In this conversation, Heather A. Warfield and Irfan Ertan discuss Kaiser Wilhelm II's 1898 journey to Istanbul, Palestine, and Syria, exploring its political, religious, and cultural implications. They delve into the motivations behind the journey, the responses from other empires, and the lasting impacts on archaeology and military relations. The discussion also touches on the significance of commemorative practices and the intersection of science and religion in Ottoman intellectual history.
Psychology of Pilgrimage host, Dr. Heather A. Warfield, is a researcher, professor, and specialist of pilgrimage studies, with research focused on the psychology of pilgrimages. She is the series editor of Pilgrimage Studies (Peter Lang), co-editor of Pilgrimages to the Western Front of World War I: Historical Exemplars & Contemporary Practices, and editor of Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Pilgrimage: Historical, Current and Future Directions. In addition to academic publications, she has written articles about contemporary battlefield pilgrimages for US military publications and serves as a battlefield pilgrimage expert for military staff rides and other related educational programs.
Irfan Ertan completed his BA in History at Middle East Technical University (METU) in 2016. He received his MA from the same department in 2018 with a thesis titled “The Orient Journey of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1898).” He completed his PhD at the same department in 2025 entitled “The Relationship Between Science and Religion in the Late Ottoman Empire.” Since 2024, he has been working as an Instructor in the Department of History at Bilkent University.
His research interests include late Ottoman and nineteenth-century European intellectual history, Ottoman–German relations (1871–1918), and the relationship between science and religion in Turkish and European intellectual traditions.
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