Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Japan and the World Graduate Scholarships

To mark the launch of the new Japanese Studies MPhil programme, the Japanese Studies subject group is delighted to announce the provision of a new set of Japan and the World graduate scholarships. The awards are intended for promising, qualified students applying for the master's programme (both the Advanced Studies MPhil and the Research MPhil) and are open to UK, European and international students. Funding is intended to cover fees and potentially also maintenance and living costs, and will be awarded based on merit.

Brexit and the importance of languages for Britain

"The UK desperately needs more, not fewer, internationally minded citizens who are competent in languages other than English" - In the second of a new series of comment pieces written by linguists at Cambridge, Dr Heather Inwood, Lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Chinese Literature and Culture, argues that Britain needs to improve its language skills to build trade relations and break through cultural divides.

Research in Rabbinic Hebrew Philology

Over the course of the academic years 2016-2019, the Hebrew philology group at FAMES will host a research project sponsored by the AHRC. The title of the project is: A Diplomatic Edition of Mishna-Codex Kaufmann (A50). The core project team consists of Dr Michael Rand (PI), Dr Aaron Horkohl (Co-I) and Dr Shai Heijmans (Researcher), and in the years 2017-2019 we also expect to be joined by a second Researcher. The aim of our work will be to produce a critical edition of Ms. Kaufmann A50, the single most important (almost) complete European manuscript of the Mishna, and it is our hope that this edition will benefit both researchers in Rabbinic language and culture, as well as those members of the wider public who have an interest in classical Jewish texts.

Sights & Sounds of Japan

The Japanese Studies group at the University of Cambridge invites you to experience different aspects of Japanese traditional culture as it is lived today!

2009 Hakka Yimin temple festival priest chanting.jpg

Modalities of Doing Religion

‘How do people do religion in China?’ This is a much better question to ask than ‘How many religions are there in China?’ In examining the ways in which Chinese people have been engaged in religious activities historically as well as today Dr Adam Chau has identified five ‘modalities of doing religion’: discursive/scriptural; personal-cultivational; liturgical; immediate-practical; and relational.

Thinking Through Agriculture

From early China’s legalist philosophers through to Mao Zedong, one of the most enduring descriptions of China over the past three millennia has been its image as the ultimate agrarian society. Professor Roel Sterckx is studying how farming life influenced the political and social ideologies that shaped the Chinese empire.

Documenting dialects

Over the last twenty years Professor Geoffrey Khan, together with his PhD students and post-doctoral researchers, has been undertaking a major project to document all of the North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects. Some of the dialects are now spoken by only a handful of people and some have become extinct over the last few years.

The Parthenon Mosque

The early modern Parthenon was a monumental palimpsest. The layers were architectural: the Parthenon mosque had previously been a church of the Virgin Mary, and before that a temple of Athena. But how these layers were interpreted depended on who was looking: European or Ottoman travellers, or the muezzin of Athens.

Latest news

Yasir Suleiman's Being Palestinian wins memoir prize at 2016 MEMO Palestine Book Awards

Nov 18, 2016

John Nilsson-Wright Chairs panel on Assessing North Korea's Nuclear Capabilities

Nov 15, 2016

Book co-edited by Naures Atto set for publication

Nov 11, 2016

Christine van Ruymbeke publishes new monograph 'Kāshefi’s Anvār-e Sohayli'

Oct 26, 2016

Graduate Summer School in Japanese Early-modern Palaeography

Oct 17, 2016

Chinese Studies alumnus publishes monograph based on his PhD dissertation

Oct 17, 2016

Third "Brexit and the importance of languages" post published

Oct 13, 2016

Chinese Studies Alumna turns her PhD Dissertation into major monograph

Oct 05, 2016

Barak Kushner Awarded John K. Fairbank Prize

Oct 03, 2016

Heather Inwood joins Chinese Studies group

Oct 01, 2016

Imogen Kate Page-Jarrett delivers academic year opening ceremony speech at Beijing University

Sep 29, 2016

EAS Seminar Series Michaelmas Programme Announced

Sep 22, 2016

John Nilsson-Wright Comments on North Korea's latest nuclear test

Sep 09, 2016

Japanese Studies alumna Jess Peet wins Ivan Morris Memorial Prize

Sep 07, 2016

Barak Kushner interview in Hong Kong media

Sep 02, 2016

Shores & Hornkohl host Sutton Trust Summer School at AMES Faculty

Aug 22, 2016

UK-based North Korean diplomat defects

Aug 17, 2016

Elizabeth Fowden lectures in Athens on The Parthenon Mosque

Aug 11, 2016

Amira Bennison Appearing at the Edinburgh Book Festival

Aug 08, 2016

The Body as a Vessel - a new Translation of Mikami Kayo

Jul 18, 2016

View all news

Welcome to AMES

Cambridge has a long and distinctive tradition in the study of the Middle East and Asia. This Faculty prides itself on exploring these fields through the local languages and encourages students to learn through real world engagement. If you are interested in these world regions and want to discover their languages, cultures, histories, religions, and politics, then this is the home for you.