Director’s Note
Thank you for visiting the website of the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.
I am Nobuaki Kondo. I was installed as Director of the Institute on April 1, 2023.
I specialize in Iranian history. In recent years, I am also engaged in research into the history and literature of the Persianate world and pre-modern state systems in the Islamic world. I would like not only to globally share my research results but also to return them to society in accessible ways while conducting joint research with researchers in various fields through several projects.
The Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, also known as ILCAA, was founded in 1964 as the first national inter-university institution in humanities and social sciences in Japan. We have been engaged in research on Asia and Africa in the three fields of linguistics, anthropology, and history foralmost 60 years. We have also worked with researchers both within Japan and abroad, especially with joint researchers and visiting researchers from abroad.
The understanding of Asia and Africa has greatly progressed compared with when the institute was founded. Nevertheless, the progress of globalization makes the most dramatic changes in languages, cultures, and history of Asia and Africa that has ever occurred. The trends in Asia and Africa now exert greater influence on other regions of the world. Furthermore, the disciplines of humanities and social sciences are entering a period of revolutionary change following the advance of digitization in society. In these circumstances, ILCAA established TUFS Field Science Commons (TUFiSCo) in October 2022 as a university-wide research organization and advances cooperative activities with internal and external researchers to become a pioneer of new research.
As the globalization progresses with destructive force, it is certainly becoming even more important for us to focus on the state of various languages and cultures of people in Asia and Africa and to accumulate fundamental research. The institute will further lay emphasis on “joint research projects” conducted by our research staffs with researchers both within and outside Japan and show our research outcomes to the public through various large-scale projects.
As “International Research Center for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa,” ILCAA will continue to develop joint research with the wide-ranging cooperation of researchers within Japan and abroad. We will be grateful for your guidance and support as we will share our world-class research outcomes with the academic community and the public at large.
April 3, 2023
Nobuaki KONDO
The Director, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA)
Copyright © 2010 Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa. All Rights Reserved.