CEST Summer School 2026 Call for Applications
The Politics of Archives in Turkey and related Geographies

Naples, 20-28 September 2026
Deadline for applications: 9 April 2026
CEST Summer School 2026 Call for Applications
The Politics of Archives in Turkey and related Geographies

Naples, 20-28 September 2026
Deadline for applications: 9 April 2026

Summer school
“Reading and analysing ottoman manuscript sources”
13-17 September, 2026
Amman (Jordan), Ifpo
We invite students to participate in an international summer school devoted to reading and analysing Ottoman manuscript sources, with a particular focus on archival documents. This is the eighth edition of this format, following similar events in 2016 in Amman (Jordan), 2017 in Beirut (Lebanon), 2018 in Aix-en-Provence (France) and Ankara (Turkey), 2022 in Wittenberg-Berlin (Germany), 2024 in Cairo (Egypt), and 2025 in Rethymno (Greece).
The 2026 summer school is organised by the French Institute of the Near East (Ifpo), in cooperation with The Center for Documents, Manuscripts and Bilad al-Sham Studies at the University of Jordan, the Islamic Studies Department of the University of Halle-Wittenberg, the Center for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asian Studies (CETOBaC), the Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Islamic Worlds (IREMAM, CNRS, amU), the Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients, Abteilung Islamwissenschaft at Universität Heidelberg, the Social Sciences University of Ankara (ASBÜ), the Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB) and the Institute for Mediterranean Studies/FORTH.
The summer school aims to overcome the initial difficulties researchers often face when working with archival documents from the Ottoman period, one of which has to do with technical terminologies no longer in use today. Today, early-career scholars often feel helpless when faced with Ottoman archival material in Ottoman Turkish or other languages used in the Empire, and they need to develop their skills in palaeography and philology. Besides, dialogue and exchange remain limited between the different schools of Ottoman history, particularly between scholars focusing on the analysis of imperial dynamics (who are generally specialists in the Ottoman language) and those who concentrate on the provinces of the Empire and who therefore work on sources produced in local languages.
How?
The five-day programme will introduce young researchers (mostly MA and Ph.D. candidates, though postdocs may also apply) to reading, combining and analysing manuscript sources from various archives of the Ottoman era, produced at the local, provincial and imperial levels. Materials from the 16th through the 20th centuries will receive most of our attention, but explorations into earlier archives are welcome.
Sessions will focus on the study of archives in Ottoman Turkish, Arabic and other languages so as to provide future historians with an idea of the skills necessary to use such sources within the framework of their research projects. The objective is to foster an exchange around theory and methodology among specialists of different regions of the empire. Coping with different languages is key to a comprehensive analysis of local dynamics in various provinces, be it on administrative, economic and social topics or in religious studies and belles-lettres. The five-day programme is however not a language course introducing beginners to Arabic or Ottoman Turkish.
An additional aim of the summer school is to encourage the use of manuscript sources in different languages by facilitating the identification and knowledge of diverse archival holdings. Bringing together specialists of different regions and subjects will encourage the exchange of information on archival repositories, their history, accessibility, and catalogues.
The summer school consists of small-group workshops allowing trainees to read and discuss archival documents with specialists familiar with different types of documents. During workshops, students will be asked to read and analyse a document of their choice.
In addition, there will be presentations on Ottoman archives and research tools in palaeography. There will also be talks about methodology, the practical and ethical issues related to sources and archives, and thematic discussions on Ottoman historiographic issues. Furthermore we might explore some Ottoman remains and heritage in and around Amman .
The working language of the summer school is English.
Who?
The summer school will accept up to 20 students depending on available funding. About 10 researchers and professors from French, German, Greek, Jordanian, and Turkish institutions will participate in the summer school as instructors.
Students enrolled in a Master or Ph.D. programme as well as researchers at an early post-doctoral stage, regardless of nationality, can apply for this summer school, provided that his or her research project requires the use of Ottoman source materials in Ottoman Turkish, Arabic or other relevant languages.
How Much?
No tuition fees will be charged. Selected students will be offered full coverage of the summer school costs, including accommodation, round-trip transportation from their country or place of residence to Amman, excursions and visits.
Applicants are welcome to mention in their file whether their home institution may (partly or fully) provide funding to cover for their travel and stay, as this may help select an additional student to attend the summer school.
Application Guidelines
In order to be considered, applications must include:
The applications must be submitted in English.
Applications should be filled in online via the application form accessible through the following link: https://forms.gle/37HrLVmqyysBrK7G8
For further questions please use the following e-mail address: contact@ottomanuschool.org
Applications must be submitted by March 15th, 2026.
Reply from the organising committee will be forwarded before mid April 2026.
When?
The summer school will take place between September 13 and 17, 2026. Arrival is foreseen in Amman for Saturday, September 12, 2026; departure Friday, September 18, 2026 at the earliest.
Where?
The summer school will take place in Amman at the the French Institute of the Near East (Ifpo) (https://maps.app.goo.gl/byLgv8h8LFTDmoWJ7) and at the University of Jordan (https://maps.app.goo.gl/bFk7ZHPoQbfsytsA8).
List of potential instructors
Metin Atmaca (ASBÜ), Marc Aymes (CNRS and EHESS / CETOBaC), Alya Karame (OIB), Abdul-Hameed al-Kayyali(Ifpo), Astrid Meier (Universität Halle-Wittenberg), Norig Neveu (CNRS / IREMAM), Henning Sievert (Universität Heidelberg), Yannis Spyropoulos (IMS/FORTH).
Organisers
Metin Atmaca (ASBÜ), Marc Aymes (CNRS and EHESS / CETOBaC), Rabei al-Farajat (Jordan University), Alya Karame (OIB), Abdul-Hameed al-Kayyali (Ifpo), Astrid Meier (Universität Halle-Wittenberg), Norig Neveu (CNRS / IREMAM), Henning Sievert (Universität Heidelberg), Yannis Spyropoulos (IMS/FORTH).
De Protésilas à la guerre civile. Les archives de Robert Demangel à l’École française d’Athènes (1919-1950)
29 mai 2025
Hybrid event | En hybride
–> https://www.efa.gr/events/les-archives-de-robert-demangel-a-lefa/
L’École française d’Athènes organise le 29 mai 2025 une journée d’étude consacrée aux archives de Robert Demangel, afin de rendre compte des actions déjà réalisées sur ce fonds, ainsi que des premiers résultats issus de son étude scientifique. En présence des ayants droit de Robert Demangel, cette journée sera l’occasion de redécouvrir une personnalité méconnue de l’histoire de l’institution. Au-delà des seuls aspects biographiques ou de l’histoire des fouilles, elle interrogera les multiples niveaux de lecture que ces archives rendent possibles, tant pour l’histoire de la recherche que pour la compréhension du rôle de l’École dans les contextes diplomatiques et politiques de la Grèce de l’entre-deux guerres.

