This long-endured tendency is now being challenged by a group of scholars, whose approach to studying these states and their people successfully cross the conventionality of physical and sectarian borders. One of the major factors pushing for this change has been recognizing the limits, as well as the elasticity, of empire/state. While creating a new language for studying the “might of the empires,” scholars have increasingly defined subjecthood as a concept with an imbedded power to cross seemingly sharp-edged boundaries delineated by political, social, and religious sense of belongings. The increasing focus on the notions of inter-imperial and trans-imperial subjecthood has therefore facilitated a revisionist approach culminating in a number of thought-provoking studies that expand our understanding of comparative, cross-cultural, and trans-imperial patterns in which the Ottomans and Persians interacted with each other.

There is, however, still much left to do and this roundtable aims to further the discussion on Ottoman/Persian interactions by building on a series of workshops planned between Stanford, NYU, and the University of Bonn that focus on three major areas: people, commodities, and ideas. In a temporally and spatially expansive context, the participants of this roundtable demonstrate how the Ottoman and Persian states’ and their subjects’ fates were linked and mutually consequential. Relying on the juxtaposition of Ottoman, Persian, and European sources, which are rarely used in tandem, this approach provides us with a holistic understanding of the inner works of these two territories and their ever-evolving connectivity within and beyond their conventional borders. In this integrative and longue durée approach, tracing the movements of people, ideas, and commodities serves as a launching pad to better understand the convoluted histories of Ottoman and Persian states and societies.