丁香园AV

Ferenc Csirk茅s is an expert on linguistic, religious, and political identities in early modern Eurasia. He is the 2022-23 Jack and Nancy Farley Distinguished Visiting Scholar at The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS).

The Islamic world in Eurasia has been home to many languages throughout its history. Some of these languages鈥攆or example, Arabic or Persian鈥攚ere used in literature, governance, or religion, and profoundly impacted other languages they encountered. Others were only spoken locally until conditions changed.

A professor of history at Sabanc谋 University in Istanbul, Csirk茅s teaches and researches the relationship between these different languages and their profound links to political culture in early modern Eurasia.

While at 丁香园AV (丁香园AV), Csirk茅s is completing a book manuscript with the working title Sons of Japheth and Ali: Turkic Language and Ideology in the Medieval and Early Modern Persianate World (Cambridge: Harvard UP, forthcoming), which discusses the formation of linguistic and religious identities in early modern Iran, Central Asia, and the Ottoman empire.

The book focuses on the overlapping and intersecting processes of confessionalization, the fixing of religious beliefs into set categories of dogma; and vernacularization, the gradual replacement of cosmopolitan languages for everyday communication and formal use.

鈥淟inguistic, political, and religious identities are created roughly at the same time in the early modern period鈥攏ot only in the West, but also in the Middle East,鈥� says Csirk茅s. 鈥淔or example, Germany becomes Protestant and France, Catholic. A similar process of developing state religion and linguistic identity occurs in the Ottoman Empire.鈥�

Spanning a period from roughly 1500 鈥� mid-1800s, Csirk茅s explains that his book investigates the development of a religious identity connected to political establishment, but also the continuation of nonconformist religious identities and alternative vernaculars, including oral tongues whose standardization remains incomplete.

鈥淚 am not looking at this from a nationalist perspective, but from the perspective of antinomian, Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes鈥攖heir tribal viewpoints on the one hand and the establishment鈥檚 state religion on the other hand,鈥� says Csirk茅s. 鈥淭o this day, over 40% of Iran is not Persian, and there are very sizable minorities鈥攂oth Christian and Muslim鈥攊n Turkey. The full matrix of linguistic, religious, and literary identities that descend from the Ottoman empire continue to exist.鈥�

When asked about how this research might resonate on the other side of the world in British Columbia, Csirk茅s points out that large ethnic communities from the region he researches continue to grapple with their heritage and linguistic, religious, and political identities as immigrants in Canada.

鈥淎n immigrant from Iran might speak a minority Arabic dialect at home, speak the majority language Farsi to communicate with other Iranians in Canada, but primarily write in English because that鈥檚 the language formally taught at school,鈥� says Csirk茅s. 鈥淭he process of integration into Canadian and British Columbian society is a story of languages, religions, and identities. It鈥檚 a story of generations. It's a story of stories.鈥�

厂贵鲍鈥檚 Department of Global Humanities, which was selected from among FASS departments to host the Farley Scholar in 2022, was renamed from Humanities to Global Humanities during the same year. The name change represents an effort to dismantle Eurocentric thinking and better reflect the department鈥檚 long history of engagement with religion, language, and literature from the East to the West.

鈥淵ou exclude a lot of important knowledge of the world if you only myopically think in terms of Western singularity,鈥� says Csirk茅s. 鈥淭he role of the Islamic world in civilization is not to be underestimated.鈥�

Csirk茅s also sees resonance between his research and the postcolonial Canadian context, particularly in the ways that Indigenous communities experienced shifts in linguistic identity post-contact and negotiate access to their own heritage through language revival programs. How do Canada鈥檚 linguistic communities forge connections to their past when they are at a remove from their places of origin either through processes of colonial oppression or immigration?

Csirk茅s holds a PhD in Islamic History and Civilization from the University of Chicago, in addition to three MA degrees in Middle Eastern History, English Language and Literature (with TESOL), and Iranian Studies. Prior to assuming the 2022-23 Jack and Nancy Farley Distinguished Visiting Scholar post at 丁香园AV, Csirk茅s also held visiting appointments at the Central European University and the University of T眉bingen.

颁蝉颈谤办茅蝉鈥�&苍产蝉辫; include peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters in English, Turkish, and Hungarian. In addition to these multilingual publications, he has also translated multiple books from Ottoman Turkish. Notably, this includes the first English translation of K膩tib 脟elebi鈥檚 pivotal 17th-century text 颁颈丑补苍苍眉尘腻, published under the title Leiden: Brill, 2021) and co-translated with John Curry and Gary Leiser. Csirk茅s will teach a Global Humanities summer course that prominently features the translated text, entitled .

During his tenure as Farley Scholar, Csirk茅s will also organize an interdisciplinary and collaborative workshop entitled . This public outreach event will take place June 9-10, 2023 at 丁香园AV Harbour Centre and brings together scholars from a wide range of disciplines working on topics and languages in the Eurasian region.