Dr. Richard Wittmann

Richard Wittmann is Deputy Director at the Orient-Institut Istanbul. He joined the institute as a senior researcher in 2008. Since 2011, he has had responsibilities in the administration of the Institut. After studying law, Islamic and Turkish Studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the Freie Universität Berlin, Dr. Wittmann obtained his doctorate in 2008 in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University with a dissertation entitled “Before Qadi and Grand Vizier: Intra-Communal Dispute Resolution among Christians and Jews in the Plural Society of 17th Century Istanbul.” His research interests primarily concern the legal and social history of the Ottoman Empire from its origins to the founding of the Republic of Turkey. He has a special emphasis on the development of Islamic law in the Ottoman Empire, questions of identity and conviviality, and the inclusion of life narratives, especially in the 19th and early 20th century.