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SUMMARY:From Ransom to Circumcision: the Changing Politics of Military Cap
 tivity in the Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Empire - Will Smiley (Queens')
DTSTART:20101012T163000Z
DTEND:20101012T180000Z
UID:TALK27093@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ilya Berkovich
DESCRIPTION:Ransom captivity has a long history in warfare\, especially al
 ong the Ottoman Empire’s frontier with its Christian rivals. Officially\
 , the payment of ransoms was abolished by the 1739 Treaty of Belgrade with
  Russia\, but it was one thing for diplomats to make such a declaration\, 
 and quite another to implement it. My paper examines the political mechani
 sms which replaced ransom\, and the social effects of these mechanisms. In
  particular\, I emphasize the connection between the end of ransom and the
  construction of religious conversion as a political identity.\nBy making 
 release from captivity a matter of diplomacy and politics\, rather than ec
 onomics\, the treaty of Belgrade forced the Ottoman state to reach into so
 ciety to liberate slaves from their wealthy and politically-connected owne
 rs. This investment of state resources gave the Ottomans a strong incentiv
 e to ensure that only those prisoners who were eligible under the treaty w
 ere released. Because the treaty only applied to Russian subjects\, and on
 ly to those who had not converted to Islam\, the Ottoman and Russian state
 s had to work out between them definitions of who was a Russian subject\, 
 and—most critically—who was a convert. The latter definition changed o
 ver time\, but did not line up with traditional Islamic legal interpretati
 ons. Through the rest of the century\, these definitions restructured the 
 opportunities available to slaves in the Ottoman Empire\, creating an envi
 ronment in which political and religious identity was a very important\, b
 ut manipulable\, resource.
LOCATION:Seminar Room N7\, Pembroke College
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