Browsing by Author "Tozoglu, Ahmet Erdem"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9

Citation - WoS: 1
Citation - Scopus: 1
Addressing the Modern Regimes of Urban Spectacle: Revisiting the Ottoman General Exhibition of 1863 in Istanbul
(Sage Publications inc, 2024) Tozoglu, Ahmet Erdem
One of the most spectacular events of the Ottoman experience of modernity was the inauguration of the Ottoman General Exposition in Istanbul in 1863. The ancient Hippodrome, which is one of the most prominent venues of the city and the setting of memorable celebrations and festivals for centuries, hosted the event and provided the visitors with the opportunity to become part of the modern regimes of gaze and spectacle. This article posits three observer roles to reveal the multilayered structure of urban spectacle in mid-century Istanbul, namely the sultanic gaze, spectacle of the ordinary citizens, and the mediated experience of the foreigner. To understand the particularities of each position, I utilize several visual and textual documents about the exhibition event. Though just a single case in Ottoman urban history, the exposition enables us to understand how the new manner of modern urban spectacle emerged during a spectacular public event in Istanbul.
Ankara’da Millî Bayram Kutlamaları: Erken Cumhuriyet Dönemi’nde Kamusallığın Performatif Biçimleri
(2022) Tozoglu, Ahmet Erdem; Elif, Kaymaz; Sezen, Öykü Su
Makale, Ankara’da Cumhuriyet’in ilk yıllarında resmî bayram kutlamaları bağlamında performatif kamusallığın oluşumunu incelemektedir. Bayram kutlamaları tek bir aktör üzerinden ve tek bir kavramsal çerçeve içerisinde değerlendirilemeyecek kadar karmaşık toplumsal pratiklerdir. Çalışma, bayram kutlamalarının eş zamanlı okunması gereken bir dizi sosyomekânsal katman aracılığıyla anlaşılabileceğini savlamaktadır. Dolayısıyla makalede, kamusallığın fiziki altlığı olan kutlama mekânları, kitlelerin kontrol ve yönlendirilmesini sağlayan sosyomekânsal kurallar dizgesinin ve kutlama mizansenin etkinliğini artırmak için devreye sokulan maddi, manevi kimi araçların oluşturduğu bir ağın parçası olarak ele alınmaktadır. Resmî bayram kutlamalarındaki kamusallığı tartışmak ve farklı performatif ilişkileri tanımlamak için üç ilişkili tema önerilmiştir. Bunlar, kitlelerin hareketliliğinin teşviki, teknolojik gelişim ve teknik sergileme, kurucu imgeler ve anlatıların farklı araçlarla dolaşıma sokulmasıdır. Sonuç olarak, birbiri içine geçmiş, birbirinden beslenen bu temaların, Erken Cumhuriyet Dönemi’nde millî bayramlar aracılığıyla yeniden üretilen toplumsal rıza kültürünün ve ulus devlet inşası stratejilerinin törenler bağlamında açıklanabilmesine olanak sağladığı ortaya konulmuştur.
Citation - WoS: 4
Citation - Scopus: 4
A Chapter in the Modernization of Turkey: Damming the Rivers, Claiming the Natural Landscape, and Building of the Seyhan Dam in Cilicia
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2021) Tozoglu, Ahmet Erdem
This article examines building of the Seyhan Dam (1953-1956) in Turkey. Both Turkish and American agents played significant roles for planning and implementation of the project during the Cold War era. The 1950s provided necessary conditions in Turkey for the rise of new actors and developments to facilitate transition from limited modernity, which had mostly manifested in urban areas, to a more comprehensive state of modernity extended to rural areas. This extension had irrevocable impacts on the natural landscape as well. By referring to some patterns of modernization, this article posits building of the Seyhan Dam as a significant example to demonstrate how state-led modernization extended its scope by means of taming rivers and opening of plains for agriculture in the Cilician (cukurova) region from late Ottoman to Republican periods.
Citation - WoS: 1
Educating Masses: The Committee of Union and Progress Clubs and Schools in the Late Ottoman Empire
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2022) Tozoglu, Ahmet Erdem
This article examines the social and architectural context of an extensive building campaign in Turkey in the early twentieth century. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), one of the Second Constitutional Period's prominent political and cultural actors (1908-18), commissioned club and school buildings for social outreach operations. Influenced by their European counterparts, the Committee's protagonists believed that a social revolution could be accomplished by employing the education of the masses. Moreover, education was also essential to create a national identity for an Empire in a struggle. In this context, many clubs (for adults) and schools (for the youngsters) mushroomed in many cities simultaneously. Accordingly, the architecture of new club and school buildings reflected societal concerns and provided remarkable examples of their kinds. The education of the masses and the use of social propaganda by state agents in Republican Turkey have been scrutinized so far. Still the origins of the social engineering projects should be examined to contextualize Republican period developments. Thus, this article examines the building and impact of the clubs and schools of the CUP in the provinces and constitutes a contextual frame for their formative role in Turkish modernization.
