Continuity and Transformation in Islamic Law

Law is a powerful lens for the study of the Ottoman Empire and the Islamic world. Bringing together diverse sources and new perspectives for legal history, this series explores law in and around the Ottoman Empire as a complex and capacious system underpinning the exercise of power inherent in all human relationships. Our presenters study the law to gain entry into the Ottoman household, exploring the relationships between husbands and wives, masters and slaves. Others use the legal system to understand the logic of the modernizing state, and the competing logics of its citizens, in shaping new forms of governance. Many of these podcasts explore the limits of Ottoman law, both externally at the borders of empire, and internally, at the margins of governable society. The underlying theme of this series is negotiation and compromise: between lawmakers and law-users, between theory and practice, between social body and individual experience. Individually and especially taken together, these podcasts take us far beyond the normative strictures of Shari’a to understand the role of law in diverse societies in the Ottoman Empire and beyond.