Faculty of Oriental Studies

Faculty of Oriental Studies
Name	Faculty of Oriental Studies
Established	19th century
Type	Faculty
City	Oxford
Country	United Kingdom

Faculty of Oriental Studies

The Faculty of Oriental Studies is an academic division within a collegiate university devoted to the study of the languages, literatures, histories, religions, and cultures of Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. It encompasses instruction and research on classical and modern forms of Arabic language, Hebrew language, Persian language, Turkish language, Sanskrit, Pali language, and Chinese language, among others, and maintains links with global institutions such as the British Museum, Bodleian Library, Library of Congress, All Souls College, and SOAS University of London. Scholars from the faculty engage with primary sources connected to events and entities like the Battle of Karbala, the Treaty of Tordesillas, the Meiji Restoration, the Taiping Rebellion, and the Mughal Empire.

History

The faculty traces origins to early oriental scholarship in the age of exploration and imperial contact, with precursors active during the era of the East India Company, the British Raj, and the scholarly networks tied to the Royal Asiatic Society and the Society of Biblical Archaeology. Its development accelerated through the 19th and 20th centuries alongside philological projects on manuscripts associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Diamond Sutra, and the archives of the Ottoman Empire. During the interwar period, faculty members published work related to the aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles and analyses of the Persian Constitutional Revolution, while postwar scholarship engaged with decolonization in contexts such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Algeria. The faculty has been influenced by figures tied to institutions like King's College London, University of Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin, and research councils such as the British Academy.

Organisation and departments

The faculty is structured into departments and subunits that reflect linguistic and regional specializations: departments for Arabic literature, Hebrew literature, Persian studies, Turkic studies, South Asian languages, East Asian languages, and Semitic languages. Administrative links extend to colleges such as Magdalen College, Balliol College, Christ Church, Oxford, and external research centers including the Institute of Historical Research and the School of Oriental and African Studies. Committees coordinate postgraduate training with bodies like the Economic and Social Research Council and joint appointments with museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Academic programs and research

The faculty offers undergraduate programs in subjects such as Arabic, Hebrew, Modern Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Persian, and Hindi, and graduate degrees including Master of Studies and Doctor of Philosophy supervised in collaboration with institutes like the Warburg Institute and the Institute of Archaeology. Research clusters address topics like manuscript transmission exemplified by the Nag Hammadi library, textual criticism of works attributed to Al-Farabi, philological studies of Rumi, historical linguistics tracing the Indo-European nexus, and contemporary area studies on postcolonial transitions in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Afghanistan. Grants and fellowships are commonly obtained from funders such as the Leverhulme Trust, the Wellcome Trust, and the European Research Council.

Notable faculty and alumni

Prominent scholars associated with the faculty have included philologists and historians who engaged with primary sources connected to Herodotus, Ibn Khaldun, Al-Biruni, Avicenna, Zoroaster, and Confucius. Alumni have gone on to careers in diplomacy at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, journalism for outlets like the BBC and The Times, and scholarship at universities such as Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Chicago, Yale University, and Columbia University. Faculty members have held visiting professorships at the Institute for Advanced Study, collaborated on excavations with the British Museum and the Ashmolean Museum, and received awards from bodies such as the Order of the British Empire and the Leverhulme Trust.

Facilities and collections

The faculty maintains language resource rooms, manuscript reading rooms, and seminar spaces adjacent to major research libraries including the Bodleian Libraries and special collections containing holdings related to the Sassoon Collection, the Pelliot collection, and the Turkish archives acquired during diplomatic exchanges. Its collections support palaeography, codicology, and conservation projects tied to artifacts from the Silk Road, inscriptions comparable to the Behistun Inscription, correspondence relating to the Sykes–Picot Agreement, and numismatic items reflecting the Achaemenid Empire and the Sultanate of Delhi.

Collaborations and outreach

The faculty maintains formal partnerships with universities and research centers worldwide such as Beijing University, University of Tokyo, Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Tehran, American University of Beirut, and the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. Outreach includes public lecture series with speakers from the Royal Asiatic Society, exhibitions co-curated with the British Library and the Victoria and Albert Museum, teacher-training programs for school curricula linked to the Joint Council for Qualifications, and media engagement with broadcasters including Channel 4 and BBC World Service. Collaborative projects address heritage preservation in sites like Palmyra and community-based language initiatives for diasporas from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, and Iraq.

Category:Oriental studies Category:University faculties