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Ahmet Şeyhun
History Department
University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 2E9
(204) 786-9765 (work)
[email protected]
Current Position:
Assistant Professor of History
Education:
2002: Ph.D.: McGill University (Institute of Islamic Studies), Montreal, Canada,
Dissertation Title: “Said Halim Pasha: An Ottoman Statesman and an Islamist Thinker
(1865-1921)”
1992: M.A., History, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
Thesis title: “Centralization Process of Cash Waqfs in the Ottoman Empire and their
Legal Framework.”
[An examination of the link between Cash (monetary) Waqfs and modern banking in
the late Ottoman Empire, using archival sources (vakiflar arşivi)]
1986: Bachelor of Law, Istanbul University
1978-1980: Program in Law, Université de Paris X (Nanterre)
Areas of Interest:
- Islamic/Middle Eastern History (classical, medieval and modern)
- Central Asian History
- Early Medieval European History
- European Colonial Expansion
Courses Taught:
29.1010/6: Islamic World. (A Lecture Survey of History of Islam from Its Inception to
Present Day) (2003-2004, 2004-2005)
29.2170/6: Islam and the West (Lecture course) (2004-2005)
29.3170/3: History of Law in Islamic Societies (Lecture/Seminar course) (Fall 2004)
29.3171/3: The Middle East in Modern Times, 1700 to the Present (Lecture/Seminar course)
(Winter 2005)
29.4190/6: Major Themes in Islamic History (An Honours-level seminar) (2003-2004)
Other Teaching Experience:
September-October 1998: Part-time Lecturer in Ottoman History, Institute of Islamic Studies,
McGill University
1996-1999: Lecturer in Second-Year Turkish Language and Literature, Institute of Islamic
Studies, McGill University
1993-1996: Teaching Assistant, First-Year Turkish Language and Literature, Institute of
Islamic Studies, McGill University
Professional Experience:
1988-1992: Practicing Lawyer at Istanbul Bar, Turkey. (Specializing in Corporate and
International Business Law)
1986-1988: Articling in Civil and Corporate Law, Istanbul, Turkey
Selected Honors, Grants, Awards
1996-1997: Graduate Fellowship, McGill University
1992-1996: Fellowship for Select Graduate Students Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill
University
Publications:
Said Halim Pasha (1865-1921): An Islamist Thinker and an Ottoman Statesman. Istanbul: Isis
Press, 2003.
Book review: James R. Kraybill, David W. Shenk, and Linford Stutzman: Anabaptists
Meeting Muslims: A Calling For Presence in the Way of Christ. Scottdale, PA Waterloo,ON:
Herald Press, 2005. In Journal of Mennonite Studies vol.24, 2006, pp. 265-267.
Competing Ideologies of the Second Constitutional (Post-Hamidian) Period of the late
Ottoman Empire. Research in progress – Accepted for publication by Istanbul: ISIS Press.
“French-Ottoman Relations on the Eve of the First World War” Writing in progress –
Intended to be submitted to International Journal of Middle East Studies.
“Islamist Thought in the Late Ottoman Empire” Research in progress - Intended to be
submitted to Archivum Ottomanicum.
“Ahmet Naim’s criticism of the Turkists” submitted to Archivum Ottomanicum, accepted for
publication and will appear in the next issue.
Scholarly Papers and Professional Presentations:
“French –Ottoman Relations on the Eve of the First World War.” Presented at the MESA
[Middle East Studies Association] Conference in November 2002.
Public Lectures:
“The Foundation and Expansion of the Ottoman Empire.” Université of Montréal, November
2002. [in French].
“Middle-Eastern Politics Seen through the Perspective of Islamic History.” Bar-Hashomayim
Synagogue, Montreal, Quebec. April 2003.
“Modern Islamic History and Christian-Muslim Relations.” Epiphany Lutheran Church,
Winnipeg, Manitoba. April 2004.
“Medieval Islam and the West.” Epiphany Lutheran Church,Winnipeg, Manitoba. April 2006
“The Modern Middle East and the Rise of Islamic Revivalism”.Epiphany Lutheran Church,
Winnipeg, Manitoba, October 2006
“The Emergence and Expansion of Islam in the Middle East ( 600-700 AD)” Charleswood
Senior Centre”. November 2006
“The Emergence of Islamic Revivalism in the Middle East and other parts of the world”. The
Rady Jewish Community Center. January 2007
Languages:
- English, French, Turkish and Classical Ottoman (written and spoken)
- Arabic and Persian
References:
Professor Nolan Reilly, Chair, History Department, Univesity of Winnipeg, 515 Portage
Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3B 2E9. Phone: (204) 786-9012
Professor David Burley, History Department, University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue,
Winnipeg, Manitoba. Canada. R3B 2E9. Phone: (204) 786-9312
Professor Wael Hallaq, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, 3485 McTavish Street,
Montreal, Quebec. Canada. H3A 1Y1. Phone: (514) 398-5564
Professor A. Üner Turgay, Director, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, 3485
McTavish Street, Montreal, Quebec. Canada. H3A 1Y1. Phone: (514) 398-6078
Dissertation Abstract:
“Said Halim Pasha: An Ottoman Statesman and an Islamist Thinker (18651921)”
This dissertation is a study of the political career and thought of Said Halim
Pasha (1865-1921), set against the historical and ideological background of his
time in the Middle East. A respected statesman and an able diplomat, Said
Halim was an influential thinker and one of the most outspoken representatives
of the Islamist school during the Second Constitutional Period (1908-1920) in
the Ottoman Empire. He is described as modernist-revivalist: modernist, not
only because of his modern Western style discourse but also because of the
many Western-originated institutions and concepts (i.e., parliament and
democracy) which figure in his political theory; revivalist because of his
advocacy of a return to a pristine Islam. Said Halim proposed a complete
Islamization of Muslim societies, including “forgetting” their pre-Islamic past
and purifying themselves of their pre-Islamic heritage.