October 30: Dr. Nora Lafi (ZMO), Introduction: New Stakes in the Urban History of the Ottoman Empire

I - The roots of urban governance in the Ottoman Empire

November 13: Prof. Peter Schreiner (Universität zu Köln and Centro tedesco di Studi Veneziani): “Urban Governance in Byzantine Cities and Questions on the Passage to Ottoman rule”

November 27: Prof. Ahmed Akgündüz (Islamic University of Rotterdam), “The Islamic Hisba and the roots of Urban Government Principles in the Ottoman Empire”

II –Aspects of the Ottoman Urban Old Regime: Government, Economy, Society

December 11: Dr. Magdi Guirguis (Cairo University, Georg Graf Fellow of the Katholischer Akademischer Ausländerdienst), “Coptic Community and Urban Society in Ottoman Cairo”

January 8: Dr. Hannes Grandits (University of Graz): “Power and Loyality in Herzegovinian Cities before 1876”

January 22: Dr. Dana Sajdi (Fellow of 'Europe in the Middle East - The Middle East in Europe' 2006/7), "Damascus in the 18th Century: What Kind of Civic Sphere?"

February 5: Prof. Nelly Hanna (American University Cairo), “Guild Waqfs in 18th century Cairo”

III – New Trends in the Social History of Ottoman Towns

February 19: Dr. Florian Riedler (ZMO.), “Seasonal Workers in Istanbul”

March 5: Prof. Donald Quataert (Binghamton University), “Methodological Aspects of the New Social History of Ottoman Towns”

March 19: Dr. Malte Fuhrmann (ZMO.), “Lower Class Austro-Hungarian and German Immi-grants in Ottoman Cities”

IV – New Perspectives on the Ottoman Urban Reforms and the rise of nationalism

April 2: Dr. Zerrin Biner (Fellow of 'Europe in the Middle East - The Middle East in Europe' 2006/7), “Cosmopolitanism and changes in the civic identity in Mardin”

April 16: Canay Sahin-Fuhrmann (ZMO) “Urban notables in Ottoman Anatolia”

April 30: Johann Büssow (FU), “The Ottoman Reforms in Urban Palestine”

May 14: Sawsan Agha Kassab (University of Tripoli):”Questions on the Urban Society: Saida and Beirut at the beginning of the XIX century”

June 4: Prof. Ilber Ortayli (Topkapı Palace, Istanbul), “The Ottoman Urban Reforms and the role of the State”

June 18: Dr. Zafer Yenal (Fellow of 'Europe in the Middle East - The Middle East in Europe' 2006/7), “Urban sociability in Istanbul in the time of the reforms”

July 2: Conclusion: Prof. Ulrike Freitag (ZMO) and Dr. Nora Lafi (ZMO)