Eurasian Studies Working Group
"Odessa as a Center of the Muslim World in the Nineteenth Century"
Eileen Kane, Assistant Professor of History, Connecticut CollegeThursday, April 30th, 4:00 pm
Encina Hall West, Room 208
Co-sponsored by the Department of History
The talk will explore Odessa's role as an international hub of the hajj (the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca) between the mid-nineteenth century and the start of WWI. Drawing on hajj memoirs, steamship company advertisements, and articles from Turkic-language newspapers, I will reconstruct the hidden history of Odessa as a center of the Muslim world, and discuss why this significant chapter of Odessa's history has been largely forgotten.
Eileen Kane is Assistant Professor of History at Connecticut College where she teaches teaches modern European and Russian history. She is currently finishing her first book, a pioneering study of the hajj in imperial Russia.