Expert Profile

Emrah Sahin

Full Instructional Professor

LS-EUROPEAN STUDIES | COLLEGE-LIBERAL ARTS SCIENCES

Research Terms & Keywords

Research Terms

Middle Eastern Studies Turkish Studies European Studies Mediterranean Studies Intellectual History Social History Modern History History of Religion Protestantism Sociology of Religion International Studies East-West Relations

Keywords

Christian-Muslim Relations Government And Society Immigration History Islamic Identities Modern Middle East Ottoman Empire Political Violence Turkey And Europe Us In The Middle East

Research Projects

Ends

Title

08-2023

Project Global Officer Turkish and Swahili Language and Culture 2022 Project Global Officer Turkish and Swahili Language and Culture 2022

08-2022

Project Global Officer Turkish and Swahili Language and Culture 2021 Project Global Officer Turkish and Swahili Language and Culture 2021

08-2018

Project GO Turkey Project GO Turkey

08-2018

Project GO Turkey Project GO Turkey

08-2017

Project Go Turkey Project Go Turkey

08-2017

Project Go Turkey Project Go Turkey

Degrees

PhD, History and Classical Studies

McGill University ▪ 2012

Awards & Honors

Global Fellow

University of Florida ▪ 2021
Research Fund

Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship ▪ 2020
Scholarly Publication Award

Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences ▪ 2018
Teacher of the Year

University of Florida ▪ 2018
Coordinator and Co-PI, Project Go-Turkey

U.S. Defense Language and National Security Education Office ▪ 2018
International Research Award

Sakip Sabanci Foundation ▪ 2016
Research Fellow

Turkish Cultural Foundation ▪ 2014

Publications

Monograph and Edited Volumes

2018	Faithful Encounters: Authorities and American Missionaries in the Ottoman Empire. Part of the McGill-Queen’s Studies in the History of Religion Series. Chicago, Kingston, London, Montréal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. • 04/2016. Winner of the Sabanc? International Research Award • 10/2018. Winner of the Award to Scholarly Publications Program • 07/2019. Public interview with the author at New Books Network • 11/2020. Turkish version of the book in press with Tima? Yay?nlar? • Reviewed in: Humanities Network Journal of American History Journal of Turkish Studies Journal of World Christianity Turkish Radio-Television Research Centre
2017	Once upon a Time America and the Turks: Political, Social, Religious, and Commercial Exchanges. Istanbul: Libra Books [as editor of the Turkish volume, Bir Zamanlar Amerika ve Türkler: Siyasi, Sosyal, Dini ve Ticari Temaslar].
2013b	Clockwork Game: The Illustrious Career of a Chess-Playing Automaton. By Jane Irwin. Michigan: Malloy (co-editor of this graphic novel, a widely accessible work that narrates Muslim perceptions in Europe and U.S. based on a true story of the world’s first chess-playing machine named the Turk).
2013a	Black Pearl and White Tulip: A History of Ottoman Africa. Istanbul: Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (editor of the English version).

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles (*) and Invited Book Chapters

