Sensory Aspects of the Beyond in Ottoman Tombs: Muslim Materialities Lecture Series 2021-22

Sensory Aspects of the Beyond in Ottoman Tombs

Speaker: Dr. Nina Macaraig

Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of sensory anthropology and soundscape studies, this lecture will investigate the interplay between the visual, the aural, and the olfactory in Ottoman tombs, by means of specific examples in Istanbul and other major cities of the empire. It will argue that Ottoman tombs presented a sensory environment that could be manipulated for the purpose of propagating specific political messages and programs, while simultaneously hinting at Paradise—as described in the hadith and the paradise narrative genre—where the deceased were hoped to reside and where the visitors could imagine themselves in the Afterlife.

Bio: Nina Macaraig received her doctorate in Islamic Art History from the University of Minnesota in 2005. From 2005 to 2017, she worked at Koç University, Istanbul, where she became Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and History of Art in 2014. In 2010, she was a Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Kunsthistorische Institut in Florence. In Fall 2015, she was Visiting Associate Professor at Stanford University, and in Spring 2016, a Getty Fellow. In 2017, she moved to California, where she turned her favorite hobby into a new career in the watersports industry, as certified kitesurfing instructor and manager of the surf shop Always Kiting in Long Beach.

Sponsored by the UTM Office of the Vice-Principal Academic and Dean & University of Toronto Mississauga Department of Historical Studies

Registration required
Zoom link: https://utoronto.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tFSU-DtSQeeCn0kSGjyXtg