Methodology, education, and internationalization in Ottoman-Turkish music studies: A discourse analysis of Walter Feldman's speech at the 3rd International Rast Music Congress

Abstract

Walter Zev Feldman, one of the most influential international scholars in the field of Ottoman-Turkish music studies, has significantly shaped the methodological orientation of the discipline through his interdisciplinary work integrating historical musicology, ethnomusicology, and Ottoman cultural history. His scholarship on the historical development of Ottoman music, notation systems, Sufi music, intercultural interactions, and research methodologies has become a major reference point in contemporary Ottoman-Turkish music research. The aim of this study is to examine Feldman’s speech delivered at the 3rd International Rast Music Congress through discourse analysis in order to reveal his fundamental perspectives on Ottoman-Turkish music studies. The study is based on the video recording of the conference session, which was transcribed, translated, and analyzed using thematic discourse analysis. The findings indicate that Feldman’s discourse is organized around seven major themes: methodological inadequacies; interdisciplinarity and historical ethnomusicology; the necessity of genre- and usûl-centered analysis; language proficiency and academic competence; internationalization and academic mobility; the multicultural origins of Ottoman music; and future-oriented transformation and reform. The results demonstrate that Feldman associates the advancement of Ottoman-Turkish music studies with methodological diversity, interdisciplinary collaboration, multilingual academic competence, and international scholarly engagement. The study concludes that Feldman’s perspectives provide not only a critical evaluation of the current state of the field but also a comprehensive academic roadmap for the future development of Ottoman-Turkish music studies.