SHINODA, Tomoaki

Research Associate

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: tomoaki_shinoda[at]tufs.ac.jp

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Research interests: History of North Africa, the Frontier

I'm interested in the relationships between the Muslims and Christians in the early modern North Africa.

What does the term "Age of Discovery" remind you of? Columbus, Magellan, the New World, or the Cape of Good Hope? I study the history of North Africa in the Age of Discovery, especially a region that roughly corresponds to modern-day Morocco. From the first years of the fifteenth century, the Kingdom of Portugal began its overseas expansion. The Moroccan region was its primary target, and once a large part of its coastal areas fell under Portuguese domination. As a result, many frontiers where the territory of Muslims neighbours that of Christians with a fluid border between them came into view around the region. In these frontiers, what relationships did the Christians have with the Muslims? What influence did the existence of Christians exert on Muslim societies and their politics? Using mainly Arabic and Portuguese documents, I address these questions.

Recent Interests:

The Portuguese domination over the Moroccan region suffered setbacks in the sixteenth century due to the Muslim counterattacks. In the twentieth century, in turn, the region underwent French rule as its colony. Then, anti-Colonial activists interpreted the history of the counterattacks in the sixteenth century as a precedent of their resistance movement against the colonialism and argued the continuity of the Moroccan Nation from the period. My recent research topic is to clarify the emergence of this historical discourse from a historiographical point of view.

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