Robert Dankoff is

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

of Ottoman & Turkish Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. Robert Dankoff was born on 24 September 1943 in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. In 1964, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and in 1971 got a Ph.D. from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

. He taught Arabic at

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

as an assistant professor in 1969-1975. He taught Turkish in the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

(1976-77), and the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

(1977-1979). He joined the department of Near Eastern languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago in 1979 as an assistant professor, where he became an associate professor in 1982, and a professor in 1987. He taught Turkish, Old Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azeri, and Uzbek there until retiring in 2006. His research interests lie in

Ottoman Literature Turkish literature () comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Turkish language. The Ottoman Turkish, Ottoman form of Turkish, which forms the basis of much of the written corpus, was highly influenced by Persian literature, Persi ...

and

Turkology Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and the Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative c ...

. He has published extensively on Turkish texts from Central Asia and the Ottoman Empire, including text editions and translations of portions of the Seyahatname of Evliya Çelebi.

Honors

Order of Merit of the Republic of Turkey Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

, 20 October 2008 * Honorary doctorate from Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, 2021

Publications

* ''An Ottoman Traveller: Selections from the book of Travels by Evliya Çelebi.'' Eland Publishing, 2011. ISBN 1906011583 * ''Ottoman Explorations of the Nile: Evliya Çelebi's Map of the Nile and The Nile Journeys in the Book of Travels (Seyahatname)''. Gingko Library, 2018. ISBN 1909942162 * From Mahmud Kasgari to Evliya Celebi Studies in Middle Turkic and Ottoman Literatures. Gorgias Press, Piscataway, NJ, 2009. ISBN 9781463216931 * ''An Ottoman Mentality: The World of Evliya Çelebi'' (Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage, v. 31) (No. 31) (Brill Academic Publishing, 2004) ISBN 978-9004137158 * ''Armenian Loanwords in Turkish'' (Harrassowitz, 1995) * ''The Intimate Life of an Ottoman Statesman, Melek Ahmed Pasha, (1588-1662: As Portrayed in Evliya Çelebi's Book of Travels''. SUNY Press, 1991. ISBN 978-0791406410 * ''Wisdom of Royal Glory (Kutadgu Bilig): A Turko-Islamic Mirror for Princes by Yusuf Khass Hajib'' (Publications of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, 1983)Reviews of ''Wisdom of Royal Glory'': * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dankoff, Robert American Turkologists 1943 births Living people Columbia University alumni Harvard University alumni Brandeis University faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty University of Arizona faculty University of Chicago faculty Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Turkey