SUNAGA, Emiko

Project Assistant Professor

Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa,
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
3-11-1 Asahi-cho, Fuchu-shi,
Tokyo, 183-8534, Japan

Email: sunagaemiko[at]aa.tufs.ac.jp

Personal Homepage:

Research interests: Pakistan Area Studies, Publishing Culture in South Asia

I am researching the language of South Asian Muslims and its changing nature.

I am interested in publications by religious groups in Pakistan, language education and translation.
Pakistan is a multi-lingual society. Urdu is the 'national language', but it is not the 'mother tongue' for most Pakistanis. Many people learn Urdu as a second or third language. So how many people will be able to take the driving test in Urdu? Is it appropriate to have the test in Urdu at all? What about university entrance exams? Civil service examinations? Choosing a language is part of building a society and a culture.
As I have also been involved in building digital archives and databases, I think it is also important to develop materials that researchers can use.

Recent Interests:

Recently, I have been working on digital humanities, such as text analysis, network diagrams and GIS. For example, I have trained an AI to read Urdu handwriting.
I focus on digital humanities as a tool that allows researchers to analyse and visualise the data they collect from the field.

Research Projects:

Related Sites:

• Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A) “Connectivity and Trust Building in Islamic Civilization”
• researchmap individual page

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