ILCAA 2024-2025

Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

Target Areas of ILCAA Joint Research Projects
About ILCAA
How to use
ILCAA

At the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), we
focus on research on languages and various cultural phenomena in Asia and Africa.
The Institute operates under the following three principles:- Conducting collaborative research projects- Processing, editing, and disseminating data on languages and cultures ofAsia and Africa- Training junior scholars through joint research, workshops, and seminars

ILCAA is an international research center that offers various services to academic
communities worldwide. The services that are available to international scholars are
summarized below.
Visiting scholars: We accept visiting scholars and fellows to conduct joint research
projects in cooperation with the research staff.
Research resources: ILCAA’s unique collection of rare books and other materials isavailable at ILCAA Library. Various dictionaries and databases are available online.
Collaborative research projects: ILCAA Joint Research Projects accept scholars fromabroad to carry out research. If you would like to “salvage” valuable data (old audio
and/or video recordings, field notes, or documents), Information Resources Center(IRC) can assist you in digitization and editing.

⑤
⑨⑫

⑮

⑬

⑧⑧

①

⑭

⑥
⑤⑥⑦⑯ JaCMES（p.6）

②⑪
①③

⑩

Academic Cooperation
Agreements① Jahangirnagar University② China Tibetology Research Center③ Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia④ The Institute for Development Studies,
Sabah⑤ Orient Institute of the German Oriental
Society-Beirut

④

ILCAA
⑩

②

Pick-up Project⑥ Faculty of Human Sciences, Branch 1,
Lebanese University⑦ American University of Beirut⑧ Institute for African Studies, University of
Cologne⑨Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast
Asian and Caribbean Studies⑩ University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Hamilton
Library③(2022AY-2027AY, funded by Japan’s National
Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU))⑦

Visiting Scholars (Recent 5 years)① SHAHBAZ, Pegah “Narrative Texts in theSouth Asian Multi-lingual Context”② BUADAENG, Kwanchewan “Religious
Movements among the Karen People in the
Deterritorialized Thailand-Myanmar
Borderland”③ Ranjan Saha Partha “Socio-Economic
Dynamics of Transformation of Rural
Societies and Migration in Bangladeshwith particular focus on Gohira Village”④ Sumit Kumar Barua “Buddhist Revival
Movement in Modern India: Japanese
Scholar Kimura Nichiki and His Role in
Indo-Japan Relationship”⑤ SYURYUN, Arzhaana “A Study ofKnowledge Management in Central
Eurasian Languages: focusing on Tuvan
and Sibe”⑥ AYNUR, Hatice “Study on the Inscription
Texts and the Library Collection of an 18th
Century Ottoman Chief Eunuch of theImperial Harem: Hacı Beşir Ağa (d. 1746)”⑦ BALUKH Jermy Imanuel “Creating
Annotated Texts and a Sketch Grammar of
Lole Dialect of Rote”⑧ KAMALI, Beste Can “A Detailed
Investigation of Polar Questions in Altaictype Languages”⑨ ONDICHO, Tom Gesora “Sexual Education
Handbook for University Students in
Kenya”⑩ ALI, Omar Gamal Mohamed “Bequeathal
Strategies and State Response in Mamluk
Jerusalem: Decoding Evidence in theHaram Documents Collection”

22022-02-12

Thinking Emotions in South Asia

2022-09-01

The Past and Present of Bantu Languages: Integrating Micro-typology,
Comparative-historical Linguistics, and Lexicography 2022-01

2022-09-07

Middle Eastern, Balkan and Japanese Perspectives on the Global andRegional Impacts of the Ukraine War

2022-09-09

Studies of the Tangut from the Viewpoints of Research on TibetoBurman Minority Languages

2022-11-26

Islamic Trust Studies: Translation and Transformation in Muslim's
Connectivity

2022-12-04

History, Politics, and Society in Japan and Iraq from Comparative
Perspectives

2023-03-06

The Past and Present of Bantu Languages: Integrating Micro-typology,
Comparative-historical Linguistics, and Lexicography 2022-02

2023-03-22

Pacific Rim Ottomanists’ Conference2023-09-01

Amir Hamza and Beyond: Historical Narratives and Romances acrossthe Muslim World

2023-09-13

Muddying the Waters: Towards a History of the Caspian Sea

2023-09-16

New Perspectives on Tangut Study: Language and Script

2023-09-25

Food as a Window to the Past: Africa, Asia and the Pacific2023-11-17

Global Youth Dynamics and 'Reality' Negotiation in East Africa andSouth Asia: Gender, Diversity, Agency

