As opposed to studies which analyze the diffusion and circulation of practices, instruments, norms, and forms of knowledge as a stage subsequent to their localized production, the TRANSFAIRE project aims to study symbolic and technical instruments that are produced and reproduced by circulation. Instead of employing the notion of “transfer,” which assumes that there are elements which are allegedly “specific” to each of the regions concerned, our approach focuses on modalities of “trans-action”, and pays close attention to processes of translation and co-production of normative vehicles and of the fabric out of which politics is made. The project focuses on a broadly defined (post-)Ottoman Mediterranean as its main field of inquiry. Our goal is dual in nature: on the one hand, we propose a new approach to connections, concomitances, and interdependencies in which (post-)Ottoman spaces are to be considered an integral part, contrary to studies which limit themselves to considering exchange in terms of one-way diffusion and importation. On the other hand, we aim to draw up a revised chronology of the modalities of governance and extroversion of the Empire and the Republic, detached from the great rifts which have marked narratives of political history. The TRANSFAIRE project builds upon the results of the ANR-funded research group TRANSTUR in 2008-2012. It brings together 25 scholars from the fields of history, political science, sociology, anthropology, and geography, 9 of them being Istanbul-based. Its priorities are organized along three main axes: 1) The forms of materiality of political objectivization; 2) The analysis of devolutions and normative (re)investment; 3) The challenges and actors of translation. Each of these axes is treated by a small team, whose activities are coordinated by one member, able to work autonomously or as a part of horizontal projects. The general organization is structured around two geographical poles, one in Paris, the other in Istanbul. At each one of the two sites a permanent correspondent, recruited as a postdoctoral research assistant, sees to the organization of the team’s activities and assists the main coordinator, while ensuring the pooling and sharing of activities amongst the team members. Bimonthly seminars ensure coherence and exchange within each “pole.” Yearly work meetings, held in executive session, will allow individual difficulties to be addressed, completed work to be presented, and publishing projects to be discussed by the entire team. Scientific dissemination and visibility will be carried out by multiple methods: academic workshops; an international conference presenting the results of completed research; collaboration with members of the TEPSIS LabEx (EHESS / HESAM), of which the Centre for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asian Studies (CETOBAC), the main partner of the current project, is an integral part; public outreach activities; and the creation of an internet site. The TRANSFAIRE project will equally contribute to higher education and training: the seminars will contribute to expanding the offer of academic courses in Paris and Istanbul; graduate workshops will be organized, and presentations for undergraduate students are also planned. In sum, the financial support of the ANR will reinforce an active research network already well in place, and will help promote the formulation of generalizable theoretical ideas. This will be made possible by the broad multidisciplinary background of the team members, as well as their profound knowledge of the historical and geographical themes under discussion. The knowledge produced by this project will equally be of interest to an ever-growing number of scholars, decision-makers, and members of the general public, given the significant transformations of the regional equilibrium in which are engaged the current states of the post-Ottoman space.

The necropoleis and the great tumuli of Pergamon and the Eolian cities of Kyme and Elaia represent a priceless archaeological heritage for understanding the political, social and cultural dynamics in a key region of Hellenistic Asia Minor. They offer a wide range of sociological and historical contexts: on the one hand they provide information on every stratum of the society, from the Attalid princes and the prosperous citizens to the more modest section of the population; on the other hand, the studied area offers a large variety of political, social and cultural situations: the residential city of Pergamon, Kyme (the heart of Eolid, which long remained under the Seleucid control), and Elaia (both an Eolian city and the naval base of Pergamon). This situation gives an ideal background to approach a series of questions that are under discussion in the scholarly milieu: 1. The structure of the society through the funerary practices and behaviors; 2. The transformation of the forms of the urban ideological representations under the influence of the Hellenistic kingship; 3. The cultural impact of the interactions between the capital of the Attalid kingdom and the autonomous poleis; 4. The transformation of local identities and the circulation of ideological models from the Hellenistic Kingdoms in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Following the most recent research, our aim is to approach the funerary behaviors as a subtle and complex expression of the social, cultural and religious habitus that need to be tackled through new historical problematics and considered through their great diversity, both locally and regionally. In order to renew such approaches one first has to reconsider the archaeological documentation produced since the 1880s and create a collaborative French-German program with the teams already working in this area: the German archaeological mission of Pergamon and the French archaeological mission in Eolid. The project aims at developing a common strategy in order to enhance the exploitation of scientific data by combining the most innovative aspects of French and German research in funerary archaeology. Our goal is to constitute an interdisciplinary French-German team that will be capable of intervening throughout this three-years project based on different sites of the region and that will also be able to develop collaboration with the other Turkish and foreign archaeological missions. The case studies are the urban necropoleis of Elaia and Kyme, as well as the large tumuli of Pergamon and Kyme. A series of common methods will be applied by the main French-German-Turkish team, including but not limited to: - Remote sensing, geophysical and geoseismic survey; - Excavation of strategic areas, chosen after the result of the surveys, in the necropoleis and among the large mounds; - Double program of funerary anthropological studies (archaeo-thanatology and biological anthropology) and archaeometry analyses (physico-chemical and paleo-genetical) on unearthed remains; - Concerted archaeological, epigraphic, iconographic and architectural studies; - Global and joint archaeological and historical processing and interpretation of the achieved results. Fieldwork and laboratory analyzes will be accompanied by an interdisciplinary practical and theoretical training program for French, German, Turkish and foreign PhD students. The collaborative work will result in annual interdisciplinary meetings. The dissemination of the results will be carried out through joint publications of the preliminary reports and monographies, an international colloquium at the end of the program and a specific website dedicated to the ANR/DFG project. The conservation and the long-term presentation of the data will be operated by the iDAI-field system.