PhD [italian version] > Courses > Asian and African Civilizations, Culture and Society

PhD: Civiltą, Culture E Societą Dell'Asia E Dell'Africa [Asian and African Civilizations, Culture and Society]

Graduate School:
Department: Italian Institute of Oriental Studies (ISO)
Coordinator: Ciro Lo Muzio

Places available: 14
Funding: 7 scholarships

Contact person: Tania Spiridigliozzi (+39) 06 49913867
Email Tania.Spiridigliozzi@uniroma1.it

Web site http://w3.uniroma1.it/dso/?m=Dottorati_di_ricerca&id=5&p=Civilt%C3%A0,_culture_e_societ%C3%A0_dell'Asia_e_dell'Africa


History and Philology of Islamic Societies
Eastern Asia
Indian Subcontinent




Objectives
History and Philology of Islamic Societies
This curriculum is aimed at forming highly-qualified professionals in the field of Islamic studies in their widest conception, investigating both traditional and contemporary issues.
Furthermore, this curriculum is aimed at preparing students for academic research, as well as enhancing their philological and historical knowledge of the ever-changing Italian and Mediterranean context, focusing in particular on the phenomenon of immigration. This massive phenomenon urges to the start of a process of interaction and integration, which results will prove effective only if based on a real, thorough scientific knowledge of Islamic societies and their history.
This curriculum goes on to investigate the meaning of 'Islamic' studies, in order to create researchers in the fields of Social Anthropology, Art History, History of Islamic Sciences, Language and Philology, as well as Institutional and Political History. Its approach is both philological (knowledge of Arabic and other Islamic languages, such as Persian, Turkish, Urdu etc.) and socio-anthropological (covering areas as South Asia, Central Asia, West Africa, and East Africa, besides traditional Islamic countries). The students will be addressed towards highly-specialised academic or research careers, and also high-profile professional careers, mainly oriented towards cultural mediation and international cooperation, as required by the labour market nowadays.


Eastern Asia
This curriculum caters for students of History of Far-Eastern Civilizations, taking the term History in its widest meaning, comprising its linguistic, literary, philosophical, religious, artistic and historical aspects.
PhD students will be expected to carry out their research autonomously, working on the texts in their original language, and to possess a critical attitude. As to literature, they will be required to analyse classic or modern literary works in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, starting from the textual and philological analysis of one or more literary works.
An important formative goal is to enable the students to present their researches at international meetings and conferences, in order to compare their results with those obtained by foreign students in Western and Asian countries and to introduce new scientific achievements in their specific fields of study and research.

Indian Subcontinent
This curriculum is aimed at students as well as at economic and cultural operators willing to investigate the complex South-Asian ancient and modern realities.
The objective of this curriculum is to create academic researchers and individuals able to work in the ever-increasing environment of Italian-Indian joint ventures. The curriculum is articulated in three different formative profiles:
a) Cultural-linguistic (Hindi, Sanskrit, and Tibetan cultures and literatures, philosophy and religion, linguistics and art history);
b) Historical (Indian subcontinent and ancient, modern and contemporary history of Tibet);
c) Socio-economic (dynamics of agricultural and industrial development, poverty and social exclusion, demographic evolution).
The acquisition of modern (Hindi) or classic (Sanskrit, Tibetan) linguistic competences is believed as characterizing for all three profiles. Among modern Western languages, a thorough knowledge of (spoken and written) English is required, as well as the knowledge of at least another language (French or German).
Student will attend lectures on South-Asian history and culture (classic and modern), and the various aspects of South Asia economic development and social dynamics. Furthermore, students will be given the opportunity to take part in stages abroad in qualified research institutes, or in Italian organizations working in the International Cooperation field.