Introduction
Introduction

Present State and Perspectives of Oriental Studies at the University of Warsaw

Author(s): Jolanta Sierakowska-Dyndo
Subject(s): Cultural history
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Oriental studies; Asian and African culture; scientific discipline; Faculty of Oriental Studies; University of Warsaw; Jolanta Sierakowska-Dyndo
Summary/Abstract: The study considers the importance of Oriental studies within the context of the developments that have taken place in its perception at the University of Warsaw and the establishment of the Faculty of Oriental Studies in 2008. The article seeks to answer the question of whether Oriental studies might be considered a new scientific discipline having its own separate scholarly apparatus. It suggests that Oriental studies are the branch of science that realizes two main objectives. The first, strictly scientific and cognitive based on description and analysis, and the second, requiring deciphering the cultural meanings, codes, and signs. These objectives are carried out in the field of various scientific disciplines, including linguistics, history, literary studies, philosophy, anthropology, cultural studies, ethnography, and religious studies. The article argues that the multidisciplinary character of Oriental studies, which is based on language studies, allows one to define them as a macro-discipline which combines philological source materials and achievements of many other scientific disciplines. Finally, it also presents the assumptions behind the creation of the new curriculum, which is designed to combine competence in Asian and African languages with a broad knowledge of the cultural context.

• Details
• Contents