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Centre of Persian and Central Asian Studies

Centre of Persian and Central Asian Studies

The Centre of Persian & Central Asian Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University was established on the 7th of January 1971 as the Centre for Afro-Asian Languages. It soon emerged as a prominent seat of Modern Persian Studies all over India. The Persian world at large began to appreciate the language teaching programme of the Centre which was unique of its kind in India. The Cultural Foundation of Iran took keen interest in the academic development of the Centre and provided it with language laboratory. This is the only University having the facility of language lab for learning Persian in India. Keeping the national character in view, JNU allows teachers and students of other universities to formally avail themselves of the service of the lab during vacations. The language laboratory is being used to develop the language proficiency of the students and develop their skill in the art of interpretation as well. Besides Modern Persian Studies, it also excels in Translations, Area Studies of Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan; Indo-Iran Relations; Ancient Iranian Studies ,History of Persian Language and Literature and Stylistics in Modern Persian Literature - the topics which are exclusively taught in CP&CAS, JNU. Sufism; Medieval Indian Culture and Civilization; Indo-Persian Literature and a host of other academic topics that come within the purview of Persian & Central Asian Studies are also given due place in the broad curriculum of the Centre.

 

 

 Keeping in view the utility of inter-disciplinary approach, the Centre also offered service courses to the students of West Asian Studies, SIS and Centre of Historical Studies in SSS .The Centre has been offering maximum number of service courses to the students of other Centres in SLL&CS. Special Course of Persian for the PG students of Urdu in CIL are being taught by the faculty members of CP& CA every semester. In addition, the following courses are successfully conducted by the Centre each semester:

 

(A)    Four Optional Courses for the UG students of various Centres of the School.
(B)    Two Tool Courses for the undergraduate students of various Centres of the School.

 

 

In due course of time, the Centre developed in size and diversified its academic programmes. Today it offers courses of Persian and Central Asian Studies, which cover entire gamut of language, literature and culture of Iran; Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Turkey. Ph.D.; M.Phil; M.A.; and B.A. (Hons) Courses of Persian, BA Honours and Certificate Courses of Pashto and Optional Courses of Turkish are being taught here with professional skill and scientific methods.  

 

 

The teachers and students of the Centre of Persian and Central Asian Studies in JNU are continuously engaged in modern researches based on world interactions and comparative studies. The faculty members of the Centre, apart from teaching, take keen interest in participating in different national and international seminars. The Professors of the Centre are regularly invited by different universities to deliver lectures to the teachers from all over India.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.