fleischer, eds., Treasure of Knowledge: An Inventory of Ottoman Palace Library (1502/3-1503/4) (pp. 115-130). Brill: Leiden and Boston, 2019. (ISBN: 9789004386983)
  • “The Eastern Question and the Ottoman Empire:  The Genesis of the Near and Middle East in the Nineteenth Century.” In Michael Bonine, Abbas Amanat and Michael Casper eds., Is There a Middle East: The Evolution of a Geopolitical Concept (pp. 11-35). Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011. (ISBN: 9780804775267)
  • “Mevlânâ Osmanlı Sarayında: Mahmud Dede’nin Sevâkıbü’l-Menâkıb’ında Siyasî İmgeler” In E. Alkan and O. S. Arı eds. Osmanlı’da İlm-i Tasavvuf (pp. 735-744). Istanbul: İSAR Yayınları, 2018. (ISBN: 978-605-9276-12-2)
  • “The Sunni Exodus from Iran and the Rise of Anti-Safavid Propaganda in the Ottoman Empire: The Messianic Call of Hüseyin b. Abdullah el-Shirvānī.” In O. M. Alper and M. Arıcı eds., Osmanlı’da İlim ve Fikir Dünyası: İstanbul’un Fethinden Süleymaniye Medreselerinin Kuruluşuna Kadar (pp. 299-309). Istanbul: Klasik, 2015. (ISBN: 9786055245832)
  • “Kınalızade Ali Efendi ve Osmanlı Kültürel Kimliği.” In A. S. Oktay ed., Uluslararası Kınalızâde Ailesi Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı (pp. 95-101). Isparta: SDÜ İlahiyat Fakültesi Yayınları, 2012. (ISBN: 9789944452861)
  • “Osmanlı Siyaset ve Hukuk Düşüncesi Geleneğinde Anayasalcılık.” In Halit Eren ed., Proceedings of the International Congress on The Second Constitutional Period of the Ottoman State on its Centenary (pp. 365-100). Istanbul: IRCICA, 2012. (ISBN: 9789290632450)
  • “Imperial Ideology.” In G. Agoston and B. Masters eds., Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, (pp. 273-276). New York: Facts on File, 2008. (ISBN: 9780816062591)

Courses Taught

  • Approaches to Middle Eastern and Islamic History
  • Critical Issues and Debates in Middle East and Islamic Studies
  • Islamic Thought and Culture
  • Middle East and Europe
  • Modern Middle East
  • Ottoman Empire
  • Political Thought in Muslim Societies
  • Research Seminar in Comparative World Religions