![Imagination & Diaspora: Best of 2019 artwork](https://is2-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts113/v4/df/3f/d4/df3fd493-11c6-7ef1-3aea-717e0061cce0/mza_2178552544018708976.jpg/100x100bb.jpg)
Medical Metaphors in Ottoman Political Thought
Imagination & Diaspora: Best of 2019
English - September 05, 2019 13:59 - ★★★★ - 2 ratingsPolitics News Music history ottoman empire turkey islam middle east Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: 1001 Nights at the Cinema
Next Episode: Islamic Law and Arab Diaspora in Southeast Asia
Episode 425
hosted by Susanna Ferguson and Sam Dolbee
Download the podcast
Feed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloud
In this episode, Alp Eren Topal traces the history of medical metaphors for describing and diagnosing state and society in Ottoman political thought. From the balancing of humors prescribed by Galenic medicine to the lifespan of the state described by Ibn Khaldun and the germ theory of nineteenth-century biomedicine, we explore some of the ways people thought about the state and its health or illness in the early-modern and modern Mediterranean world. How did these metaphors and images change over time, and how did they inform the policies of the Empire and its rulers?
« Click for More »