| School
of Comparative Culture |
[Doctoral
Course] |
School of Comparative Culture >>
STAFF
This School consists of three departments primarily concerned
with culture, language and history: "Lectures on Cultural
History," "Japanese and Asian Culture and Information
Studies," and "European and American Culture and
Information Studies." Interdisciplinary studies among
the three will be encouraged. Doing researches in Nara,
a city of history, is surely to the advantage of students,
not only providing rich historical resources to particular
academic topics, but also helping to analyse both Asian
European cultures from a comparative point of view. This
school includes information studies, whose effective acquirement
has been also required as a means of approaching huge volumes
of data.
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| In referring to Cultural History here, we do not mean
it in the narrow sense of cultural history as a field
of historical study. Looking at the field of study so
far, Cultural History integrates historical study, philosophy,
pedagogy and so on. And then after perceiving the changes
caused over time to all cultures and human activity
in a broad sense, the purpose of the study is to undertake
a comparative study of the structure of all cultures
and ways from a global viewpoint. Therefore by including
archeology, fashion history and so on, a historical
study with a wide range of meaning is central. This
course contains the fields of philosophy and pedagogy
in order to grasp basic structures which form cultures.
In addition, we have exchanges with research workers
and institutions such as the nearby Nara National Cultural
Properties Research Institute, Nara National Museum,
Shosoin Office and so on. Ancient Nara is our starting
point, and our course can advance study from points
of view that compare all cultures internationally. The
overriding premise is the individuality of our course,
which is not shown in other universities. We use Nara
as a favorable place and on the whole aim to understand
"human beings" who have made history and culture
through comparison-based study. |
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| Our program integrates the philological studies of
Japanese and Chinese Literatures and Linguistics with
cultural studies and information processing in an effort
to contribute to the future of East Asia based on modern
research themes. There are ten faculty members in our
program, thus covering an extremely wide range of expertise
including all historical periods and fields of research.
In addition we offer courses that go beyond the traditional
university setting by having two visiting professors,
NISHIYAMA Atsushi, manager of Data Management Laboratory
at Nara National Museum, and SUGIMOTO Kazuki, manager
of Preservation Division researcher at the Office of
the Shosoin Treasure House, Imperial Household Agency.
To give students opportunities to receive advanced and
detailed instruction about the practice of information
data processing, we invite NAKAMURA Yasuo, professor
at the National Institute of Japanese Literature, and
Tsuda Mitsuhiro, inventor of picture viewer. |
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The course is designed to give students (1) an understanding
of the nature of Christianity and the classical traditions
which infuse European and American cultures; (2) a grasp
of the more advanced academic methods which can be used
to analyze Western cultures from a wide variety of perspectives,
focusing on their languages, codes, representations,
and so on; and (3) an opportunity to comprehend and
investigate the problems occurring in Western societies
from a "Japanese" point of view, thereby helping
to develop solutions to issues particular to our own
society.
The course encourages interdisciplinary exchanges with
the other two courses in the division in order to foster
the broad view necessary for comparative cultural studies. |
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[Educational Philosophy]
This School focuses on two central themes: Social phenomenon
/ Language cognition, and European World / Asian World.
In keeping with these themes, the School offers the following
three main courses: Lectures on Culture and History, Japanese
and Asian Culture and Information Studies, and European
and American Culture and Information Studies.
Through highly specialized education, we pursue "sciences
from a human perspective"; that is, we encourage in-depth
research in specific academic fields, while at the same
time promoting a practical integration of various sciences
that have in the past been developed in separate directions.
To accomplish this, the School integrates the diversity
of various sciences as "Culture," using methodologies that
handle this knowledge as "Information," and conducts research
and education from a broad perspective based on comparative
studies of the Asia and the West, and utilizing the rich
resources available in the historical city of Nara.
[Expectations of Students]
The School aims to foster researchers and high-level professional
specialists with a desire to pursue comprehensive studies
related to the themes outlined above, and with an international
awareness appropriate to the 21st century
○ Students with an interest in analyzing and studying
cultural phenomena in the form of human activities from
an information-oriented perspective
○ Students with a desire to delve into the diversity
of human studies through research in history, language,
and literature
○ Students seeking to utilize the merits of a university
located in Nara to conduct research into ancient Nara and
the Manyoshu, and to explore the greater potential of "Nara
Studies," including the modern age
○ Students wishing to conduct their own individual
research on themes ranging from ancient Nara to the modern
West, incorporating studies of Japan and Asia or the middle
ages and modern eras, from geographical and historical perspectives
○ Students wishing to become active in the fields
of history, language, and literature, as educators equipped
with a broad range of advanced and specialized knowledge
Students wishing to utilize knowledge of history, information,
and culture as professionals or volunteer leaders in regional
cultural organizations, research centers, or international
agencies
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