Talk by Prof. Abdülhamit Kırmızı (Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Studies Association at the University of Toronto), and author of a book of the same title.
The following is an account of Prof. Kırmızı’s book that appeared on the ‘Academia’ website: ‘Empire of Officials’ explores the significant yet overlooked roles of Christians and Jews in the Ottoman bureaucracy during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and challenges conventional narratives by focusing on the collegiality and shared professional environments of Muslim, Christian and Jewish officials within the Ottoman state apparatus. Employing a comprehensive quantitative prosopography approach, it draws on a rich array of archival sources to provide a detailed analysis of the educational backgrounds, career trajectories and social networks of around 3,000 non-Muslim officials. This reveals how these individuals navigated a multi-confessional workplace, balancing their professional duties with their diverse religious and ethnic identities. It illuminates the Ottoman Empire’s unique ability to integrate various communities into its administrative framework, demonstrating how these non-Muslim officials contributed to the empire’s bureaucratic expansion. In five chapters, the book offers fresh perspectives on the complexities of identity, loyalty and state-building in a period marked by significant political and social transformations.
