GLITS 314 B: Literature Across Genres/Modes

GLITS 314 B, MELC 371 / 571 A, TXTDS 401 / 501 A

Imperial Text in Islamic Texture

Verbal and Visual Arts in the Ottoman Empire

Mondays and Wednesdays 1:30-3:20; SMI 311; Spring 2026

Dr. Selim S. Kuru; selims@uw.edu; Office Denny 220C; Office Hours: 3:30-4:30 and by appointment

Course Concept

Welcome to Imperial Text in Islamic Texture (ITIT—Double IT?), a course that explores how texts, images, and artistic forms in the Ottoman Empire were shaped by, and helped shape, the layered cultural, political, and religious texture of an Islamic imperial world. This course centers on the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman) and the verbal and visual arts they supported. We will examine how the Ottoman imperial elite used literature, poetry, visual arts, and architecture to produce and maintain a sense of distinction and exclusivity within an Islamic cultural framework.

Emerging in the fourteenth century, the Ottoman polity developed a formidable military and administrative structure calibrated by a particular vision of Islam, and sustained for nearly six centuries through expansion, governance, and adaptation, until the formal end of the Empire in 1922. In its aftermath, much of the territory once under Ottoman rule was reorganized into the modern nation-states (over thirty) of the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans. While the Palace bureaucracy (kalemiyye i.e. men of the pen), military (seyfiyye i.e. men of the sword), and religious scholars (ilmiyye i.e. men of knowledge) formed the institutional pillars of the Empire, sustained engagement with verbal and visual arts was not merely instrumental to imperial legitimacy but constitutive of elite life itself, shaping how power was expressed, experienced, and understood.

Our primary materials, translated Ottoman Turkish texts, images, and manuscripts, will serve as the core model of the course. Through them, we will learn how to read a cultural world as a system in which verbal and visual forms interact to produce meaning across media. At the same time, we will reflect on how modern technologies, digitization, reproduction, and new methods of analysis, allow us to examine these materials in ways not available to their original producers and audiences.

The course will also make selective connections to modern contexts, asking how artistic forms continue to serve power, identity, and representation today. 

Key Themes:

1. The Imperial Gaze: How literature and arts worked together to construct and reinforce elite identity, where artistic expression aligns with, and diverges from, political aims.
2. Islam and Imperial Legitimacy: How religious language and imagery were selectively deployed to establish hierarchy and distinction, and why Islam was central to the identity of the House of Osman in in ways that distinguish it from both Muslim and non-Muslim rulers..
3. From Formation to Transformation: How Ottoman imperial aesthetics developed over time, adapted to new contexts and at times unraveled.
4. Between Media: Verbal and Visual: How ideas move across forms (text, image performance), how meaning changes in the process, and how these dynamics compare to modern forms of media and creativity.

Course Structure

Part I, Foundations: Introduction to the Ottoman Empire and the House of Osman (historical and cultural framework).

Part II, Textures: Close study of verbal and visual works, treating Ottoman cultural production as an interconnected system of meaning.

Part III, Practice: Student-driven projects that engage creatively and analytically with course materials.

How This Course Is Organized: This course is structured thematically rather than chronologically. Instead of moving step-by-step through Ottoman history, we will focus on key topics, such as imperial identity, religion, and the relationship between text and image, and examine materials from different periods in relation to these themes. Historical chronology will still be an important reference point, but it will be introduced within each unit as needed.

Learning Goals:

• Gain a general understanding of the Ottoman Empire and its ruling dynasty.
• Develop a deeper appreciation of how political ideas and messages are expressed in Ottoman artworks and literature.
• Understand how historians have interpreted the Ottoman Empire.
• Recognize the complexity, and distance of past societies, and approach historical people and events with sensitivity to context and difference
• Practice analyzing Ottoman primary sources (texts, images, manuscripts, architectural edifices) through writing, and in-class discussions.
• Learn to “read” across media by understanding how meaning is produced in both verbal and visual forms.
• Explore how ideas translate between text and image, using Ottoman materials as central model, while reflecting on how modern technologies allow us to study these works in new ways.
• Strengthen writing and creative skills through in-class exercises, group work, two analytical papers and a final project.
• Apply historical knowledge and thinking to contemporary cultural and political issues.

The Classroom Experience

This course combines lecture and discussion. Each session will include time for in-class writing, group work (alternating across sessions), and discussion of assigned material. Weekly materials will be available under the Modulestab on Canvas. Course materials will typically include: one gazel (a short Ottoman poem), a keyword from New Keywords, up to two articles for close reading (and occasionally one additional article to skim), as well as podcasts and visual sources. All materials will be accessible through Canvas.

Short reading cues accompanying each assignment will help guide your preparation and will often point toward questions used in in-class writing exercises.

Gazel Reading: Each week begins with a gazel, a short five-couplet poem and one of the most important literary forms in the Ottoman Empire. In the first session, we will read the poem together and I will introduce its imagery and language. In the second session, we will discuss how the poem works, its structure, themes, and interpretive possibilities.

Keyword reflection (5 minutes, first session of the week): After gazel discussion, at the first session of each week, you will briefly reflect on a keyword: How does this week's keyword change how we read the text or image?

Mini lecture: Each session will include a short lecture introducing key concepts, historical context, and interpretive approaches relevant to the day’s materials.

Student-led questions: Prepare three questions for part of your participation grade. These will count as part of your participation grade. Three questions for class discussion will be as follows:

• Curiosity question – what intrigued you?
• Puzzling question – what confused you?
• Discussion starter – interpretive claim.

These contributions will count toward your participation grade.

