Coskun Tastan

The Real and the Imaginary Thresholds of Ottoman Subjectivity: Towards a Theory of Thresholds Coskun Tastan

What instruments play what kind of roles in the creation of subjective positions? Examining the formation of Ottoman subjectivity as a case, this study is an attempt to find original answers to this question. The study bases itself on the opportunities offered by a particular psychoanalytic theory, namely, that of a French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan. Two of Lacan?s productively scrutinized concepts, namely the ?real? and the ?imaginary?, are borrowed here to build up ?theory of thresholds?, without any hesitation yet to bend and reshape those concepts whenever necessary. The study attempts to analyze the instruments that play the role of ?thresholds? in the formation of the dualism of ?inside-outside?, under two general headings: The ?real thresholds? and the ?imaginary thresholds?.