活動記録

In this symposium, we were honored to have Professor Hatashin serve as a discussant. With expertise in comparative legal history and international law, Professor Hatashin’s involvement facilitated the achievement of one of our project’s major objectives: to make broader scholarly interventions and contributions, particularly in fields where Western-centric views often prevail, such as the history of international politics and the history of international relations.

Three papers were presented at the symposium. Professor Horii, the first speaker, specializes in early modern East Mediterranean trade and offered a detailed review of the development of ahdnames granted to Venice, Poland, and France in the early modern Ottoman period, laying the groundwork for further studies on state systems that operated under the early modern Ottoman contexts. However, the interpretation of the key term “ahd” remains open to further discussion.

Professor Kondo, the second speaker and leader of the project, explored how Islamic state systems evolved from the perspective of the Safavid dynasty based on an examination of a range of different sources including imperial edicts and letters, chronicles, and books on ethics. The discussion also considered whether Islamic state systems resembled others.

Professor Oki, the third speaker, specializes in international law and highlighted the minimal influence of Islamic law or early modern Islamic international law on the adoption of modern international law in nineteenth-century Egypt. The emphasis on this point, however, warrants further discussion, given the fact that the writing styles observed in the Arabic texts on international law studied in the paper suggest apparent similarities to those of Islamic law.

Overall, the symposium proved to be an invaluable opportunity to embrace a diverse array of feedback and constructive criticisms. These insights will enrich our research efforts, particularly within the frame of JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas, to promote exchanges and collaborations spanning multiple disciplines, whereby ultimately leading to the creation of new research trends.

(Madoka Morita)