Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Waseda University
Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Waseda University is one of the foremost programs of its kind in Japan. It is based in Waseda’s Toyama Campus in central Tokyo. At Waseda, students are able to study at undergraduate, MA and Ph.D. levels with some of the leading scholars in the country. Students can explore a wide range of subjects, such as the anthropology of modern Egypt, medieval Islamic history — focusing on the Mamluk Empire — the Ottoman Empire, the twentieth-century Middle East, and even global history. In addition, students here can study the Arabic language throughout their undergraduate course, and have the opportunity to learn other Middle Eastern languages, such as Persian and Turkish.
Waseda has a strong tradition of research in the field of Mamluk studies, particularly in the areas of waqf documents, and of cults of saints and cemeteries. Its strength in these subjects was highlighted by hosting the Sixth Conference of the School of Mamluk Studies (2019), which was attended by more than 100 academics from around the world. In our research we employ inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches from fields including history, philosophy, anthropology, and cultural studies.
Recently, scholars in this program have been awarded grants for projects focusing on: medieval Arabic historiography; families and women in post-Black Death Egypt and Syria; cemeteries in West Asia; and the British Empire’s concealment and destruction of colonial records around the world. Staff here are heavily involved in academic societies in Japan, including the Japan Association for Middle East Studies and the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan. They also collaborate with scholars within and outside of Japan, and sometimes host researchers from overseas institutions.
Waseda has some of the leading research facilities for Middle Eastern and Islamic studies in Japan. These include: Islam Library, a special collection donated by a former member of the Greater Japan Muslim League; The Tsugitaka Sato Collection in Waseda Library, which contains around 4,000 Arabic items related to these subjects that were bequeathed to the university by this former professor of Islamic Studies; databases of architecture and archaeology from Egypt; and a dedicated student study room.
If you are interested in taking one of our courses, please feel free to contact us at the address below.
We will be pleased to welcome you if you would like to visit us.
1-24-1 Toyama, Shinjuku, Tokyo 1628644, JAPAN
Room 2321, 3rd floor, Building #39,
Toyama Campus, Waseda University