The 3rd AJI Interdisciplinary Seminar: “Reconsidering the Regional History of Middle Eastern Islam from Studying the Historiographies of Universal History”
On June 30, 2020 The 3rd AJI Interdisciplinary Seminar was held online. This time, the Asia-Japan Research Institute invited Associate Professor Osamu OTSUKA (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo) as a guest speaker, and he delivered an insightful presentation on the historiography of “universal history”, which describes the entire history of humankind as a whole. Focusing on examples from the Islamic world he started with a description of universal history in the early Islamic period and the relationship between the Quran and the Bible. Then he described the issue of how historiography was compiled in the Middle Eastern world through the conflicts among views of ancient history between the Old Testament-based historiography and the dynastic history of the Persian and Turkish dynasties. In response to his argument presenting the diversity of universal history in the Islamic world, the participants had an enthusiastic discussion with Professor Otsuka from the perspective of new trends in the description of world history, including global history.
