Özet:

The interest of Ottoman intellectuals in anthropology, which entered the world scientific scene as an academic discipline in the nineteenth century, came to light in the last quarter of the century. This interest, which initially emerged under the tremendous influence of the theory of evolution, became a scientific endeavor in the post-republican period and functioned as a non-religious approach to history and as a means of breaking the prejudice against the Turks. Anthropology has also taken the lead in the process of catching up with language, history, geography, archeology, geology, biology and ethnology. The fact that anthropology was intertwined with ethnology and ethnography at a time when these sciences were just gaining attention led to different interpretations of the scope and limits of the subjects they focused on. Halil Hâlid Bey (1869-1931) analyzed these three sciences in his article titled "Akvâm-ı İslamiyye Etnografyası Tedkîkâtına Medhal" published in Darülfünun Faculty of Theology Journal in 1926. This article is the introduction to a series of articles in which he analyzed Muslim tribes and is very informative on anthropology and ethnology and is enriched with quotations from the works of important scientists of his time. His administrative duties as a parliamentarian in Ankara, Consul General in Bombay, and Second Consul in London made him an authority on European politics and Islamic societies, while his competency in foreign languages and his nearly 15 years of teaching experience at Cambridge University also helped to qualify him as an academic. Halil Hâlid Bey, who also taught English at the Harbiye School and Islamic philosophy and ethnography of Muslim tribes at Dârülfünûn Faculty of Theology, appears as an intellectual with a broad knowledge of culture and history. In our study, we will examine the article in question and discuss Halil Hâlid Bey's interest and knowledge of anthropology and try to show his place in the history of anthropology.