Dans le cadre du programme NUMERISLAV, nous avons le plaisir de vous annoncer la prochaine conférence du cycle « Passerelles ».
Mardi 14 mai 2024, à 15h à l’Institut d’études slaves, 9 rue Michelet (Paris 6e),

Table ronde avec
Wladimir BERELOWITCH, Patrick MICHEL, Georges MINK et Jacques RUPNIK
La revue L’autre Europe, 1984-1998 : des « zones grises » aux révolutions
La séance sera présentée par Anne Madelain (Inalco).
Nous espérons vous y retrouver nombreux.
Olga Artyushkina, Daria Sinichkina, Nathalie Lereboullet
Rejoindre Zoom Réunion
https://cnrs.zoom.us/j/92700370043?pwd=ZGJ6YzZWZ3RzWm1mait3S2ZDbUhmQT09
ID de réunion: 927 0037 0043
Code secret: p6yzei
Journées « Archives de l’archéologie française à l’étranger : de l’inaccessibilité des documents à la réutilisation des données »
21 – 23 mai 2024 – École française d’Athènes

Événement hybride
· Salle des conférences de l’EFA, Didotou 6
· Visioconférence (lien à venir)
À l’initiative de l’École française d’Athènes, l’Association des Archivistes Français et le consortium MasaPlus organisent ces trois journées, dont l’approche se veut pragmatique, et qui seront centrées sur le recueil des attentes et des besoins de la part des différents acteurs de la recherche archéologique.
Dans ce cadre, nous souhaitons recueillir vos besoins et attentes que vous soyez producteurs, gestionnaires ou utilisateurs d’archives. Pour ce faire, nous vous demandons de répondre à cette enquête : https://archiv-archeo.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/3 avant le 17 mai 2024. Cette dernière vous prendra environ 10 minutes et servira de base aux échanges prévus lors des ateliers.
7 décembre 2023 – 09:30 > 17:00 Où : Auditorium du Pôle des langues et civilisations BULAC

Dates : Lundi 16 octobre 2023 – 14:00 – 19:00
Lieu : Inalco, Maison de la Recherche – Auditorium Dumézil – 2, rue de Lille Paris 7ème
Modalités : en hybride
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Le Centre de Recherches Europes-Eurasie-CREE (Inalco) avec le soutien du Centre d’études turques, ottomanes, balkaniques et centrasiatiques (CETOBaC) a le plaisir de vous convier à la journée d’étude : “The Digitized Archive of the League of Nations and the Interwar Balkans. A New Resource for Transnational Social History”.

Les archives de la Société des Nations (SdN), entièrement numérisées depuis 2022, représentent une ressource incontournable pour une étude transnationale novatrice de l’histoire des Balkans dans l’Entre-deux-guerres. La région a longtemps été étudiée à travers le prisme de l’histoire nationale ou du rapport entre États balkaniques et « Grandes puissances ». Ce colloque insère dans le débat historiographique le rôle joué par un organisme international dans la transformation politique, sociale et culturelle des Balkans.
La langue de travail et des communications du colloque est l’anglais, mais les questions en français durant la discussion seront les bienvenues.
The archives of the League of Nations (SoN), fully digitized since 2022, represent an essential resource for an innovative transnational study of the history of the Balkans between the World Wars. The region has long been studied through the prism of national history, or the relationship between Balkan states and the “Great Powers”. This symposium brings the role played by an international organization in the political, social and cultural transformation of the Balkans into the historiographical debate.
– KOSTIS GKOTSINAS (National Hellenic Research Foundation, IHR, Athens) : Drugs in the League of Nations Archives : The League’s Role in Interwar Drug Policies through the Case of Greece
– ANDREAS GUIDI (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, CREE, Paris) : The Balkans in the Global Geography of the Drug Trade: A Question of Space, Nationality, and Infrastructure
– VITA ZALAR (Postgraduate School ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana) : Racecraft in International Relations: Roma and Sinti in the League of Nations Archives
– FRANCESCA ROLANDI (Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences) : The League of Nations Refugee Section. Avenues of Research on Russian Refugees in Interwar Yugoslavi
– DOINA ANCA CRETU (Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences) : The League of Nations, Labor Migration, and Southeast Europe as a Laboratory of Development ?
– ISIDORA GRUBAČKI (Central European University Budapest, Institute for Contemporary History Ljubljana) : Feminists and the League of Nations: (Im)Possibilities of Finding Sources in the Case of Yugoslavi
– NATHALIE CLAYER (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, CETOBaC, Paris
Andreas Guidi (CREE, Inalco) : andreas.guidi@inalco.fr