On the Hajj Trail | Tyler Kynn

Ottoman History Podcast

E539 | Beyond attending classes, reading books, or listening to podcasts, how do people learn about the history of the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East and the Islamic world? In this episode, we discuss a gaming project, The Hajj Trail, as one alternative. Like the 1970s educational computer game The Oregon Trail, The Hajj Trail is an interactive simulation of historical Hajj pilgrimages to Mecca. It aims to provide students with an opportunity to interact with 17th century Ottoman social and cultural history through a hypothetical journey on the road to Mecca. Also like its US-based predecessor, the simulation asks participants to make choices along the way, one beset with financial, ecological, and political obstacles. The visuals, music, and situations have been drawn from primary sources gathered by our guest Tyler Kynn, and his collaborators. As the co-founder and current project lead, Kynn sat down with us to talk about creating the The Hajj Trail and how he has used it in the classroom. We discuss the impetus for the project, the mechanics of assembling it, and the learning opportunities that can arise when historians take seriously the potential of pairing education and play. More at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2023/03/kynn.html Tyler Kynn is Assistant Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University. His research explores the hajj in the early modern world, examining both narrative and archival material related to questions of Ottoman sovereignty, power, and identity in the Hijaz. Matthew Ghazarian is an Eveillard Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Science and Policy at Smith College, where his research and teaching focus on environmental history, political economy, and communal conflict in the Middle East. Ghazarian’s current project examines the links between material conditions - like debt, drought, and hunger - and widening communal divides in the late Ottoman Empire.