For a long time, travelogues and other autobiographical materials have almost exclusively enjoyed the interest of students of literature. Over the past two or three decades, however, the accounts of travelers to Asia Minor and Anatolia, in particular, have become a more popular and increasingly important source for historians in their study of the past of this geographical region. This tendency finds its reflection in the increased number of recent publications and conference contributions based on travel literature. This shift first became more widespread through the study of travelogues written in French, English, and other Western European languages. The focus of a one-day workshop in December 2019 and a number of lectures in the spring of 2020 within our thematic series center on the accounts of travelers from countries to the East, North and South-East of the more “classic” countries through which the more publicly known travelers from Western Europe journeyed. The fascinating and rich personal accounts of European and Turkish travelers introduce the audience to accounts in less-widely used or accessible languages. This series of academic events is jointly organized by the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII), the Orient-Institut Istanbul and with the participation of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens.
Conveners: Ingela Nilsson, Evangelia Balta, Olof Heilo, Richard Wittmann Program