Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
MEMOrients CONFERENCE: New Encounters, Cape-Town, Güney Afrika, 11 - 14 Aralık 2025, ss.1-8, (Özet Bildiri)
In the first book of his travelogue, George Sandys (1578–1644) provides a detailed account of his travels through the Ottoman Empire, with a particular focus on Constantinople and Islamic history. His narrative reflects the prevalent anti-Islamic and Eurocentric attitudes of early modern England, yet it also reveals moments of interpretative engagement. Despite his preconceptions and biases, Sandys employs various strategies to navigate and frame his understanding of Islamic customs and history. Whenever he encounters cultural practices or religious doctrines he struggles to comprehend, he introduces doubt, subtly undermining their legitimacy. He draws upon classical sources to reinforce his judgments and frequently invokes ambiguous authorities through phrases such as ‘they say’ or ‘some say,’ constructing a narrative that oscillates between classical references and hearsay. At times, his own voice emerges through cautious qualifications like ‘perhaps’ and parenthetical insertions in which he directly expresses his interpretations. These rhetorical choices allow us to examine the act of interpretation itself. This study critically analyses the sections of A Relation of a Journey that concern Islam, exploring how Sandys constructs his narrative and the broader implications of his rhetorical style. By interrogating his textual strategies, this paper examines how his work reflects and perpetuates early modern European biases, framing Islam within a discourse of religious othering and political critique.