The Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (formerly the Faculty of Oriental Studies), is a subdivision of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. The faculty is engaged in a broad range of research and teaching on modern and historical Asian and Middle Eastern studies, focusing on politics, language, and culture. The faculty's main building is located on Pusey Lane near the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

and

Sackler Library The Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library (‘Bodleian Art Library’ in its shortened form, formerly the Sackler Library) holds a large portion of the classical, art historical, and archaeological works belonging to the Universi ...

, with some research centres of the faculty having their own buildings elsewhere in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

(such as the Middle East Centre based at St. Antony's College, Oxford). The faculty is part of the Humanities Division at the

. The faculty has its own library for students and professors, which is both a

lending library A lending library is a library from which books and other media are lent out. The major classifications are endowed libraries, institutional libraries (the most diverse), public libraries, and subscription libraries. It may also refer to a librar ...

and a reading room of the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

. The faculty was known as the Faculty of Oriental Studies until 1 August 2022, when the name was changed to Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. The name was changed due to its perceived colonial implications.

Sub-faculties

The faculty is divided into three sub-faculties based on subject area, including: * Sub-Faculty of Middle Eastern Studies, which covers ** Department of the Islamic World ** Department of Modern Middle Eastern Studies ** Department of

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish Studies (also based at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies) ** Department of

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Ancient Greek, Greek , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian History of Egypt, history, Egyptian language, language, Ancient Egypt ...

and Ancient Near Eastern Studies (also based at the

Griffith Institute The Griffith Institute is an Egyptological institution based in the Griffith Wing of the Sackler Library and is part of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, England. It was founded for the advancement of Egyptology and Ancient ...

) * Sub-Faculty of South and Inner Asian Studies, which covers **

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

politics, language, and culture **

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

( classical and

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

) ** Tibetan and Himalayan Cultural Studies * Sub-Faculty of East Asian Studies (also based at the Eastern Art Department of the Ashmolean Museum), which covers ** Chinese (based at the University of Oxford China Centre, Canterbury Road) ** Japanese (also based at the

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

Institute of

Japanese Studies , sometimes known as Japanology in Europe, is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japanese language, history, culture, litera ...

, Winchester Road ) **

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

, politics, and culture

Notable people

Statutory professorships (): * Regius Professor of Hebrew – vacant * Laudian Professor of Arabic – Julia Bray * Professor of Egyptology – Richard B. Parkinson *

Boden Professor of Sanskrit The position of Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford was established in 1832 with money bequeathed to the university by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Boden, a retired soldier in the service of the East India Company. He wished th ...

– James Mallinson * Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian Studies – Theo Maarten van Lint *

Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics The Spalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics is the holder of an Financial endowment#Endowed professorships, endowed chair at the University of Oxford. The Spalding Chair of Eastern Religions and Ethics was established on a trial basis in ...

– Diwakar Acharya * I.M. Pei Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture – Alain Fouad George * Stanley Ho Professor of Chinese History – Henrietta Harrison * Soudavar Professor of Persian Studies – Edmund Herzig * Yehan Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies – Stefano Zacchetti * Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud Professor for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World – Marilyn Booth * HH Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies – vacant Other notable current academics: * Martin Goodman * Christopher Melchert * Judith Olszowy-Schlanger * Eugene Rogan

References

External links

Official website of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Official website of the Nizami Ganjavi Library

Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum

Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies

Khalili Research Centre for Art and the Material Culture of the Middle East

Eastern Art Department, Ashmolean Museum

Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies
{{coord, 51, 45, 21, N, 1, 15, 39, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Departments of the University of Oxford Research institutes in Oxford Libraries of the University of Oxford Oriental studies