Ottoman Historiography Working Group

The Ottoman Historiography Working Group is an academic community that examines the emergence and transformation of the Ottoman approach to history writing over time. It addresses Ottoman historiography—which emerged as a continuation of the Turkic-Islamic state tradition but developed a unique structure over time—within a broad framework. This framework spans from early period genres such as menakıbname (hagiographies), gazaname (epics of holy war), and epics, to the semi-official history writing that evolved with the shahname tradition, and ultimately to the official understanding of history institutionalized through the office of the vakanüvis (official court chronicler).

The primary objective of the group is to comprehensively understand the development of Ottoman historiography in terms of method, style, and perspective through the in-depth reading and analysis of these works and history-writing traditions. Thus, the working group aims to establish a disciplined platform for debate regarding the nature of Ottoman historiography from early period sources to the post-classical era.