Genealogies of the Nation-State and the (In)Human: A Monstrous History of the Late Ottoman Empire

Emre Keser
History of Consciousness
UC Santa Cruz

This dissertation critiques two prevalent ideas: first, that secular nation-states are the most tolerant and inclusive forms of government, and second, that the violence in the Middle East arises from individuals’ religious and fundamentalist views. It argues that nation-states are inherently violent and exclusionary and that violence in the region is not due to “religious fundamentalism” but rather to secular nation-states built on dehumanization. To illustrate this, focusing on the late Ottoman period, the dissertation examines how the understanding of monstrosity shifted alongside the formation of the nation-state. During this time, monsters were seen as divine signs in an “enchanted” universe but later came to be viewed as problems, representing those who did not fit the new definition of “the human.”

The dissertation asks: How did the transformation of a social and cosmological order in which monsters had a significant place and different confessional communities could co-exist into a secular nation-state give way to a tumultuous period of unprecedented forms of violence? Based on archival research, the dissertation analyzes contending literary and cultural expressions of the time to chart a history of the late Ottoman Empire—a monstrous history that illuminates the violent foundations of the Turkish nation-state.