About the Islamic Area Studies Project

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Prospectus
Organization

Updated on September 29, 1999


Prospectus: Islamic Area Studies Project

Prof. Dr. SATO Tsugitaka, The University of Tokyo

The term "Islamic World" is often used to refer to the regions of the Middle East; however, we know well that Islam as religion and civilization has spread beyond the Middle East to Central and Southeast Asia in the east, the Balkans and Africa in the west. Furthermore, in contemporary Western countries, and also in China and Japan, Muslims have formed important social groups. That is to say, regions closely related to Islam now encompass the world.

In communities where Muslims reside, we find both symbiotic relationships with other peoples and serious problems, such as ethnic strife, interregional conflict, population explosion, and destruction of the environment. For example, Muslims are today deeply involved in the Bosnian conflict, the civil war in Afganistan, "the new ethnic question" in the European Union, and the struggle for human rights in the United States. Energy sources possessed by Islamic countries in the Middle East have influenced the world economy in the past decades, and will continue to do so in the coming century. Therefore, we may say that social, political and economic trends in the Islamic world will definitely determine the development of world civilization in the twenty-first century, making it necessary for non-Muslim peoples to take positive steps in better understanding Islamic history, ideas, and contemporary situation.

One attempt in coming to a better understanding of Muslims both in the Islamic and non-Islamic worlds, is the five-year project entitled Islamic Area Studies. This project has been planned under the aegis of the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, scheduled to begin in April 1997, and to continue through March 2002. The project has three main objectives: (1) to discover new approaches in Islamic Area studies through the accumulation of primary data related to Islamic civilization and Muslim contemporary issues, (2) to develop a computer system suitable for multilateral Islamic Area Studies, and (3) to support and encourage the formation of a new generation of scholars to be entrusted with the future development of these studies. The project also invites non-Japanese scholars to participate and cooperate in realizing the above objectives. Our goal is to create multidisciplinary area studies on the Islamic world in cooperation with scholars all over the world.

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Organization

The project is headed by Dr. SATO Tsugitaka, professor at the University of Tokyo; and the project headquarters is attached to the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Humanities. The project is divided into six main research units, which in turn are organized into study groups. However, the different research units of the project intend to work as a whole through the joint meetings of several units and groups. The research units and their affiliated institutions are as follows.

Project
Management
Unit
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit3
Unit 4
Unit 5
Unit 6

Project Management Unit

SATO Tsugitaka: Project Leader; The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Arab-Islamic History

KOMATSU Hisao: Leader of Unit 1, Director of General Affairs

KISAICHI Masatoshi: Leader of Unit 2, Public Relations and Publications

KATO Hiroshi: Leader of Unit 3

OKABE Atsuyuki: Leader of Unit 4

HANEDA Masashi: Leader of Unit 5, International Exchange

HAYASHI Kayoko: Acting Leader of Unit 6, Public Relations

SAKAI Keiko: Planning, Unit 1

YANAGIHASHI Hiroyuki: Vice-director of General Affairs, Unit 1

SHIMIZU Manabu: Planning, Unit 2

AKAHORI Masayuki: Publications, Unit 2

USUKI Akira: International Exchange, Unit 3

OTSUKA Kazuo: Planning, Unit 3

MASUYA Tomoko: International Exchange, Unit 5

MIURA Toru: Publications, Unit 5

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Unit 1 Thought and Politics in the Islamic World

Unit Leader: KOMATSU Hisao; The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Modern History of Central Asia

Group 1-A: Contemporary Islamic Thought and Movements

Group Leader: KOMATSU Hisao; The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Modern History of Central Asia

KOSUGI Yasushi: Kyoto University, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Islamic Studies

IIZUKA Masato: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Islamic Studies

Group 1-B: Islam and International Relations

Group Leader: SAKAI Keiko: Institute of Developing Economies/Japan External Trade Organization, Study of Arab Regions

ISHIDA Ken: Chiba University, Faculty of Law, International Politics

UYAMA Tomohiko: Hokkaido University, Center for Slavic Studies, Central Asian Studies

Group 1-C: Islamic Law and Society

Group Leader: YANAGIHASHI Hiroyuki: The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Islamic Law

KOBAYASHI Yasuko: Aichi Gakusen University, Faculty of Business Administration, Modern Indonesian History

NAKAZATO Nariaki: The University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture, Modern South Asian History

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Unit 2 Society and Economy in the Islamic World

Unit Leader: KISAICHI Masatoshi: Sophia University, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Maghreb Area Studies

