Ecologies of Witnessing: Language, Place, and Holocaust Testimony by Hannah Pollin-Galay (review)

Abstract

to reflect on Goshgarian’s piece once more and deliberate on whether the tendency to rely on ethnocultural categories as the dominant markers (and dividers) of Ottoman identities obstructs a more robust representation of historical actors and agency. With this in mind, the volume’s contribution comes to surpass the sum of its parts in pushing its readers to consider the benefits of shifting to alternative registers of belonging and a more intersectional approach to bring to light additional aspects of identity and belonging in the late Ottoman world. The reader looks forward to exploring how the series will engage with such questions in subsequent volumes, which will no doubt add complexity to our understanding of the weave of that Ottoman fabric. Besides the field of Ottoman studies, the series’ initiative makes a contribution to life writing as a broader field of inquiry. Perhaps most significantly, it addresses an underemphasis on life narratives that do not originate in Western Europe and North America. Folding the Ottomans into the field will additionally aid comparative and transregional scholarship. Accordingly, Istanbul – Kushta – Constantinople is a worthy addition to the literature of its immediate field of study, and beyond.