OTTOMANICA - 4

In this well-researched monograph, Dr. Özge Kobak offers a multidimensional approach and views nineteenth century Ottoman Balkans through the lens of cartography. By examining both changes and continuities in cartographic traditions, she provides a novel perspective on this period of Ottoman modernization. In the words of its editor, Dr. Harun Yeni, “[D]rawing on a rich archive of written and visual materials, the book demonstrates just how central maps and cartography, as political tools, have been to nationalism, struggles for economic hegemony, and modernization itself, while also chronicling the technical and theoretical evolution of cartography itself. After reading this work, you will undoubtedly begin to hear what the visual language of maps is saying much more clearly.”

Özge Kobak was born in Balıkesir in 1992. She completed her undergraduate studies in the Department of International Relations at Selçuk University in 2014. She received her master’s degree from the Department of International Relations at İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University in 2016. In 2023, she obtained her PhD in Political History with a dissertation titled “The Development of Modern Cartography in the Ottoman Empire with a Focus on the Balkans: 1820–1908.” Having served as a Research Assistant in the Department of International Relations at İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University between 2019 and 2025, Kobak has been continuing her academic work as an Assistant Professor in the same department since 2025. She also serves as an Assistant Editor for the journal "Southeastern Europe" (Brill). The author had undertaken her postdoctoral research at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich) in 2026-2027. Her primary academic interests include the political and social transformation of the Balkans, identity and nation-building processes in the region, political geography, and geopolitics.