Betül Başaran

Professor of Religious Studies Betül Başaran has won a three-month Fulbright Global Scholar Research award to conduct critically important archival research in England and India for her book project on the legacy and impact of Princesses Niloufer (1916-1989) and Durrushehvar (1914-2006).  

Başaran’s host institutions will be the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, The Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, and the Centre for Deccan Studies in Hyderabad. As a Fulbright Global Scholar, she will give lectures about her research at each of these institutions, and organize seminars with students who have an interest in Islamic Studies and Gender Studies.  

Başaran’s project underscores the agency of Muslim women as important role models and pioneers in world history, in contrast to the contemporary western narrative most prevalent today that reduces them to mere victims or religious extremists. 

The story of late Ottoman princesses and their cross-cultural journeys present a unique perspective to investigate the intertwined themes of international politics, religion, royalty, and Muslim women’s agency during a turbulent period of major social and political transformations in the 20th century. The princesses belonged to the Ottoman dynasty and were condemned to life-long exile after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following World War I. Their life is a fascinating story of exile from Turkey to the French Riviera, followed by royal glamor in India as daughters-in-law of Hyderabad’s last independent ruler, where they evolved from foreign brides into cultural ambassadors dedicated to women’s empowerment. 

Başaran’s project aims to enhance our understanding of the role of Ottoman princesses as transnational and cross-cultural agents for change during the 20th century. 

Associate Professor of Religious Studies Betül Başaran received a prestigious institutional grant for St. Mary’s College of Maryland from the National Endowment for the Humanities to direct a four-week seminar for college and university professors in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2016.

Her seminar is titled “Transcending Boundaries: The Ottoman Empire, Europe and the Mediterranean World, 1500-1800.”  Sixteen scholars from around the country will join Başaran for an exploration of the history of religious, political and economic exchanges in the larger Mediterranean world in ways that transcend false distinctions between the so-called Christian and Islamic worlds and their societies in the early modern era.

NEH grants are highly competitive and involve a rigorous peer-review and selection process to ensure that the projects represent the highest level of humanities research and public engagement. The primary goal of the summer seminars is to advance humanities teaching.

More information about the seminar can be found at http://grants.smcm.edu/neh-summer-seminar-2016/.

Betül Başaran received a fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. for the academic year 2018-19, in support of her sabbatical project, “Cross-Cultural Intimacy and Marriage between Europeans and Ottoman Women in the Early Modern Era.” The fellowship provides support for up to a three-month residence at the Folger.

Fellowships are awarded by a committee of interdisciplinary, highly-respected scholars external to the Folger, who make recommendations on the basis of each project’s scope, promise, and high quality. Başaran’s project was judged to have exceptional merit. Basaran gave a lecture in March at the Library of Congress on a related topic of the nature of Ottoman sharia law and women’s roles and rights.