The Hayvanât Talks Opened the Fall Term with Suraiya Faroqhi

The Fall term of the Hayvanât Talks began with a presentation by distinguished Ottoman historian Suraiya Faroqhi, titled “Searching for Animals in Ottoman Sources.” In her talk, Faroqhi addressed the challenges facing researchers interested in working on animals within the context of Ottoman history. She noted the near absence of references to everyday issues directly concerning animals in the vast body of Ottoman archival documents, and emphasized the importance of “thinking about what is not said” when sources remain silent. While historians cannot fully know the feelings or thoughts of animals, she argued, they can attempt to reconstruct them through careful interpretation. She also identified the indirect nature of the sources left behind by animals as a key limitation for historians working in this field.