Interdisciplinary Lunchtime Seminar

Iron Roads, Marble Columns: Ottoman Railways and the Shaping of Touristic Experiences of Space

2019-03-26 12:00:002019-03-26 13:00:00Asia/Hong_KongIron Roads, Marble Columns: Ottoman Railways and the Shaping of Touristic Experiences of Space

Interdisciplinary Lunchtime Seminar
Iron Roads, Marble Columns: Ottoman Railways and the Shaping of Touristic Experiences of Space

Dr. Elvan Cobb
(Postdoctoral Fellow, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong)

Date: March 26, 2019 (Tuesday)
Time: 12:00 – 13:00
Venue: Room 201, 2/F, May Hall, The University of Hong Kong
Enquiry: (852) 3917-5772, ihss@hku.hk

    2019-03-26 12:00:002019-03-26 13:00:00Asia/Hong_KongIron Roads, Marble Columns: Ottoman Railways and the Shaping of Touristic Experiences of Space

    Interdisciplinary Lunchtime Seminar
    Iron Roads, Marble Columns: Ottoman Railways and the Shaping of Touristic Experiences of Space

    Dr. Elvan Cobb
    (Postdoctoral Fellow, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong)

    Date: March 26, 2019 (Tuesday)
    Time: 12:00 – 13:00
    Venue: Room 201, 2/F, May Hall, The University of Hong Kong
    Enquiry: (852) 3917-5772, ihss@hku.hk

      Overview

      Title:

      Iron Roads, Marble Columns: Ottoman Railways and the Shaping of Touristic Experiences of Space

      Speaker:

      Dr. Elvan Cobb (Postdoctoral Fellow, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong)

      Date:

      March 26, 2019

      Time:

      12:00 nn – 1:00 pm

      Venue:

      Room 201, 2/F, May Hall, The University of Hong Kong (Map)

      Language:

      English

      Enquiry:

      (Tel) (852) 3917-5772
      (Email) ihss@hku.hk

      Abstract

      Although often considered mundane, infrastructure plays a crucial role in shaping lived experiences of space. An investigation of the interplay between emergent tourism and the early railroads of the Ottoman Empire provides an opportunity to explore this dialectic between infrastructure and experience. Motivated by modernizing impulses, the Ottoman government engaged with global networks of capital and expertise by inviting British industrialists to construct two rail lines connecting the port city of Izmir with its fertile hinterland in the mid-19th century. At the same time, this landscape was emerging as central to identity formation processes among European and American audiences, who looked to Classical and Biblical sites for the origins of their civilization. New infrastructural mobilities, together with a burgeoning tourism industry epitomized by guidebooks, began to enable ever wider segments of these populations to directly experience the ancient sites of Anatolia. Thus, the train and the guidebook facilitated and choreographed the touristic experience. A close examination of this historical moment adds to our understanding of infrastructure’s role in altering quotidian spatial encounters.

      About the Speaker

      Elvan Cobb is a historian of the built environment, exploring how modernization projects alter spatial practices. Focusing on the Ottoman Empire, the modern Middle East and the Islamic world, her work brings an interdisciplinary approach to the study of space by engaging with histories of technology, archaeology, travel, environment and the senses. Elvan holds a doctoral degree from Cornell University’s History of Architecture and Urbanism program and a master’s degree in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.

      Poster