2021c	* Dogs and Caravan: State Regulations and Evangelical Literature in the Middle East (under review).
2021b	* Voices of Unchained Women in a Turkish Tavern: A Vignette of Hüseyin Rahmi’s 1924 Novella. Delos: A Journal of Translation and World Literature (with Janna Tamargo, under review).
2021a	* Myth of the Eternal State: Outlaws, Outsiders, and the Ottoman Search for Order. The Journal of Historical Sociology (invited and refereed; forthcoming).
2017d	So far yet so close: Ottoman-U.S. rapprochement. In Emrah Sahin, ed., Once upon a Time America and the Turks: Political, Social, Religious, and Commercial Exchanges [Bir Zamanlar Amerika ve Türkler: Siyasi, Sosyal, Dini ve Ticari Temaslar]. Istanbul: Libra Books, 75-88.
2017c	America and the Turks in the past tense. In Emrah Sahin, ed., Once upon a time America and the Turks [Bir Zamanlar Amerika ve Türkler]. Istanbul: Libra Books, 15-21.
2017b	Surely they will convert: Americans from an Islamist perspective. In Emrah Sahin, ed., Once upon a time America and the Turks [Bir Zamanlar Amerika ve Türkler]. Istanbul: Libra Books, 43-53.
2017a	One state one nation: A socio-political comparison of early America and modern Turkey. In Emrah Sahin, ed., Once upon a time America and the Turks [Bir Zamanlar Amerika ve Türkler]. Istanbul: Libra Books, 145-69 (with Timothy Roberts.
2016	Money, Power, and the Bible: America, the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans [Para, ?ktidar ve ?ncil: Amerika, Osmanl? ve Balkanlar]. In Sava? Kafkasyal?, ed., Islam in the Balkans: From Times of Glory to Times of Humility. Ankara: Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency, vol. 4, 101-18.
2014	* Sultan’s America: Lessons from Ottoman Encounters with the United States. Journal of American Studies of Turkey 39: 55-76 (invited but refereed).
2012d	Ottoman Society. In Andrea Stanton, et al., eds, Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. California: SAGE, vol. 1: 185-90.
2012c	Millet System. In Andrea Stanton, et al., eds, Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. California: SAGE, vol. 1: 181-3.
2012b	Institutions: Capitulations. In Andrea Stanton, et al., eds, Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. California: SAGE, vol. 1: 177-9.
2012a	Ottoman Decline and Fragmentation. In Andrea Stanton, et al., eds, Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. California: SAGE, vol. 1: 172-4.
2010	* Construction of National Identities in Early Republics: A Comparison of the American and Turkish Cases. The Journal of the Historical Society 10 (4): 507-31 (with Timothy Roberts).
2009	Review Article: Jewish Emigration to Turkey in the 1930s. International Journal of Turkish Studies 15: 115-9.
2008b	Home Away from Home: Early Turkish Migration to the United States Reflected in the Lives of Bayram Mehmet and HazimVasfi. In Kemal Karpat and Deniz Balgam??, eds, Turkish Migration to the United States: From Ottoman Times to the Present. Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 87-101.
2008a	An Ottoman traveler’s view of Islam in the United States [Bir Seyahatnamenin I????nda Amerika ve ?ttihad-? ?slam: Mirza Abdurrahim Efendi’nin Amerika’da ?slamiyeti]. Klavuz 48: 97-103.
2007d	Thinking Religion Globally, Acting Missionary Locally: Last Century’s American Missionary Experience in the Near East. World History Bulletin 23: 33-6.
2007c	Prayer, faith, and holy professions. In ?lber Ortayl? and Bayram Bilge Tokel, eds, Islamic Culture and Civilization in Anatolia [Anadolu’da ?slam Kültür ve Medeniyeti]. Ankara: Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs, 28-32.
2007b	Educational institutions in republican Turkey. In ?lber Ortayl? and Bayram Bilge Tokel, eds, Islamic Culture and Civilization in Anatolia. Ankara: Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs, 165-76.
2007a	Daily life in Anatolia. In ?lber Ortayl? and Bayram Bilge Tokel, eds, Islamic Culture and Civilization in Anatolia. Ankara: Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs, 75-81.
2006b	* I am not Collecting Money like Apples from Trees: Case Studies of Two Turks Who Shared a Common American Past. International Journal of Turkish Studies 12: 83-96.
2006a	Review Article: American-Turkish Relations in Retrospect. International Journal of Turkish Studies 12: 195-8.

Book Reviews

2021c	Violence and Militants: From Ottoman Rebellions to Jihadist Organizations, by Baris Cayli. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. Maydan Reviews (invited).
2021b	Brokers of Faith, Brokers of Empire: Armenians and the Politics of Reform in the Ottoman Empire, by Richard Antaramian. California: Stanford University Press. Journal of Church and State (invited).
2021a	Protestants, Gender, and the Arab Renaissance in Late Ottoman Syria, by Deanna Womack. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Maydan Reviews (invited).
2020	Between the Ottomans and the Entente: The First World War in the Syrian and Lebanese Diaspora, 1908-1925, by Stacy Fahrentold. New York: Oxford University Press. Tropics of Meta: Historiography for the Masses
2019c	American Missionaries in the Ottoman Empire: A Conceptual Metaphor Analysis of Missionary Narrative, 1820-1898, by Hami Gumus. Bielefeld: Transcript. Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 88 (2): 552-3.
2019b	The Idea of the Muslim World: A Global Intellectual History, by Cemil Aydin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Maydan Reviews
2019a	America and the Making of Modern Turkey: Science, Culture, and Political Alliances, by Ali Erken. London: I.B.Tauris. Nazariyat Journal of History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences 5 (1): 231-5.
2013b	Localizing Islam in Europe: Turkish Islamic Communities in Germany and the Netherlands, by Ahmet Yükleyen. New York: Syracuse University Press. American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 30 (2): 112-5.
2013a	From the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean: The Global Trade Networks of Armenian Merchants from New Julfa, by Sebouh Aslanian. California: University of California Pres. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 56: 309-11.
2009	In Alternatives International Journal; short reviews of the titles as follows: Democracy by the People: The Elusive Kerala Experience, by M.P. Parameswaran Double Standard: The Secret History of Canadian Migration, by Reg Whitaker Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror, by Mahmood Mamdani How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed, by Slavenka Drakulic Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, by Jonah Goldberg Muslim Minorities in the West: Visible and Invisible, by Yvonne Haddad and Jane Smith, eds. The Audacity of Hope, by Barrack Obama The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals, by Jane Mayer The Theft of History, by Jack Goody
2007b	The Dynamics of Global Dominance: European Overseas Empires, by David Abernethy. New Haven: Yale University Press. World History Connected 43 (3): 17 pars.
2007a	The Arab-Israeli Conflict, by Kirsten Schulze. London: Longman. World History Connected 43 (3): 17 pars.