Group 2-A: Islam and Social Development

Group Leader: KISAICHI Masatoshi: Sophia University, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Maghreb Area Studies

KURITA Yoshiko: Chiba University, Faculty of Letters, Middle Eastern and North African Modern History

KAWASHIMA Midori: Sophia University, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Philippines Studies

Group 2-B: Islam and Economic Development

Group Leader: SHIMIZU Manabu: Utsunomiya University, Faculty of International Studies, Economic Development in West Asia

NAGASAWA Eiji: The University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture, Society and Economy in Modern Egypt

TORII Takashi: Meiji University, Faculty of Commerce, Southeast Asian Economies

Group 2-C: Islam and Popular Movements in the Islamic World

Group Leader: AKAHORI Masayuki: Sophia University, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Cultural Anthropology

TONAGA Yasushi: Kyoto University, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Islamic Thought

HORIKAWA, Toru: Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Southwest Asian History

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Unit 3 Nations, Regions, and Islam

Unit Leader: KATO Hiroshi: Hitotsubashi University, Faculty of Economics, Socio-Economic History of the Middle East

Group 3-A: Nation-States and Muslim Identity

Group Leader: KATO Hiroshi: Hitotsubashi University, Faculty of Economics, Socio-Economic History of the Middle East

ISHII Masako: National Museum of Ethnology, The Japan Center for Area Studies, Philippines Studies

SHINMEN Yasushi: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Central Asian History

Group 3-B: Contemporary Muslims and Cultural Conflict

Group Leader: OTSUKA Kazuo: Tokyo Metropolitan University, Department of Social Anthropology, Ethnography of the Middle East

YAMAGISHI Tomoko: Meiji University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Iranian Area Studies

NAITO Masanori: Hitotsubashi University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Political and Social Change in Modern Turkey

Group 3-C: Source Materials for the Study of the Contemporary Islamic World

Group Leader: USUKI Akira: National Museum of Ethnology, The Japan Center for Area Studies, Middle Eastern Area Studies

OKA Mari: Osaka Women's University, Social Anthropology, Modern Arab Literature

AKAMINE Jun: National Museum of Ethnology, The Japan Center for Area Studies, Philippines Studies

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Unit 4 Geographic Information Systems for Islamic Area Studies

Unit Leader: OKABE Atsuyuki: The University of Tokyo, Department of Urban Engineering,Spacial Information Science

ASAMI Yasushi: The University of Tokyo, Department of Urban Engineering, Housing and Environmental Design

MIZUSHIMA Tsukasa: The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Southeast Asian Socio-Economic History

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Unit 5 Islamic History and Culture

Unit Leader: HANEDA Masashi

The University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture, Iranian History

Group 5-A: Development of Art and Scholarship

Group Leader: MASUYA Tomoko: The University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture, Islamic Art History

YAMANLAR MIZUNO Minako: University of East Asia, Graduate School of Integrated Science and Arts, Turkish-Islamic Art History

MORIMOTO Kazuo: University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture, Iranian History, History of Sayyids and Sharifs

Group 5-B: Inter-Regional Interactions

Group Leader: HANEDA Masashi: The University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture, Iranian History

FUKASAWA Katsumi: The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology,Modern History of European Port Cities

KUROKI Hidemitsu: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Modern History of Syria and Lebanon

Group 5-C: The Potentials of Comparative Study

Group Leader: MIURA Toru: Ochanomizu University, Faculty of Letters and Education, Social History of Arabic-Islamic Regions

KISHIMOTO Mio: The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, Socio-Economic History of Late Imperial China

SEKIMOTO Teruo: The University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture, Southeast Asian Social Anthropology

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Unit 6 Source Materials for the Study of Islamic Civilization

Unit Leader: KITAMURA Hajime: Toyo Bunko (Oriental Library), Tibetan Language Studies

Acting Leader: HAYASHI Kayoko: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Department of Foreign Studies, Ottoman History

KONDO Nobuaki: Tokyo Metropolitan University, Department of Social Anthropology, Modern Iranian History

TANIGUCHI Junichi: Kyoto Women's University, Faculty of Letters, Social History of West Asia Under Islam

HOSAKA Shuji: The Middle East Institute of Japan, Politics and Religion in the Gulf Regions

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*****

Each study group is composed of members who conduct research while calling on the cooperation of other researchers interested in the group's research subject. The project is open to all interested scholars in Japan and abroad. If you would like to participate or would like further information about this project, please contact:

E-mail: i- inr@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Fax: 81-3-5841-2686
Tel: 81-3-5841-2687