<論考>21世紀型イスラーム学の拡充と活用へ向けて : 5 項目の戦略的提言

Abstract

The research project has been conducting its activities for four years. It aims to investigate the state of Islam-related studies both in Japan and in the world, and lay the foundations for Islamic studies/the Study of Islam suitable to the current era under globalization. Traditionally, Islamic studies has been conducted on historical periods rather than the modern and contemporary periods. Specialists on the modern Middle East and other parts of the Islamic world are less trained in Islamic studies. The cleavage between the two has been quite deep. However, since the Islamic revival in the last four decades has been advancing in various fields, this division has become a barrier to comprehensive understanding of the current affairs of the Islamic world. This project has been examining the up-to-dateness of studies in Islam and Islam-related fields as well as the pressing contemporary issues of the Islamic world today, thus paving a way to gather specialists in both historical and contemporary periods so that Islamic studies suitable to the current era of globalization can be feasible. Laying the foundational ideas and methodological suggestions, the project team wrote down a "5-Point Strategic Proposal" as an interim report, as follows: 1) This new scheme of Islamic studies must be connected with other branches of humanities and social sciences, and specialists from these branches should be invited to the coming stage of the new Islamic Studies; 2) We should construct and develop a system to gather academic knowledge and relevant information on the Islamic world, with special attention to the resources in the area languages; 3) The objectives of such Islamic Studies must be connected with Japan's comprehensive public interests, which include promotion of multi-cultural cohabitation and global and human common goods; 4) We ought to develop "intellectual infrastructures, " in such a scheme so that it will be beneficial, not only to specialists of Islam and Islam-related fields, but also to scholars and specialists of all fields of humanities and social sciences; and 5) We should expand international networks of researchers and research institutions while knowledge generated in Japan must be disseminated far more extensively.