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Memberships

Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, Member; 2020 - present

National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages, Member; 2018 - present

Modern Greek Studies Association, Member; 2015 - present

American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages, Member; 2012 - present

Turkish Cultural Foundation, Fellow; 2010 - present

International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, Member; 2008 - present

Middle East Studies Association, Member; 2007 - present

American Studies Association of Turkey, Member; 2006 - present

World History Association, Member; 2004 - present

Professional Presentations

Delivering Justice in a Multi-Religious City: An Argument from Islamicate; Invited talk; Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies; 2020

Debating European Identities: Muslim Athletes in Focus; Invited talk; Institute for Learning in Retirement; 2019

Channeling a Forked-Tongue: A Time-honored Muslim Response to European Modernity; Invited talk; Penn State University-Abington; 2019

Missionaries and Traitors: Turkish-US Hostage Diplomacy; Invited talk; Royal Military College of Canada; 2018

Elephant in the Classroom: New Perspectives on Teaching Islam and Europe; Invited talk; New Look at the Old World Daytona; 2015

Wigs and Figs: Significance of the Bostonians in the Mediterranean World; Invited talk; Turkish Consulate General Boston; 2017

Other Professional Activities

PROFESSIONAL Editor/Reviewer • Dogu Asya Arastirmalari (East Asian studies) • Islamic Studies • Journal of Historical Sociology • Journal of International Relations and Development Expertise • Research Advisor, historical documentary titled Long Journey. Narrating of the arduous journey of early Turkish and Muslim migrants in America, this bilingual docu-drama was released with subtitles and became a finalist in the 12th International Documentary Awards organized by the Turkish Radio Television Network. • External Evaluator for international grant applications, Social Sciences and Humanities Division, Israel Science Foundation (2019-20 cycle) • External Evaluator, Critical Language Scholarship Program, organized by U.S. Department of State (since 2018) INSTITUTIONAL Advising • Advisory Board Member, Center for Global Islamic Studies (2015-21). • University Advisor, campus-wide advisor for freshmen (2018-21). • Faculty Club Advisor, International Studies Club (2013-17). Organization • Planner of the Research Cluster “Islam and Ottoman-Turkish Studies,” Center for Global Islamic Studies. • Coordinator of the Internship Program between the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the TOBB University of Economics and Technology (2013-16) • Presenter and Organizer of the book launch and panel, “Faithful Encounters,” Gainesville (November 2018). Rice University’s senior historian Ussama Makdisi joined in panel with Florida scholars Benjamin Soares, Matthew Jacobs, and Michelle Campos. • Presenter and Organizer of the panel, “Turkish-American Encounters: Exchanges in Culture and Politics,” Gainesville (April 2016). Additional meetings were held with visiting speaker Ross Wilson, Director of the Eurasia Center and the former U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan and Turkey • Co-organizer of the roundtable discussion, “Muslims, Jews, and the Media in France,” Gainesville (January 2015). • Organizer of the Workshop, “Turkey: Then and Now,” a six-day workshop at the Institute of Learning in Retirement, Gainesville (October 2014) Administrative • Committee Memberships, o By-laws Committee o Course Development Grants o Curriculum Committee o Faculty and Graduate Student and Faculty Travel Grants o Faculty Search Committee (International Studies lecturer with focus on the Middle East, 2019-20) o Faculty Search Committee (International Studies lecturer with focus on Asia, 2017-18) o Foreign Language and Area-Studies Fellowships o Merit Guidelines Committee (as chair) o Professional Development Leave o Project Go Turkey Fellowships (as chair) o Workshops and Speaking Series • President of the History Students Association, McGill University (2007-08) PUBLIC Organization • Organizer of the Mediterranean Movie Nights, sponsored by European Studies and Greek Studies (2012-17) • Introduction and Public Screening of the documentary, “Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul,” the Hippodrome Theatre, Gainesville (November 2015) • Exhibition titled, “Tiny Wonders: Ottoman Miniatures and Illumination.” Harn Museum of Art (April 2014) • Founder of “University of Florida Turkish Central,” a social media platform currently with 458 members (November 2015) • Founder and Contributor of “Turkish Tuesdays,” a discussion blog on Islam, Turkish politics, and everyday life • Public Interviews and Editorials, o “Lucha de intereses [a clash of interests],” La Razón, 20 October 2016. o “An Inside Look at Ottomans, Islam, Syria, and Turkey.” The Independent Florida, 24 September 2015. o Multiple columns on democracy, history, homeland politics, gender, and migration. In national community newspaper Canada Turk (2010-13).

Videos

Duration: 01:09:43

Book talk podcast

The past decade has seen a tremendous production of scholarship on American missionary endeavors in the Middle East. In Faithful Encounters: Authorities and American Missionaries in the Ottoman Empire (McGill-Queens University Press, 2018), Emrah ?ahin approaches this dynamic field of inquiry from a less-common perspective, that of the Ottoman Empire. Relying on largely untapped official imperial sources emanating from the Sublime Porte, ?ahin recounts complaints from local authorities and fraught diplomatic considerations, which Ottoman sultans, ministers, and bureaucrats were forced to grapple with as they sought to maintain control of their Empire. Weaving together compelling stories from Ottoman records, the book describes the Sublime Porte’s efforts to regulate physical space, censor missionary publications, and monitor missionary activities. With engaging anecdotes, Faithful Encounters offers a more complex look at Muslim-Christian relations and America’s engagement with the Ottomans.