Even when we look at just three key items, we can see the Ottoman Empire’s place within the global economy at the beginning of the 18th century: first, theriac, a valuable medicinal compound, initially moved from the Ottoman Empire to Italy, but later this direction was reversed. +

Call for Papers: "Technologies of Making and Knowing" Hosted jointly at Getty, LACMA, and UCLA Los Angeles, California, March 4 - 6, 2027 www.historiansofislamicart.org/events-and-s...

Just signed my academic contributor contract for the Cambridge History of Medicine, and I’m truly excited! Looking forward to bridging the Ottoman world with conversations on indigeneity and exoticism in the long 18th century in relation to science and medicine.

Excited to share my fall course: Food, Health, and Society in the Middle East! 🍎🍉🧄🥫☕️🍽️

I don’t think AI will create equal opportunities in higher education.It’ll cause bigger inequalities.In the age of AI, universities may increasingly become spaces where interpersonal communication and small-scale learning will be more valued.Yet access to them will be limited to the most privileged.

My review of Robert G. Morrison’s “Merchants of Knowledge: Intellectual Exchange in the Ottoman Empire and Renaissance Europe,” (Stanford, 2025) at Isis www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Our panel, “Translating Technologies and Images: a Context for Textual Knowledge-Making across Early Modern Cultural Spheres,” has been accepted for the upcoming 2026 ESHS/HSS Joint Meeting to be held at the University of Edinburgh. Who else is going to be there?

I am very delighted to share that my article, “From Abstinence to (Un)Civility: Seventeenth-Century European Engagements with the Question of Wine Prohibition in Islam” has been accepted at the Historical Journal. Hope it stimulates further discussions on this perennial topic.

So excited to talk about my forthcoming book today!

One word in Turkish, one sentence in English. Konuşamadığımızdandır = It may be because we have been unable to speak to each other.

Western-style illustration of female reproductive organs in a 17th-century Ottoman manuscript on anatomy.

It is ironic how AI has turned into a fortune-telling tool in an almost occultist way.

Oh, so you mean present-day exhibitions of early modern objects? I'll have a think. This volume co-edited by @mackenziecooley.bsky.social, @annatoledano.com, and @duyguyildirim.bsky.social (someone needs to encourage them to hang out here!) may have leads: www.routledge.com/Natural-Thin...

An interesting imagery of “a Turk” in Emily Dickinson’s poem, “she died at play”

First day at I Tatti, the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. An extraordinary place to work as an academic, or simply to be mesmerized by the atmosphere to get inspired (peak Renaissance energy)

As the new year begins, a new adventure starts for me. Beginning next week, I will be a Berenson Fellow at Harvard’s I Tatti through June. I’m honored and excited for this opportunity, and I’m looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. A presto, Firenze!

Historians here: Anyone up for joining a panel on early modern translation practices in science and medicine with me and the wonderful Sare Arıcanlı? It’ll be for the 2026 ESHS–HSS Joint Meeting in Edinburgh. Let me know!

It seems that throughout history, highly educated people from modest origins have almost always faced the same challenge: finding financial stability—be it in ancient China, the Ottoman Empire of the sixteenth century, or our own time.

I’d heard so much praise for this book and finally found time to read it. It’s a fascinating read that pushes us to reconsider the Eurocentric nature of Marxist accounts of production that often erase the history of medieval slavery.

We don’t often think about how, after the Morisco expulsion, no free Muslim communities remained in Western Europe. For many premodern Europeans, the only Muslims they saw in their lives were enslaved ones in brutal conditions; an imprint on Europe’s memory that can’t be denied…

On day one of teaching Ottoman history, a student asked me who my favorite sultan is. I just realized I’d never actually thought about it before. 😃

I just heard from our editor that the Bloomsbury - A Cultural History of Technology is set for publication next year! I contributed with a chapter on seventeenth-century food technologies and can’t wait to see this comprehensive volume in print soon!

Are there any historians here working on the history of wine? I'm currently writing an article on the topic and would be glad to exchange ideas or drafts if anyone is interested. 🍇

Just submitted my book for peer review. It has grown into something quite different from my dissertation with new research, thinking, and lots of writing, supported by a postdoctoral fellowship and an ACLS fellowship. Grateful to those who believed in this project from the start.

Proofreading is basically gaslighting yourself over typos.

Historians of science and art historians: has anyone written about why some flower illustrations were left uncolored in Fuchs’ De historia stirpium? I have some hypotheses, but I'd love to know if there's already an argument or discussion on this.

In my book chapter, I wrote about the randomness of early modern knowledge exchanges. One comment captured it perfectly: “like the kind of exchange you have while picking up a bagel at your local shop, knowledge is made not just in conferences, but in everyday encounters” 🥯

Maybe some historians (and philosophers) contribute: I’m discussing with a colleague (based on my book chapter) when knowledge began to be presumed as progressing linearly. One answer is the late 19th century, another says post-1750s. But what about the 17th century?

“Life is short And the art long; The occasion is instant, Experiment perilous, Decision difficult.”

The new academic year starts in less than a month and I’ve yet to experience this so-called “summer break.”

In the early modern Ottoman Empire, the most valued tulips featured long, pointed petals and slender forms in contrast to the rounded varieties preferred in Europe. 🌷

The book’s intro is ready to go… The final title might still change slightly, but for now it’s: “Uncertain Knowledge: The Science of Making Relevance between the Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe”

My review of Zozan Pehlivan’s book, "The Political Ecology of Violence: Peasants and Pastoralists in the Last Ottoman Century," has just been published in the Journal of Social History: academic.oup.com/jsh/advance-...

In 1610, the Ottoman sultan prohibited the purchase of musk and ambergris by others until he had secured a supply for the palace. This decree shows how luxury goods were tightly controlled to prioritize the court’s access to rare substances.

Academic books now come with inaccessible price tags for many students and declining production quality. This is a brand new book from a highly respected press, and this is the material quality we are getting…

I've turned into the kind of plant person who checks on the cafes’ plants and lets the baristas know when one looks like it's dying.

The 2025 HSS Annual Meeting Program is now available! We will be there with our session, “Beyond Botany: Plant Knowledges in Asian Studies” organized by wonderful Marjan Wardaki ✨

Planning to add this new book to my fall course, "Ottomans and the World, 1300–1800."

Lemon cake in the making 🍋

🤦‍♀️

Revision doesn’t end when it’s perfect. It ends when you’re bored to keep revising…

A timeline cleanse: Here's a short, image-filled essay of mine in @aeon.co about why black holes and sea monsters have something in common. 1/2 🧪 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #arthistory aeon.co/essays/how-b...

Sunday hike by the river.

Now, emotionally attached to the ten pages I just deleted for the sake of revising…

After submitting my full book manuscript, I think I will be ready to fall into the existential void.

It’s already June, which means it’s time to face everything I’ve been putting off.

Just added this beautiful book to my growing collection of historical works on flowers and gardens 🪷

This is my PhD thesis I did not ask for this I did not consent to this I did not approve of this I was not compensated for this I would not have advised this I do not like this And worst of all, the number of people who've read my thesis has still not increased.

When you’ve made it enough to have your own section in a secondhand bookstore, but not enough for them to spell your name right: “Orphan Pamuk”