Introduction

Welcome to JOTSA’s Spring 2020 issue. This issue was prepared for publication under most unusual circumstances: the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown— an event of great historical significance, and one that will be discussed and studied by many generations to come. As fellow scholars working on Ottoman and Turkish Studies, we continue our dedication to keeping our field alive and presenting the latest scholarship to our readers even in these challenging times. At the same time, more importantly, we send our best wishes to all those affected, and we hope that you and yours are safe and healthy.

This volume features a themed issue entitled “Chasing the Ottoman Early Modern” (guest editors: Virginia H. Aksan, Boğaç A. Ergene, and Antonis Hadjikyriacou), which includes nineteen essays, two epilogues, and a short introduction. The themed issue developed out of a Middle East Studies Association roundtable in 2017. Each of these 1,200-word essays examines early modernity and the Ottoman Empire from a unique perspective, demonstrating the diversity of disciplinary approaches within the field of Ottoman studies. We are delighted to include this roundtable discussion in this issue of JOTSA and would encourage other scholars to continue this conversation on Ottoman early modernity in future issues. In this issue, readers will also find six additional articles dealing with a broad range of topics, themes, and time periods, showcasing the breadth of the scholarship produced in Ottoman and Turkish Studies. These range from social change in the fourteenth century and grain procurement and land tenure issues in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Balkans to Ottoman-German art exhibitions and Ottoman and Modern Turkish literature. Readers will also find three book reviews in this issue.

As always, JOTSA would like to express its appreciation to Indiana University Press and its staff for publishing and distributing the journal. JOTSA continues to be available online and in print. Plus all issues of the Turkish Studies Association Journal (TSAJ), the Turkish Studies Association Bulletin (TSAB), and the Turkish Studies Association Newsletter are available on JSTOR and Project MUSE. Additionally, we thank all the anonymous reviewers who have so willingly given of their time to peer-review this issue’s articles. We understand that this is a sacrifice of precious time and sincerely appreciate their efforts in making this a high quality journal. We would like to thank our consulting editor Kent Schull (Binghamton University, SUNY) for his dedicated support and our Graduate Assistant Editor, Asiye Demir (University of South Carolina), the members of our Editorial Board, and our dedicated team of Book Review Editors: Metin Atmaca (Ankara Sosyal Bilimler University), Murat Yaşar (SUNY-Oswego), Ahmet Tunç Şen (Columbia University), Senem Aslan (Bates College), Ayşecan Terzioğlu (Sabancı University), and Nilay Özok Gündoğan (Florida State University).

JOTSA’s editors and editorial board wish to thank the Institute of Turkish Studies (ITS) for its continued support of the journal in providing publication subvention funds and the University of South Carolina’s College of Arts and Sciences for its generous support of our journal with a graduate assistantship and funding commitment.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind our readers that the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association (OTSA) and JOTSA mainly depend on membership dues—please remember to pay your dues and encourage your colleagues and students to do the same. You can join OTSA or renew your membership using OTSA’s new website: https://www.ottomanturkishstudiesassociation.org/product/membership.

JOTSA continues to welcome proposals for themed issues, article submissions, review essays, conference reports, and opinion pieces. We are eager to receive works by junior and senior scholars alike, as well as collaborative efforts, or even submissions in non-traditional formats (such as interviews, biographical essays, etc.). For submission information please visit https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/jotsa/about/submissions. Please remember to follow us on social media to receive updates about our latest issues (we are on Facebook and Twitter, @JotsaJournal) and share with colleagues and students.