Samuel Huckleberry

Samuel Huckleberry is a PhD Researcher at the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS), University of Bonn, pursuing a cotutelle PhD in Middle Eastern Studies between the University of St. Andrews and University of Bonn. His research centers on religion, rulership, and military slavery in premodern Islamic empires, challenging confessional narratives through the conceptual framework of the "sacral realm".

His educational trajectory includes:

• Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Studies (cotutelle) at University of St. Andrews and University of Bonn (since 2021)
• M.A. in Comparative History from Central European University (2018–2020)
• Erasmus+ Mobility at Sabancı University, Turkey (2019)
• B.A. in History and Middle Eastern Studies from University of Texas at Austin (2012–2016)
• A.A. in History from San Antonio College (2008–2011)

Huckleberry's research interrogates why Ottoman and Safavid realms institutionalized military slavery (e.g., Janissaries, ghulams) while the Mughals did not, arguing that comparative rulership concepts—not merely military history—explain these divergences. He deconstructs "confessional ambiguity" in early modern Islamic empires by analyzing how military slavery, clientage, and tribal loyalties complicated Sunni/Shiʿi binaries, revealing sovereigns' strategic adoption of multiple "crowns" for diverse constituencies within the sacred political topography he terms the "sacral realm".

His sole published work is a 2020 book review on Ottoman sovereignty, with forthcoming articles examining Shah Abbas I's spiritual authority and Ottoman-Safavid relations. These publications signal a cohesive scholarly trajectory bridging Islamic political theology, empire studies, and slavery historiography, emphasizing interconnected religious and social dynamics over rigid confessional frameworks.

Supervised by Prof. Dr. Andrew Peacock (University of St. Andrews) and Prof. Dr. Stephan Conermann, Huckleberry has not advised students and lacks documented grant funding. His professional engagement includes organizing the 2019–2020 lecture series "Mystical and State Authorities in Early Modernity" and participating in language/connected histories summer schools.

As a core member of BCDSS, he contributes to interdisciplinary research on dependency structures while maintaining affiliations with the Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies (Central European University). His ongoing work promises to reshape understandings of sovereignty through slavery-rulership dialectics in Islamicate empires.