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Improvising political identity in Ottoman Greece

Item

Title

Improvising political identity in Ottoman Greece

Date

6 November 2021

Abstract

This paper revisits the precipitous rise and equally dramatic fall of Ali Pasha of Epirus, one of the most important yet still under-examined protagonists of the Greek War of Independence. With a special focus on spatial and material evidence, it examines how the vizier spent his entire career as provincial governor reinventing the mechanisms of identity formation in the Ottoman Empire. From architectural inscriptions equating the governor with local kings of classical antiquity, to sponsoring Christian monastic complexes, Ali Pasha – purportedly a Muslim and loyal subject to the sultan –was constantly testing the boundaries of decorum for a person of his political status. As a precondition for the events of 1821, the governor’s improvisational approach to his rule suggests that the outcome of the revolution was by no means inevitable or predestined. Rather, Ali Pasha’s tendency to flip the script invites us to imagine all of the possible alternate histories for Ottoman Greece at this time.

(Edited abstract from conference website)

Type specialization

Format

Text

Language

Bibliographic Citation

https://dimensionsof1821.com/abstracts/#e-neume

Number Of Pages - Duration

00:20:00

Rights

All Rights Reserved

Position: 9062 (18 views)