How to read texts: Because this course focuses on both visual and verbal representation, you should approach all materials, texts, images, and objects, with the following questions in mind,

• • What is being shown?

  • What is being said?

  • What is being hidden (i.e. left out)?

Assignments and Grading

Grading in this course will be based on four components: class participation (30%), two analytical response papers (20% each), and a final project (30%).  Please note that students must complete and pass all assignments in order to pass the course.  For example, even if you receive a passing grade on the response papers, you will not receive a passing grade for the course if your participation grade is not passing. The expectations for each component are outlined below:

Participation (30%)

Participation points are earned by (1) coming to class having studied the assigned materials, (2) contributing to class discussion, (3) submitting four in-class writing exercises, and (4) completing four discussion board posts on Canvas.  All students are expected to contribute thoughtfully to class discussions whenever possible. 

Oral participation will be evaluated as follows:

• 100-Range: The student consistently comes to class prepared, with questions or ideas about the readings. They actively contribute to discussion, engage with their peers’ comments, and help move the conversation forward through thoughtful and original insights.
• 75-Range: The student is generally prepared but does not always come with questions in mind. They listen attentively and occasionally contribute, but often rely on others to initiate discussion.
• 50-Range: The student participates infrequently and offers limited engagement with the readings or class discussion..
• 25-Range and below: The student rarely participates and has difficulty contributing even when prompted.

Two Analytic Response Papers (25% each)

For this assignment, you will write two response papers (4–5 pages each). The first paper will be based on a lecture you will attend on April 23 (details will be provided). The second paper will be based on a selection of two to three articles and one or two related topics (such as a primary source, an object, or both) and it may be a step toward the final project.

A response paper is not a summary but an analytical engagement with the material: you are expected to develop a clear argument that responds to the ideas, methods, or interpretations presented in the lecture and readings. In doing so, you should draw on the course’s central approach, reading across verbal and visual forms, by connecting concepts (including weekly keywords) to specific texts, images, or objects discussed in class.

Instructions for writing a response paper, as well as the specific expectations for each assignment, will be discussed in class and posted on Canvas under Assignments. Grades for your response papers will be posted on Canvas. In the week your paper is due, you will also complete a brief in-class exercise based on your work-in-progress.

You will submit your analytic response papers on Canvas in Assignments by 11:59 PM on the due date. The due dates are May 3 and May 16.

Final Project (20%)

For the final project, you will choose an Ottoman person, object, or literary text and develop a sustained analysis based on course materials and independent library research. Your project should include a careful descriptive component, either verbal, visual, or both, and build an argument that situates your topic within the broader cultural and historical framework explored in the course.

The format of the project is flexible: it may be analytical (a research paper) or may incorporate a creative component, as long as it maintains a strong critical and descriptive foundation. In all cases, your project should reflect the course’s central approach of engaging both verbal and visual materials.

Projects are negotiable and developed in consultation with the instructor. You are expected to begin thinking about your topic early and to contact me by Week 5 to discuss your project idea. I am happy to help you refine a topic or develop one if you are unsure where to begin.

You may also choose to develop your second analytical response paper into your final project. This is encouraged, and I will work with you to expand and refine it into a more substantial piece.

The project guidelines and grading criteria will be introduced and reviewed again in class on Week 6 as a workshop, and will also be posted on Canvas under Assignments.

I strongly encourage all students to make use of Purdue OWL for guidance on analysis, writing, research, and citation, as well as for exercises to strengthen your writing skills, regardless of your level of confidence. We will also work on these skills in class throughout the quarter.

Attendance and Absences

Regular attendance is essential in a discussion-based course. You are allowed two absences during the quarter, no questions asked.

Additional absences will affect your participation grade. If you must miss more than two classes due to illness or a serious circumstance, please contact me; in such cases, documentation may be required.

Routine issues (e.g., oversleeping, travel, competing coursework) are not considered valid reasons for additional absences.

Late Work

All assignments are due by the stated date and time, and it is expected that work will be submitted on time. If illness or a genuine emergency prevents you from meeting a deadline, you must contact me by email as soon as possible—not on the day the assignment is due—to request an extension. Your email should briefly explain the reason and propose a new submission date (normally within three days of the original deadline).

If you request an extension for an Analytic Response Paper, you may not attend the class session in which that material is discussed.

Late work without prior approval will be penalized by 0.1 points a day (e.g., 3.5 → 3.4).

Grading

https://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Grading_Sys.html

A         3.9- 4.0            95-100                         C         1.9-2.1             74-76

A-        3.5-3.8             90-94                           C-        1.5-1.8             70-73

B+       3.2-3.4             87-89                           D+       1.2-1.4             67-69

B         2.9-3.1             84-86                           D         0.9-1.1             64-66

B-        2.5-2.8             80-83                           D-        0.7-0.8             60-63

C+       2.2-2.4             77-79                           E          0.0                   0-59

Instructor Communication

To schedule a meeting during office hours or to ask a brief question, please contact me by email. Before emailing, please check the syllabus and assignment instructions, as your question may already be answered there.

I respond to email during regular business hours (Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM), typically within 24 hours on weekdays and by the next business day for messages sent over the weekend.

I will occasionally use Canvas Announcements for course-wide updates, so please check Canvas regularly

Main References:

• Mehrdad Kia, The Ottoman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia
• Gabor Agoston and Bruce Masters, The Encyclopedia of Ottoman Empire.
• Keywords for Twenty First Century Parallel to the text used for class. Discover for more updated alternative descriptions.
• Zdzisław Żygulski, Ottoman art in the service of the empire.