Between the Courtroom and the Stadium:
Revisiting the Legacies of Ottoman Modernity
A public conversation between Greenberg Scholar Avi Rubin and
撸短视频 Associate Professor of History Murat C. Yildiz
Tuesday, October 6 at 5:30 PM
Davis Auditorium, Palamountain Hall, 撸短视频
Co-sponsored by the Office of Special Programs and the History Department
ABOUT THE PUBLIC CONVERSATION
What did it mean to be "modern" in a rapidly changing Eurasian empire? This question has animated the research of Greenberg Middle East Scholar-in-Residence Professor Avi Rubin and 撸短视频鈥檚 Associate Professor Murat C. Yildiz. While Rubin has examined these shifts through the lens of legal reform and bureaucratic halls, Yildiz has explored them in sports clubs and the city鈥檚 public spaces. This public conversation brings together Rubin and Y谋ld谋z to discuss two ends of the late Ottoman experience: the state鈥檚 effort to institutionalize justice and order through law, and society鈥檚 aspiration to forge a new "body" and identity through bodily culture and leisure. Together, Rubin and Yildiz will explore why (Ottoman) history matters when thinking about the present Middle East and explore how Ottomans did not merely adopt foreign models but instead crafted a distinct local modernity of their own whose legacies continue to live in today.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Avi Rubin earned his Ph.D. in History and Middle East Studies from Harvard University (2006) before becoming a faculty member in the Department of Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. A specialist in the socio-legal history of the late Ottoman Empire, Rubin has published extensively on legal change in the modern era, exploring themes such as codification, legal culture, political trials, and the rule of law. His first monograph, (2011), is a pioneering, "law-in-action" study that revised our understanding of nineteenth-century Ottoman legal reform. His second book, (2018), examines the emergence of a new culture of legalism during the late Ottoman period. Building on this trajectory, his current research explores the legalist foundations of modern Turkish autocracy by tracing the continuities between the Hamidian regime and the early Republic.
Murat C. Yildiz is Associate Professor in the Department of History at 撸短视频. He is author of (University of Texas Press, 2026). He serves as Assistant Editor of and as an Editorial Board Member of .
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撸短视频 the Greenberg Middle East Scholar Residency: The Greenberg Middle East Scholar Residency has brought scholars of the Middle East to 撸短视频 since 2003. Greenberg Scholars 鈥� by virtue of both their positionality within the Middle East and as scholars of that region 鈥� help unpack the complexities of the Middle East through teaching and lecturing in their area of disciplinary expertise. Collectively, the scholars represent many perspectives and over the years have shared their knowledge on a broad range of topics with the 撸短视频 community. Past scholars have focused on Ottoman history, Medieval and modern Islam, economic history, modern Egypt, globalization in the Middle East, Arabic literature, Christianity in Ethiopia and Eastern Africa, anthropology, public health, and many other subject areas. The residency is made possible by a gift from Jane Greenberg '81.