Mobile Lives, Reconfiguration of Space, and the Twilight of Empire in 19th/20th-Century Southeastern Europe
Mobile Lives, Reconfiguration of Space, and the Twilight of Empire in 19th/20th-Century Southeastern Europe

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses the connection between mobility, ideas, and the reconfiguration of loyalties in the last phase of the Ottoman Empire. It does so by focusing on the life stories of three important actors that represent three different patterns of subjective and political change: Şemseddin Sami (Sami Frashëri), Ljuben Karavelov, Eqrem Bey Vlora. These personalities developed new languages of belonging and new visions of the political collective. While their visions differed, their lives displayed important similarities, such as a very high degree of mobility and the upbringing in a multi-lingual setting. Mobility, which was conditioned by the functional logic of the empire, shaped their ideas. I argue that a biographic approach can highlight the ways, how the Empire impacted on life courses and identifications. A biographic approach can also elucidate the realities of the extensive and multi-dimensional imperial as well as extra-imperial connections that made up a state formation like the Ottoman Empire. Such a refreshed biographic approach restores agency in the bigger picture of political change, while at the same time not losing sight of the importance of imperial and international structures that shape life courses.

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