The complex transition from 19th century varieties of Ottoman identity or Muslim patriotism to Turkish nationalism in the throes of the protracted crisis of 1908-22. The search for a viable past : contemporary traumas vs mytho-historical ways of compensation. Alternative "golden ages'', projected affinities, and corresponding value systems. Early textbooks; popular history; the invention of Central Asian origins; questions of race; Yusuf Akçura's and Fuat Köprülü's weaving of an evolutionary grand narrative; grafting a national discourse onto an Ottoman-centred imperial discourse; early Kemalism's redefinition of Turkish nationalism; the objectives and constraints of the Turkish Thesis of History. May be taken by graduate students as a research seminar subject to the special requirement of producing a major, 30-page research paper based on primary materials.
