Introduction: The Presence of the Past in the Era of the Nation-State

Abstract

Abstract:With contributions from several of the Balkan countries that once were united under the aegis of the Ottoman Empire, this special issue proposes new theoretical approaches to the experience and transmission of the past through time. All of the articles in this issue explore themes to do with the transmission of collective memories of post-Ottoman state formation and the malaise associated with a contemporary epoch that, echoing late modernity, we might term 'late nationalism'. This introductory article examines the several manifestations of this general phenomenon under the rubric of post-Ottoman topologies, suggesting that where history creates a fixed, empiricist record of the past, topologies denote the flux of collective memory in its multiple and mutable incarnations across time.

May I be a sacrifice for my grandchildren—transgenerational transmission and women’s narratives of the Yezidi ferman

“…Referring to Argenti’s critique on the “unilinear model of historical time” ( 2017 : 13) as a Western construct, the narratives hardly follow unilinear time concepts in this Yezidi case study. The memories of the people relate to “multiple registers of time: linear and cyclical, modernist and anachronistic, empiricist and subjective/affective, collective and individual, deep and diurnal” ( 2017 , 13). The following presentation of empirical material reveals various time concepts.…”

“…In remembering the past, the Yezidis of Armenia refer to various temporalities. Against this backdrop, the theoretical considerations of Nicolas Argenti ( 2017 ) in “Presence of the Past in the Era of the Nation-State” offer a valuable approach to elaborate on the questions of chronicity and transmissions of collective memories. His intention to show the “multi-temporalities of the post-Ottoman world” based on several case studies of memory work of ethnic groups once dwelling in the Ottoman Empire is a valuable line of thinking.…”

“…Dwelling in the Ottoman Empire, Yezidis were seen as “the paradigmatic heretic other” and at its best marginalized, leading various persecutions and waves of displacement. In comparison to the ahl al-kitab , the people of the book, thus the acknowledged religious communities organized in the millet system, their post-Ottoman perspective hardly stresses the loss of a multiethnic realm but rather the counter-history of separation and pogroms (see Argenti 2017 : 7). At this point, the (symbolic) concept of the 72 fermans becomes crucial in today’s historical consciousness.…”

Towards an anthropology of global inequalities and their local manifestations: social anthropology in 2017

“…Many of these crises are, of course, not new. For example, historical and comparative ethnographic perspectives serve as an important reminder that neo‐nationalisms in Europe or North America have long‐standing roots in the history of nation‐state building and the ‘late nationalisms’ that those states have produced (Argenti ). And in the global south, processes of structural adjustment and ‘austerity’ politics have been ongoing for decades, creating heightened inequalities between rich and poor (Bhan and Trisal ; Lanzas and Whittle ; Prentice ).…”

“…in Europe or North America have long-standing roots in the history of nation-state building and the 'late nationalisms' that those states have produced (Argenti 2017). And in the global south, processes of structural adjustment and 'austerity' politics have been ongoing for decades, creating heightened inequalities between rich and poor (Bhan and Trisal 2017;Lanzas and Whittle 2017;Prentice 2017).…”