Citation - WoS: 3
Citation - Scopus: 1
The New Visual Culture in Eighteenth-Century Istanbul: Building Up New Shore Kiosks and Gardens on the Outskirts of the Royal Palace
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2020) Tozoglu, Ahmet Erdem
This article examines the construction and expansion of a less-known royal shore kiosk complex in Istanbul, namely the Shore Palace near the Cannon Gate (Topkapisi Sahil Sarayi) or Summer Harem, which was built on the outskirts of the royal palace complex in the eighteenth century, to interpret the changing features of royal residential culture and spatial practices. In this article, I aim to propose a new thematic frame based on the central role of the issue of visuality to examine the shifting cultural paradigm of eighteenth-century royal patronage. The eighteenth century witnessed the physical expansion of the complex and renovation of the furnishings several times and the official records of these activities provide us with invaluable information for the visual construction of these buildings, which were torn down after a devastating fire in 1862. Furthermore, the choice of location and all physical changes in the interiors and gardens demonstrate the spatial results of the changing codes of visual culture in the cityscape. In this respect, examination of this case enables us to discuss how the new visual culture was adopted and exercised in and around the royal palace gardens by the royal court members.
Citation - WoS: 2
Citation - Scopus: 3
Power, Conflict and Negotiation Between the Agents: An Alternative Vision for Contestation on the Public Space in the Late Ottoman Empire
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2021) Tozoglu, Ahmet Erdem
This article posits the territorial claim and control of the Ottoman government in the city centre by analyzing confrontations and conflicts of the state with the other agents via critical examination of a provincial case in the late nineteenth century. I examine the critical moments in making of public space to understand how the state authority claimed and enlarged its territorial influence during foundation and development of Dedeagac (Alexandroupolis) port in Edirne province through many agency confrontations. The conflicts between the state and other agents extend from the choice of location for a new port and taxation of the new port neighbourhood to the provision of public works and constitution of an administrative centre. In this context, foundation and growth of Dedeagac case demonstrate presence of many civic agents in clash with the state and they had to agree on an interim resolution for spatial construction of the town centre. This article aims to provide an alternative ground to examine the agency of the state in the late nineteenth century urban setting. It aims to be more inclusive by revealing the dynamic and substantial role of the other underrepresented agents in making of the cityscape in the late Ottoman Empire.
Citation - WoS: 1
Citation - Scopus: 2
Settling Down the Crisis: Planning and Implementation of the Immigrant Settlements in the Balkans During the Late Ottoman Period
(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2019) Tozoglu, Ahmet Erdem; Akgun, Seda Nehir Gumuslue
Since the Crimean War (1853-56), the Ottomans encountered with the problem of settling the Muslim immigrants and it was initially resolved by establishing new towns and villages on vast arable plains in the Balkans and Anatolia. However, it became a necessity to let the immigrants settle in the cities after the massive influx of refugees in 1877-78, when available agricultural lands to assign remained limited in the empire. With the consent of the Sultan, a new urban typology emerged at the outskirts of the cities, which were called immigrant (muhajir) neighbourhoods. This article aims to explore the spatial development of these settlements by the close examination of two cases based on archival materials. Mecidiye, which was established after the Crimean War, stands as an archetypal example and acted as an experimental laboratory. The success of Mecidiye case encouraged the Ottoman bureaucrats for further in post-1878 period. Hence, immigrant neighbourhood in uskub demonstrates us how the experience of Mecidiye was disseminated in the empire to establish a new planned settlement at the edges of an existing city. The close examination of uskub case provides us with the necessary tools to understand how the resettlement of refugees had cross-geographical spatial patterns.
Citation - Scopus: 1
Textual Manifestations of Ottoman Architectural Revival and the Search for a National Idiom in the Late Ottoman Period
(Cambridge Univ Press, 2022) Tozoglu, Ahmet Erdem
This article applies a critical approach to rethinking the relationship between nationalism and Ottoman architectural historiography by examining the intellectual medium during the late Ottoman period. More precisely, it examines how the history and theory of Ottoman architecture were initially established by Tanzimat (Reform) intelligentsia with the publication of Usul-i Mimari-i Osmani (Fundamentals of Ottoman Architecture) (1873). It addresses how the text was later comprehended and criticized by their successors, who utilized it to constitute their own vision of Turkish national architecture. By detailing the rise of the Turkish nationalist movement and the transition from Ottomanism to Turkism as the dominant identity, this article highlights the demand for the materialization of a national architecture as a component of the cultural construction of a national architectural style and the role of new public buildings as the site of nationalizing endeavors at the beginning of the twentieth century. Finally, this article problematizes the extent to which these new constructions can be deemed "national" by investigating the works of a pioneer figure of architecture, Kemaleddin Bey's writings and the design and construction of his dormitory building, the Fifth Vakif Han, in Istanbul.
Citation - Scopus: 1
"What if You Are a Medieval Monarch?": A Crusader Kings III Experience to Learn Medieval History
(de Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2022) Tozoglu, Ahmet Erdem; Kuran, Mehmet Sukru
This chapter is about the authors' experiences and observations on a blended world history course that combines classical lecture and discussion components of teaching with video game sessions. The students play strategy video games with a heavy historical focus. The course, named Playing with The Past, is designed to experiment on how to integrate video games on teaching history, especially in order to achieve a higher understanding of the contemporary social, political, economic, and technological context of a given era for different cultures and civilizations. This chapter presents the utilization of Crusader Kings, a renowned grand strategy game series, to teach medieval history, which constitutes an integral part of our course. It also examines how the game provides advantages for an immersive learning environment and how it fails to model medieval history at specific points. Our experiments and observations may be beneficial for designing a general world history course and any history course on specific periods, cultures, and nations that aims to utilize alternative tools to deliver a course.