The Donme: Jewish Converts, Muslim Revolutionaries, and Secular Turks
A lecture by Marc David Baer, UC Irvine
Monday, April 26, 2010
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
10383 Bunche Hall
UCLA
Whether we call them Ma’aminim (Hebrew, Believers), as they called themselves, or Dönmeler (Turkish, Converts; hereafter Dönme), as others called them, either way, both terms refer to the descendants of Jews who converted to Islam along with their messiah Rabbi Shabbatai Tzevi three centuries ago. Shabbatai Tzevi’s story, and that of the first generation of his followers, has been told, but the ethno-religious identity, history, and experience of the descendants of the original Dönme in the modern period remains unexplored. Although many believe conspiracy theories about the Dönme, very few know the real character and history of the group. The aim of this talk is to answer a number of questions. To what extent is it appropriate to refer to these descendants of Jewish converts simply as Jews? If their beliefs and practices placed them outside the Jewish fold, by what means did they maintain their distinction from Jews and Muslims, and why? What role did the group play in late Ottoman and early Turkish republican history? Whether describing conversion from one religious tradition to another, or from a religious way of being to a secular one, how do we know when conversion has occurred? What are the limits to being a Jew, a Muslim, a Turk, or a Greek?
Marc David Baer is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. His first book, Honored by the Glory of Islam: Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe (2008), won the Albert Hourani Prize from the Middle East Studies Association.
Cost: Free and open to the public
For more information please contact
Johanna Romero, Center for Near Eastern Studies
Tel: 310-825-1455
cnes@international.ucla.edu
http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/
Sponsor(s): Department of History, Maurice Amado Chair in Sephardic Studies