2024-01-06

Futures of Academic Research and Art

Global Mediterranean at ILCAA④ KKLO（p.6）⑨

International Symposia (Recent 3 years)⑪ SOLONIN, Kirill “Comparative Study of the
Tangut, Sanskrit, Tibetan versions of theBodhicaryavatara by Santideva”⑫ ARPS, Bernard “A Muslim Epic and its
Politics in Early Modern Asia: Amir Hamza
from Iran to South and Southeast Asia”⑬ ABDILASHIM, Duisenali “Research on
Kazakh Documents in the Archives of
Russia and China”⑭ YIDEMUCAO, Dawa “Joint Research on
Documentation of Literary and Colloquial
Materials in Oirat Mongolian”⑮ KABIR, Humayun “The Political Rise of
Deobandi Ulama: Maulana Hafezzi Huzurand His Legacy in the Politics of Islamism
in Bangladesh”⑯ ALTAWEEL, Rawia “Multi-dimensional
Relationships between Syrian Refugees
and Lebanese Host Communities”

This project aims to formulate new approaches to area studies
by examining the global flow of people, goods, and knowledge
through the Mediterranean Sea. Through analysing written texts,
visual arts, and various types of performance, our research group
at ILCAA seeks to investigate the global cultural flows among
various civilizations. It attempts to explore how Mediterranean
cultures were transformed and spread among Asian and African
regions and how Asian and African cultures were assimilated into
the Mediterranean cultures.

Major Externally Funded Research Projects (Recent 3 years)
Research Projects

Principal Investigator

Connectivity and Trust Building in Islamic Civilization

KUROKI, Hidemitsu

Changes in the World of Islamic Thought and Knowledge

NODA, Jin

Migrants, Refugees, and Community Building

KUROKI, Hidemitsu

The Ideas of the Muslim Community and State Systems

KONDO, Nobuaki

The Origin and Evolution of Sociality: Developing New Theories of Human Evolution Based on
Collaboration between Anthropology and Primatology

KAWAI, KaoriMultipolarization of Muslim Societies in South Asia

TOGAWA, MasahikoIslam and Gender: Towards a Comprehensive Discussion

NAGASAWA, Eiji

Extractions of Huge Japanese Formulaic Sequences and Inductive Reconstruction of Japanese
Grammar by Structural Analyse and Its Applications to Japanese Language Education

SHIBANO, Koji

3

Research Resources
Publications

Online Research Resources

ILCAA publishes peer-reviewed journals,
results of joint research projects and of
individual researches, results of dictionary-compiling projects, and materials
developed for Intensive Language
Courses. Many publications are in languages other than Japanese. Most of the
publications are distributed gratis toacademic institutions and researchers.
For details, please visit the website for
ILCAA publications.
https://biblio.aa-ken.jp/

The results of ILCAA Joint Research Projects and those by the
research staff include online dictionaries and databases that are
made available on the institute’s website to be used for use by
external researchers and by the general public.
You can see a list of these research resources on the website,“Online Resources Catalogue”(https://online-resources.aa-ken.jp/lang/eng).

Periodicals

Journal of Asian and African Studies

Database of Historical Monuments in Islamic Cairo
https://islamic-architecture.aa-ken.jp/

Qalawun VR Project
https://qalawun.aa-ken.jp/en/

MALINDO Conchttps://malindo.aa-ken.jp/about/aaken.html

Abjad Numerals Calculator
http://coe.aa.tufs.ac.jp/abjad/JP/

Kachin Portal Site
https://kachinportal.aa-ken.jp/en/

Qing wen hui shu = Manju isabuha bithehttps://manjuisabuhabithe.aa-ken.jp/

The Journal of Asian and African Studies (JAAS) is a biannually
published, peer-reviewed journal on linguistics, history, and cultural
anthropology of Asia and Africa. Submissions of papers are acceptedfrom both within Japan and abroad. JAAS is organized by the editorialcommittee that includes researchers within and outside the institute.
JAAS has become an open-access electronic journal since thepublication of volume 101.
https://tufs.repo.nii.ac.jp/search?search_type=2&q=53

