Imperial Classroom: Islam, the State, and Education in the Late Ottoman Empire

In the Ottoman Empire, as in many countries around the world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, education was critical to the state's efforts to redefine its relationship with its subjects. This book presents a many-sided view of education under the Ottoman Empire in this period. Drawing on a wide array of primary material, ranging from archival reports to textbooks and classroom maps, Benjamin C. Fortna provides a detailed scholarly analysis of the Ottoman educational endeavour, revealing its fascinating mix of Western and indigenous influences. Focusing on such key areas as curricular change, daily life, geography, and Islamic morality, Fortna presents new evidence about schooling in the late Ottoman Empire and offers a new interpretation of its place in the history of the modern Middle East.