Research network at TORCH | The Oxford Research Centrein the Humanities
The main purpose of our research
network is twofold. First and foremost, we aim at rethinking the existing
theoretical paradigms of ethnicity and nationalism studies in general, as well
as those of pre-modern collective identities in particular. Second, our goal is
to shift the debate beyond its predominantly Eurocentric focus: integrating
various non-European themes and materials into the discussion is essential to
moving beyond the stalled debate between modernists and ‘pre-modernists’. Thus
our interlinked goals are to combine conceptual discussions with an attention
to new and diverse material, thereby allowing the development of new ways of
thinking about the long history of identity, ethnicity and nationhood. This can
only be achieved successfully through a genuinely interdisciplinary approach.
Our research network brings together scholars of History, Oriental Studies,
Linguistics, Classics, Philosophy, Religion, Archaeology, and Visual Culture.
Their expertise covers a wide range of topics both chronologically (from
Antiquity to the early modern period) and geographically (Western Europe,
Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, Byzantium, Caucasia, North Africa, the Volga region, Iran and Kurdistan, and South Asia).
Contact:
Ilya Afanasyev
Nicholas Matheou