Asian and African Languages and Linguistics
Asian and African Languages and Linguistics (AALL) is an annualrefereed linguistic journal first issued in 2006. In principle, it deals withdescriptive studies on minority languages in Asia and Africa, based on
the original data mainly obtained by the author’s own fieldworks. The
linguists at ILCAA fill the role of editors of the journal. All papers will befully refereed by two anonymous reviewers. AALL has become an
open-access electronic journal since the publication of volume 8.
https://tufs.repo.nii.ac.jp/search?search_type=2&q=14

NUSA: Linguistic studies of languages
in and around Indonesia
NUSA is a biannually published, peer-reviewed journal. This is the
product of a joint cooperation agreement between the PKBB (Centre
for Culture and Language Studies) of Atma Jaya Catholic University ofIndonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia, and ILCAA.
https://tufs.repo.nii.ac.jp/search?search_type=2&q=57
4

5

Other Information

Messages from Former Visiting Scholars

Overseas Satellite Offices

Prof. Dr. Tom G. Ondicho

In order to better coordinate and conduct
joint research with scholars outside ofJapan, ILCAA established two satellite offices overseas: one in Beirut (Lebanon) andanother in Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia).
Japan Center for Middle Eastern Studies(JaCMES)JaCMES is the first overseas satellite officeestablished in Beirut (Lebanon) by ILCAA. It
was officially sanctioned by Lebanese government’s cabinet resolution of December
15, 2005. The inauguration ceremony of
JaCMES took place on February 1, 2006.
In order to promote academic exchange
between Japan and the Middle East and tosupport young Japanese researchers of
Middle Eastern Studies, JaCMES has developed joint research project functions
by conducting the following activities:
1) International symposia involving Lebanese
researchers; 2) Dispatch of young Japanese
researchers to the Middle Eastern Area.
Address:
Japan Center for Middle Eastern Studies(JaCMES),

2nd Floor, Azarieh Building, A2-1, Bashura,
Emir Bashir Street, Beirut, Central District,
LebanonTel/fax: +961-1-975851
https://meis2.aa-ken.jp/base_beirutlang=en.html

and assistance from IDS. KKLO aims to promote international academic exchanges,
form international networks, and strengthen
joint research activities in order to advancethe studies on Southeast Asian countries.
Address:
Kota Kinabalu Liaison Office, ILCAA-TUFS
Institute for Development Studies(IDS),
c/o, IDS lot2-5, Wisma Sedia, Off Jalan
Pintas, Penampang, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah,
Malaysia
Tel: +60-88-450500
https://meis2.aa-ken.jp/base_kotakinabalulang=en.html

Kota Kinabalu Liaison Office (KKLO)KKLO is now open in the Institute forDevelopment Studies (IDS) which wasestablished by the Sabah Provincial
Government in 1985. It serves as an integrated base for social, economic, and cultural studies and academic exchange activities in Sabah with generous cooperation(Department of Anthropology, Gender, and African Studies University of Nairobi)
From 2022-09 to 2023-02

Between September 1, 2022 - February 28, 2023, I was a Foreign
Researcher at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) affiliatedto the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia andAfrica (ILCAA). Though this was my third visit to Japan, the 20222023 Joint Research Project was my first most important
collaborative work with a Japanese scholar, which also contributes
to my advancement in academia.
During my six months tenure, I lived at the International
Residence on the TUFS campus. This was a very convenient
location for me because it provided me easy access to a range ofon-campus facilities including health care centre, gym, library,canteen, office, and sports ground among others. The cold weather
at the time however did not allow me to undertake any outdoor
recreational activities. I really liked my office because of the goodfacilities for research such as office space, printer, photocopier,and the well-equipped library which facilitated successful
workflow.
The first month was quiet and I felt lonely, but it became livelier
in the second month when students returned to campus. I enjoyedeating lunch and interacting with staff and students at theuniversity cafeteria even though I found it difficult to remember
the faces of all the people I met because they were covered withmasks.
Located in a quiet and serene environment in the western
suburbs of Tokyo with access to several bus and train lines, TUFS issurrounded by greenly including several large parks, sports fields,
and various shops, supermarkets, and restaurants. Travel outside
campus in the evenings and on weekends provided me a great
deal of nuanced insight into my understanding of Japaneseculture and social life, which was quite interesting and beneficial
to me as an anthropologist.
I spent much of my time reading extensively and writing draft
chapters of our co-authored book. Simultaneously, I participatedin one international conference and four seminars. I also gave talks
in three hybrid seminars which were attended by a diversity of
Afro-Japanese scholars. It was indeed, a pleasure to engage inthought provoking discussions and share ideas with colleagues
and students during the seminars. My PowerPoint presentations
are available online on the TUFS website.
It was an honour for me to be granted the Foreign Researcher
position at TUFS. My stay was enjoyable and my children who
joined me for Christmas cherish the fond memories of their shortvisit of Japan. My host, the academic and administrative staff at
TUFS did everything to ensure that my stay was comfortable andpleasant. I hope that this stay will be the beginning of a continuousand permanent exchange between ILCAA and the Department of
Anthropology, Gender, and African Studies at the University of
Nairobi. I realised that it was difficult to accomplish my goal
because time was short and desire that preference should begiven to a longer stay.

