2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The Impact of The Arabian Nights on the Formation of the Islamic Middle East in Europe and Japan
| Project/Area Number |
14201054
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
文学一般(含文学論・比較文学)・西洋古典
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| Research Institution | National Museum of Ethnology |
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Principal Investigator |
NISHIO Tetsuo National Museum of Ethnology, Center for Research Devdopment, Associate Professor, 研究戦略センター, 教授 (90221473)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SUGITA Hideaki The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Professor, 大学院・総合文化研究科, 教授 (90179143)
ODA Jun'ichi Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Associate Professor, アジア・アフリカ言語文化研究所, 助教授 (10177230)
AOYAGI Etsuko University of Tsukuba, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Associate Professor, 人文社会科学研究科, 助教授 (70195171)
SUMI Akiko Kyoto Notre Dame University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Associate Professor, 人間文化学科, 助教授 (20340466)
YAMANAKA Yuriko National Museum of Ethnology, Department of Cultural Research, Assistant Professor, 民族文化研究部, 助手 (20251390)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2002 – 2005
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| Keywords | Arabian Nights / Thousand and One Nights / Middle East / Islam / Arab / Arabic literature / Orientalism / folktale |
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| Research Abstract |
The names, such as Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sindbad, are very popular characters among Japanese children, whereas the title of the Arabian Nights or the Thousand and One Nights is often associated with an erotic flavor. This situation seems to have been brought about as a historical consequence of modernization in Japan, in which Japan has accepted the Arabian Nights as a literary product of Orientalism in Europe. Since the first appearance of the Arabian Nights in 1704, when the first Western rendition of the Arabian Nights was published in France by the French Orientalist, Antoine Galland, the Arabian Nights had played, and is still playing, a decisive role in forming the general image of the Islamic Middle East in Europe, which in turn influenced the Japanese view of the Middle East.
In the research project, we analyzed the reception and transformation of the Arabian Nights and its influence on the formation of the Middle Eastern images in Europe and Japan in connection with the emergence of the so-called Orientalism. We also finally discussed how the Arabian Nights has resonated Orientalism in Europe and Japan from a comparative perspective.
In the consequence of the research project, we made a special exhibition of the Arabian Nights in the National Museum of Ethnology from 9, September to 7, December in 2004. In preparing for the Arabian Nights Exhibition, we were able to build a substantial collection of editions of the Arabian Nights and other related books, some of which are very rare even in the libraries of Europe. The Arabian Nights collection in the National Museum of Ethnology may indeed be one of the most extensive library collections on the subject throughout the world, and we hope that scholars from all nations will profit from it in the future.
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