Book Talk with Sinem Arcak Casale: Gifts in the Age of Empire: Ottoman-Safavid Cultural Exchange, 1500-1639
When the Safavid dynasty, founded in 1501, built a state that championed Iranian identity and Twelver Shiism, it prompted the more established Ottoman Empire to align itself definitively with Sunni legalism. The political, religious, and military conflicts that arose have since been widely studied, but little attention has been paid to their diplomatic relationship. Sine Arcak Casale here sets out to explore these two major Muslim empires through a surprising lens: gifts.
Sinem Arcak Casale is an Associate Professor of Islamic art and architecture in the Department of Art History at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on court cultures, rituals, and cross cultural exchanges in the early modern period.
Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer holds the position of Assistant Professor of History within the Departments of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. Her scholarly pursuits center around the intricate dynamics of statecraft, sectarian developments, and the formation of subjecthood during the early modern periods within the Ottoman and Safavid Empires.
For zoom: https://nyu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAqcuispjMqEtHBgwyXVToYvbdzZ_Daq05t