ILCAA Core Projects 2022-2027[History/Area Studies][Anthropology][Linguistics]

Prof. Dr. Kirill Solonin

Field Archiving of Memory: Dynamics of
Cooperation in Muslim Society

Anthropological Inquiry of Sociality:
Dynamics of Tolerance/Intolerance inTranscultural Contexts

Description and Documentation of
Language Dynamics in Asia and Africa:
Toward a More In-depth Understandingof the Languages and Cultures ofPeople Living in Asia and Africa(Renmin University of China, Institute of Chinese Classics)
From 2022-10 to 2023-04

This research project aims to elucidate thedynamics of cooperation in Asian and
African societies that have maintained
multi-religious and multicultural societies.
In doing so, we will focus on the history of
Muslim societies and the sustainable societies that can be found in the present.
For the above purpose, we will carry out
visualization and multifaceted analyses oftextual, spatial, and image information
based on the archiving of diverse “memories” (including not only past events, butalso individual experiences and background to contemporary issues) with anawareness of the rapidly advancing digitaltransformation in the field of humanities.
By confronting the various contradictions that have emerged in the collapse oforder in the midst of globalization and the
problems surrounding religion and sectarianism in the modern world, and by turning
our attention to cooperation and tolerance,
we would like to examine the possibility of“restoring relationships” of various kinds,
including relationships of trust.

Human beings are gregarious animals thatcannot live alone, and the question of whatkind of “sociality” underpins their lives is afundamental question for us all. In today’s
world, people and things that used to haveno chance to meet are meeting beyond theframework of regions, ethnic groups, andnation-states, and a transcultural situationin that they influence each other has
emerged.
In this context, discrimination and exclusion are becoming more serious, and a newsociality that encompasses differences isbeing sought. In addition, in the post-corona situation, it will become increasingly
important to consider sociality from theperspective that the world in which we liveis pluralistic, consisting of not only humanbeings but also viruses, plants and animals,
and the dynamism of things. This study explores the mechanisms of tolerance andintolerance by focusing on the practice ofpeople in the field in Asia and Africa. The
aim is to create a platform for discussion on
how to “live together” in a post-Coronatranscultural context.
6

Today, societies in Asia and Africa are undergoing rapid changes, and more complex
forms of multilingualism are emerging. In
order to accurately grasp this situation, it isnecessary to describe and document the
linguistic situation by focusing on mattersthat have been difficult to capture within
the framework of descriptive linguistics,
such as the relationship between different
language communities, diachronic changes in language, and the structure, culture,and history of the local societies that underlie these changes. In order to achieve
this goal, we are working on the following
projects.
For this purpose, we will attempt toanalyze the narratives of speakers, whichhave been treated as mere linguistic data,as “messages conveying experience andknowledge,” in collaboration with neighboring fields (sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology) and other fields (anthropology,
history, area studies).

with the Japanese culture and life in Japan. This kind of experienceis precious, and I am again thankful for it. In general, I find thearrangements perfect, so that I was able to use my research time inJapan to the fullest extent. One small suggestion might be thatthe school could think about arranging intensive Japanese courses
for the international researchers.

My research stay at ILCAA of TUFS was extremely fruitful fromevery perspective. During my research stay, together with my hostDr. Arakawa Shintaro we were able to complete the first draft ofour joint project, which is now completed and is submitted for
publication with TUFS. Throughout my stay in Japan I enjoyedhospitality and generous assistance from the ILCAA research andadministrative stuff, who had been enthusiastic in providing every
aspect of my research stay. For this I am enormously grateful.
Other than pursuing my own research agenda at ILCAA, I had
an opportunity to participate in a wide range of academic
activities, including public talks at Kyoto University, Aoyama
Gakuin University, International College of Advanced Buddhist
Studies, gave presentations at academic conferences etc. In thisway I was able to both familiarize myself with the state of our fieldin Japan, and introduce the current status of my own research to
the Japanese academic audience. All these activities were possible
due to the extensive support offered by the ILCAA and TUFS ingeneral, for which I am immensely grateful.
Personally, it was important for me to spend a research period
in Japan, because my field, the Tangut studies, originally emerged
and developed in Japan, and I feel an obligation to offer mycontribution, however minor, to the field in Japan. Therefore, I am
thankful to TUFS and ILCAA for providing me with such an
opportunity.
Last but not least, during this half-year period I was able toextensively travel around Japan, which increased my familiarity
7

