About

The Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA) is a joint research center attached to the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. It conducts research activities in Asia and Africa under the following three missions.

  • Conducting collaborative research projects
  • Processing, editing, and disseminating data on the languages and cultures of Asia and Africa
  • Training junior scholars through joint research, workshops, and seminars

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Pickup

Events

Transformations and Diversity of Staple Foods: Linking Japan, Southeast Asia, and Africa through Comparison

Monthly Photos

Feb 2026 : The Goat Wears the Horns: A Folktale from Northern Myanmar

Events

Kurdish Worlds Across Time and Space: Boundaries, Belonging, and the Making of History

News

Introducing New Staff Vol.87 : Mostafa KHALILI

Latest News

2026.02.03News

Assistant Professor Shirabe Ogata and colleagues have released their co-authored book, “Practices Around the Arts: Where Sensibilities Meet Institutions.”

2026.02.02Essays

Monthly Photos Feb 2026 : The Goat Wears the Horns: A Folktale from Northern Myanmar

2026.01.29Awarded Prizes

Professor Hidemitsu Kuroki has received the 15th (2025) Japan Consortium for Area Studies Award (Research Planning Award).

2026.01.13メディア掲載

＊2026.1.3　Podcast series Science and Society / Assistant Professor Mostafa KHALILI / Speaking Across Borders of an Anthropologist’s Journey Through Kurdish Worlds / WEB

2026.01.01Essays

Monthly Photos Jan 2026 : Sacrificed Pig Bread

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Events

  • Workshop/ Seminar/ Symposium

Date:2026/02/04(Wed) 16:00-17:30 Venue:Online／Seminar Room 3F, Hongo Satellite, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

Lecture by Dr. Charles Ganier (Université Paris Cité, CESSMA), “The Khans of Mākū and Qajar Governance of Azerbaijan during the Weakening of the State Apparatus in the Province (1880–1911)"

  • Workshop/ Seminar/ Symposium

Date:2026/02/05(Thu) 18:00-20:00 Venue:Discussion Room, 9th Floor, South Building, Keio University (Mita Campus)

Lecture by Markus Ritter: Die Erfindung “islamischer Kunst” in deutschen Weltkunstgeschichte-Büchern des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts

  • Joint Research Projects
  • Workshop/ Seminar/ Symposium

Date:2026/02/06(Fri) 09:30-17:00
2026/02/07(Sat) 13:00-18:00 Venue:Online／303 : Large Conference Room, ILCAA

Kurdish Worlds Across Time and Space: Boundaries, Belonging, and the Making of History/“Everyday Forms of Ethnicity and Religiosity in Kurdistan: Comparative Inquiries into Social Organization of Cultural Difference and Crossborder Interaction in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey”, the 2nd meeting AY2025

  • Workshop/ Seminar/ Symposium
  • Educational Traning

Date:2026/02/07(Sat) 13:30-17:55 Venue:Online／304 : Multimedia Conference Room, ILCAA

The 28th Grammatical Studies Workshop "Various Issues Concerning Syllables"

  • Workshop/ Seminar/ Symposium

Date:2026/02/08(Sun) 14:00-18:00 Venue:Online／Seminar Room 3F, Hongo Satellite, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

International Workshop: From Arts to Economy: Nineteenth-Century Iran in Global Contexts

  • Joint Research Projects

Date:2026/02/10(Tue) 16:00-18:30 Venue:301 : Seminar Room, ILCAA

“Everyday Forms of Ethnicity and Religiosity in Kurdistan: Comparative Inquiries into Social Organization of Cultural Difference and Crossborder Interaction in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey”, the 3rd meeting AY2025

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Core Projects

言語学
Describing and documenting language dynamics in Asia and Africa: Toward a deeper understanding of the languages and cultures of people living in Asia and Africa
人類学
Anthropological Explorations into Sociality: Transcultural Situations and Mechanisms of Tolerance/Intolerance
歴史学・地域研究
Field Archiving of "Memory": Understanding the Dynamics of Symbiotic Societies Connected by Islam

Pickup Publications

2025.12.05

Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra in Tangut Translation Volume 2Kirill Solonin, Shintaro Arakawa

2025.11.01

Navader al-VaqayeʿAhmad Danesh Bukharaʾi (auth.), Mohammad Karim Eshragh, Touraj Atabaki (eds.)

2025.10.17

The 2nd Symposium on “Overcoming social division and achieving diversity through embodiment.” Ikuya Tokoro (ed.)

2025.07.10

Toda DictionaryPeri Bhaskararao (author); Masato Kobayashi (ed.)

2025.06.30

Pupulu In Daek Klapa: Two Folktales from BolokYanti, Dominikus Tauk, Asako Shiohara (eds.)

Latest Publications

Research Projects

ILCAA Joint Research Projects, conducted by the staff members of the Institute and external researchers, constitute the core of research activities at ILCAA as an international research center.

Joint Research Group is a new framework launched in 2019 to foster incipient research projects based on new creative ideas.

In order to conduct research on the languages and cultures of Asia and Africa, the staff of ILCAA apply for various external funds, such as Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) and other research grants by private organizations.

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