Burak Fici MA

PhD candidate

Area(s) of interest: Early Modern History, Environmental History, Urban History

Cohort/Start PhD: 2024-2025

Rebuilding Narratives: A Comparative Analysis of Civic Voices and Urban Discourse Following Earthquakes in Montesa (1748) and Istanbul (1766)

Erasmus University Rotterdam
Supervisors: Paul van de Laar & Maarten van Dijck
Duration: January 1, 2025 – January 1, 2029

This study examines the evolution of early modern public discourse through a comparative analysis of two significant 18th-century earthquakes: the 1748 Montesa earthquake in Valencia, Spain, and the 1766 Istanbul earthquake in the Ottoman Empire. Disasters provide a valuable lens for investigating public discourse, as they not only disrupted urban life but also prompted collective responses from authorities, civilians, religious institutions, and intellectuals. Beyond their immediate impact, these events sparked broader debates on their causes, consequences, and management, revealing regional variations in public reasoning and engagement. This research challenges Jürgen Habermas’s concept of the public sphere, which is rooted in 18th-century Northern European contexts, by examining its applicability in diverse historical and geographical settings. Through a comparative approach, the study explores how civic participation and opinion formation was shaped in different centralized monarchical and religious structures, such as the Spanish and Ottoman Empires. By offering a more nuanced, context-specific understanding of public debate, this research contributes to broader discussions on urban modernization and democratization during the 18^th century.