In this episode, Dr. Rachel Gillett and Malina Yallanki speak with Dr. Ozan Ozavci to go behind the scenes of his new book ‘Dangerous Gifts: Imperialism, Security, and Civil Wars in the Levant, 1798-1864.’ Providing a new history of the Eastern Question, the book analyses the genealogy of western armed interventionism in the Ottoman Levant in the long nineteenth century.

We discuss the motivations of the book and Ozan’s experience accessing Ottoman archives. Plus, we delve into the chapters of the book to explore the agency of Levantine actors and the colonial legacies of intervention by western actors.

Check out Ozan’s book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/dangerous-gifts-9780198852964?cc=gb&lang=en&

Dr. Ozan Ozavci is an Assistant Professor of History at Utrecht University and works on Euro-Middle Eastern relations from the late eighteenth century until the 1950s. Dr Ozavci is also co-leading the Lausanne Project and the Security History Network. He is a UGlobe fellow at the Utrecht Centre for Global Challenges and a core member of the Contesting Governance Platform.

ABOUT

Brought to you by the UGlobe Decolonisation Group

Hosted by Rachel Gillett and Malina Yallanki

Music by CarlosCarty (CC-BY-3.0)

Special thanks to our guests Dr. Ozan Ozavci