Welcome to Michael Talbot
Michael Talbot has joined the School of History on a temporary lectureship at the start of the academic year 2013-14. Michael’s research is broadly related to the Ottoman Empire from the early modern period and, more recently, into the later modern period.
This is how Michael himself describes his current work:
‘My primary project is working on Ottoman-British relations in the long eighteenth century, focussing on the intimate links between commercial relations and diplomatic practice, particularly in British-Ottoman gift exchange and the resolution of commercial disputes. Linked to this, I am also working on a study of Ottoman legal responses to European privateering in the Eastern Mediterranean. I have three new projects that focus on the late Ottoman Empire, which are currently at various stages of development. The first examines the cities of Haifa and Acre in Ottoman Palestine from the late eighteenth to early twentieth century, exploring expressions of political discourse and social tensions in urban space, particularly in the context of European settlement. In the second project, I’m using Hebrew-language newspapers in Ottoman Palestine to examine what I have called ‘Hebrew loyalism’, that is, the support of the indigenous and Zionist Jewish elite for the Ottoman state and its political discourse. I’ve uncovered some very interesting tropes, such as the equation of Muskeljudentum with Ottomanism. Finally, I am beginning to examine a series of Ottoman medical journals, that reveal fascinating insights into medical education, ethics, practice, research, and culture in the late Ottoman state.’
With his broad interests and links between the Ottoman world and Europe, Michael will be joining in a number of activities, in particular the reading & workshop group on space and mapping Transnational (Hi)Stories.
You may find further information on Michael on the School of History webpage.