The Ottoman post-imperial migrations issue

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing body of scholarship that distinguishes post-colonial and post-imperial migrations from other forms of migration. However, because this literature largely excludes non-European cases, it remains predominantly Eurocentric. This review article seeks to demonstrate how these studies can be further enriched by incorporating Ottoman migrations ( muhacir ) as a distinct form of post-imperial migration. To this end, the article evaluates four recently published works on Ottoman migration: İpek’s Migration in the Imperial Territories (Memalik-i Şahanede Muhaceret) , Fratantuono’s Governing Migration in the Late Ottoman Empire , Hamed-Troyansky’s Empire of Refugees , and Oktay Özel’s Katamizes In Pursuit of the Blue (Kiske Kuşunun Peşinde Katamizeler) . Through a comparative analysis of these works, the article explores the potential contributions of Ottoman post-imperial migration studies to the broader literature on post-imperial migration. In particular, it addresses issues such as the role of official historiography in shaping migration histories; debates over whether migrants were framed as returnees or repatriates; the effects of different imperial structures; and the ethnic and religious composition of both host societies and migrant populations.