Research Staff
ADACHI, Mayumi
Assoc. Prof.,
Vietnamese Language,
Pragmatics, Sociolinguistics

KUREBITO, Tokusu
Prof.,
Linguistics, Chukchi Language

SHINAGAWA, Daisuke
Assoc. Prof.,
Bantu Languages

ARAKAWA, Shintaro
Prof.,
Tangut Language and Its
Philology

KUROKI, Hidemitsu
Prof.,
Area Studies of the Middle
East, Modern History of the
Arab East

SHIOHARA, Asako
Prof.,
Linguistics, Languages inIndonesia

GOTO, Emi
Assist. Prof.,
Contemporary Islamic Studies,
GenderKURONUMA, Taichi
Assist. Prof.,
Archaeology, Study ofHistorical Landscape inSoutheast Arabia

TAKAMATSU, Yoichi
Prof.,
Ottoman History, Diplomatics,
Archival Science

HOSHI, Izumi
Prof.,
Linguistics of Tibetan Area

MURATSU, Ran
Assist. Prof.,
Cultural Anthropology, Visual/
Multimodal Anthropology,
Religions in West Africa

TOGAWA, Masahiko
Prof.,
Cultural Anthropology ofSouth Asia, Bengal Studies

IIZUKA, Masato
Prof.,
Islamic Studies, Middle EasternStudies

NAKAYAMA, ToshihideProf.,
Wakashan Languages, Usagebased Linguistics, Linguistic
Typology

TOKORO, Ikuya
Prof.,
Anthropology of South-East
Asian Islanders

ISHIKAWA, Hiroki
Assoc. Prof.,
History of Sub-Saharan Africa

NISHII, Ryoko
Prof.,
Anthropology of Mainland
Southeast Asia

UETA, Naoki
Assist. Prof.,
Linguistics, Phonetics andPhonology, Mongolian

KANDA, Yui
Assist. Prof.,
History of Islamic Art, Cultural
History of Persian Area

NODA, Jin
Prof.,
History of Central Asia, RussiaQing Relations

UYAMA, Tomohiko
Prof.,
Modern History and Politics ofCentral Asia; International
Relations in Eurasia

KAWAI, Aya
Assoc. Prof.,
Anthropology, Southeast Asia,
Orang Asli

OGATA, Shirabe
Assist. Prof.,
Anthropology on Arts,
Nigerian Area Studies

WATANABE, HonoréProf.,
Salishan Languages

KAWAI, Kaori
Prof.,
Anthropology, East African
Pastoralism

OGURA, Satoshi
Assoc. Prof.,
South Asian History

YAMAKOSHI, Yasuhiro
Prof.,
Mongolic Languages

KOGURA, Norikazu
Assoc. Prof.,
Descriptive Linguistics, Sibe
(Spoken Manchu)

OTA, Nobuhiro
Prof.,
History of South Asia

YOSHIDA, Yukako
Assoc. Prof.,
Cultural Anthropology on
Indonesian Performing Arts,
Religions, and Mask Cultures

KONDO, Nobuaki
Prof.,
History of Modern Iran

SAWADA, Hideo
Prof.,
Burmish Minority Languages,
Indic Scripts in Mainland
Southeast Asia

KURABE, Keita
Assoc. Prof.,
Tibeto-Burman languages,
Languages in Myanmar

SHIINO, Wakana
Assoc. Prof.,
Social Anthropology,
Ethnography of East Africa

A Guide to Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA) 2024–2025
Copyright © 2024–2025 Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA), All Rights Reserved.
1 April, 2024

8

NO PHOTO

Research Institute for Languages andCultures of Asia and Africa
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Address: 3-11-1 Asahicho, Fuchu-shi,
Tokyo, 183-8534, JAPANTEL: +81-(0)42-330-5600
FAX: +81-(0)42-330-5610
MAIL: ilcaa@aa.tufs.ac.jp
URL: http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/en/