Tolga U. Esmer

Tolga U. Esmer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Historical Studies at Central European University (CEU), where he has been teaching since 2009. He is affiliated with the Doctoral School of History and the Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies. Prior to joining CEU, he taught Islamic and Ottoman history at Northwestern University and Pennsylvania State University in the United States.

• MA, University of Washington, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (2000)
• Ph.D., University of Chicago, Department of History (2009)

His research and teaching focus on Ottoman, Middle Eastern, Balkan, and Mediterranean history, with thematic interests in comparative empire, the history of everyday life, gender and masculinity, crime, corruption, governance, violence, state-building, social rebellion, Muslim-Christian relations, and the history of emotions. He approaches these themes through an anthropological and interdisciplinary lens, emphasizing socio-cultural dynamics in imperial contexts.

The 15 most recent articles in his body of work reflect a consistent engagement with the intersections of violence, sovereignty, and social order in the late Ottoman Empire. His publications span journals such as Past & Present and Comparative Studies in Society and History, covering subfields like banditry, emotional communities, borderlands, property practices, and trans-imperial knowledge networks. A central theme across these works is the re-examination of informal power structures and their role in shaping state-society relations during periods of transformation.

He is currently completing a major monograph titled Economies of Violence: Tales of Banditry, Corruption, and Sovereignty in the Late Ottoman Empire (1790s–1820s), which re-conceptualizes banditry as a politicized phenomenon reflecting broader societal tensions and negotiations of power.

• Flora Ghazaryan – Confessional Relations in 19th-century Ottoman Constantinople
• Ahmet Bilaloglu – Trans-Imperial Knowledge Networks (co-supervised)
• Eda Guclu – Social Practices of Property in Istanbul
• Scott Michael Rank – Christian-Muslim Polemics in the Ottoman Print Sphere

Dr. Esmer has participated in academic events such as 'Emotions and Religious Sentiments across Central and Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean' (2018) and 'Dangerous Gifts & Pernicious Transactions' (2017), reflecting his interdisciplinary reach. While no scientific awards are listed in the provided text, his publication record and supervisory roles indicate an active and influential scholarly profile.